It’s more than a gimmick. Co-op Today makes a solid business case for only having self-checkout says Elaine Watson
It was a bold move, admits Bill Laird, as he launches the first store in Europe serviced purely through self-checkout. But it was not a stupid one. “I could tear them out in a weekend if customers don’t like them,” insists the technology-mad food retail boss of Oxford, Swindon & Gloucester Co-op.
As the punters drift in, breeze through the self-checkouts and depart, unfazed by the technology, it quickly becomes apparent that his gamble has paid off.
“Having only self-scanning is a first,” he says, “but as this is our ninth store with self-checkout, it wasn’t a giant leap in the dark.”
The second store to trade under the society’s new Co-op Today fascia, the 1,200 sq ft former Alldays newsagent at Montpellier Street in Cheltenham has been transformed into an ultra-modern c-store with a wall of chilled food and wine, plasma TV screens, fresh fruit, cut flowers, ready meals, hot coffee and muffins to go.
But it’s the technology that has grabbed the headlines, Laird admits.
“I suppose some people might say it’s a bit gimmicky, and certainly some of the technologies we have piloted are less about generating revenue than creating an ambience instore.”
However, there is a rock solid business case behind self-checkout.
“I’m not saying it’s right for everyone, but in our trading area, where there is high employment and it’s hard to find good staff, it makes a lot of sense.
“It’s also a useful tool in a convenience store where you have long opening hours.”
Despite concerns that self-checkout would drive up theft as customers tried to fiddle the system, the evidence suggested otherwise, says Laird.
“In the first place, staff monitor transactions from the shopfloor as well as CCTV. However, most theft is not at the tills, but elsewhere in a store.”
The four plasma TV screens run rolling news from Reuters, product promotions and information about co-op initiatives.
“We have driven sales uplifts on products advertised on the screens in other stores and they are a means of generating ad revenue, but that’s not their primary purpose. It’s more about entertaining people and letting them know where we stand on issues such as child nutrition. Cardboard just gets lost. This is something different.”
He will not disclose what the store was turning over before it was refurbished, but says he is aiming for a 35-40% sales uplift, mainly driven by a stronger fresh and chilled range and extended opening hours.
This should more than offset the cost of boosting staff numbers from 16 to 23 post-conversion, says Laird.
“Remember, we are selling far more higher-margin lines like fresh fruit, bagged salads, ready meals and hot coffee to go to suit the local area, which is quite affluent.”
Ambient packaged grocery lines have been slashed to make room for the fresh lines, he says. “You don’t need eight different flavours of Whiskas in a 1,200 sq ft store.”
The conversion went pretty smoothly, he adds. “The biggest headache has been satisfying town planners.
“We did not realise it at first, but this is a Grade ll Edwardian listed building, so we just could not rip things out at will.
“We even had to go to English Heritage.”
Trading across the 117-store society is pretty tough at the moment, he admits.
“We are up against tough comparatives because last year was so successful, and there has also been an outbreak of Tesco Express stores in our trading area as T&S stores convert. So like-for-like sales are just in line with the industry average at the moment.”
However, overall growth has rocketed following the acquisition of 30 Alldays stores, 27 of which have been converted.
The society, which has been at the cutting edge of instore IT, piloting pay by touch, self-checkout and plasma screens, is also exploring the business case behind electronic shelf-edge labels at its Walton Street store in Oxford, he says.
“It’s early days, but I think it’s going to be a major labour-saving opportunity.”
However, the current focus is getting ready for the Christmas period, he says.
“It’s going to be our toughest Christmas yet, but we’re going to trade the backside out of our stores.”
It was a bold move, admits Bill Laird, as he launches the first store in Europe serviced purely through self-checkout. But it was not a stupid one. “I could tear them out in a weekend if customers don’t like them,” insists the technology-mad food retail boss of Oxford, Swindon & Gloucester Co-op.
As the punters drift in, breeze through the self-checkouts and depart, unfazed by the technology, it quickly becomes apparent that his gamble has paid off.
“Having only self-scanning is a first,” he says, “but as this is our ninth store with self-checkout, it wasn’t a giant leap in the dark.”
The second store to trade under the society’s new Co-op Today fascia, the 1,200 sq ft former Alldays newsagent at Montpellier Street in Cheltenham has been transformed into an ultra-modern c-store with a wall of chilled food and wine, plasma TV screens, fresh fruit, cut flowers, ready meals, hot coffee and muffins to go.
But it’s the technology that has grabbed the headlines, Laird admits.
“I suppose some people might say it’s a bit gimmicky, and certainly some of the technologies we have piloted are less about generating revenue than creating an ambience instore.”
However, there is a rock solid business case behind self-checkout.
“I’m not saying it’s right for everyone, but in our trading area, where there is high employment and it’s hard to find good staff, it makes a lot of sense.
“It’s also a useful tool in a convenience store where you have long opening hours.”
Despite concerns that self-checkout would drive up theft as customers tried to fiddle the system, the evidence suggested otherwise, says Laird.
“In the first place, staff monitor transactions from the shopfloor as well as CCTV. However, most theft is not at the tills, but elsewhere in a store.”
The four plasma TV screens run rolling news from Reuters, product promotions and information about co-op initiatives.
“We have driven sales uplifts on products advertised on the screens in other stores and they are a means of generating ad revenue, but that’s not their primary purpose. It’s more about entertaining people and letting them know where we stand on issues such as child nutrition. Cardboard just gets lost. This is something different.”
He will not disclose what the store was turning over before it was refurbished, but says he is aiming for a 35-40% sales uplift, mainly driven by a stronger fresh and chilled range and extended opening hours.
This should more than offset the cost of boosting staff numbers from 16 to 23 post-conversion, says Laird.
“Remember, we are selling far more higher-margin lines like fresh fruit, bagged salads, ready meals and hot coffee to go to suit the local area, which is quite affluent.”
Ambient packaged grocery lines have been slashed to make room for the fresh lines, he says. “You don’t need eight different flavours of Whiskas in a 1,200 sq ft store.”
The conversion went pretty smoothly, he adds. “The biggest headache has been satisfying town planners.
“We did not realise it at first, but this is a Grade ll Edwardian listed building, so we just could not rip things out at will.
“We even had to go to English Heritage.”
Trading across the 117-store society is pretty tough at the moment, he admits.
“We are up against tough comparatives because last year was so successful, and there has also been an outbreak of Tesco Express stores in our trading area as T&S stores convert. So like-for-like sales are just in line with the industry average at the moment.”
However, overall growth has rocketed following the acquisition of 30 Alldays stores, 27 of which have been converted.
The society, which has been at the cutting edge of instore IT, piloting pay by touch, self-checkout and plasma screens, is also exploring the business case behind electronic shelf-edge labels at its Walton Street store in Oxford, he says.
“It’s early days, but I think it’s going to be a major labour-saving opportunity.”
However, the current focus is getting ready for the Christmas period, he says.
“It’s going to be our toughest Christmas yet, but we’re going to trade the backside out of our stores.”
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