Cashiers Put on Timer

The literature below is a research about self-checkout machine in Tesco supermarkets, and it aims at answering; the reasons that Tesco has changed, importance of self checkout systems in Tesco and challenges faced by the self checkout systems. TESCO is a chain of supermarkets stores originally from the U.K; they have expanded rapidly over the past few years. These stores are of general merchandise that carries everything from clothing, deckchairs, groceries, petrol stations, wines, consumer electronics, DVD and CDS. TESCO has stores in North America, Asia and Europe that operate under the TESCO brand. It operates hypermarkets, supermarkets and convenient stores. TESCO services allow their customers to do their shopping from the comfort of their chairs; because delivery is done to their homes, and it also offers internet shopping services.

Walmart’s approach means frequent, informal cooperation among stores, distribution centres and suppliers and less centralized control. The company’s supply chain allowed consumers to effectively pull merchandise to stores rather than having the company push goods onto shelves by tracking customer purchases and demand. Through the use of universal product codes, implementation of Retail links at the store, use of RFIDs and smart tags, suppliers and manufacturers within the supply chain synchronize their demand forecaste under a collaborative planning, forecasting and replenishment scheme, and every link in the chain was connected through technology that includes a central database, store-level point-of-sale systems, and a satellite network. As per report, there was a 16% reduction in out-of-stocks with the use of RFIDs and pointed out that the products using an electronic product code were replenished three times as fast as items that only used bar code technology. These strategies have made Walmart to be the dominant force over other competitors with information and technology helping its supply chain strategy attain greater

The employees are very committed to their employer due to earning high wages, benefits, and internal promotions. A happy employee in turn, makes a happy customer. Employees interact with the customers, as the company foster’s an environment of collaboration (DiSalvo, 2015). Employees are not just checking you out, or bagging your groceries; they are engaged in their work, and want the customer to be as excited about the products as them. Customers like to form relationships with the businesses they visit, for example banks, restaurants and retail stores. At Trader Joe’s, the employee turnover for full-time employees is less than 10%, therefore customers get to know the employees and build relationships which makes shopping enjoyable and you don’t feel like just another shopper (Ton, 2012). Trader Joe’s certainly has a competitive advantage in customer service and as long as they continue to invest in their employees, they will have a sustainable advantage over their competitors.

Long-term, the cart also can be part of an expedited check out system that decreases congestion during the check out process (Media Cart, 2010). Consumers scan items as they put them into their carts and directly into bags. At the end of their shopping experience, they move the cart onto the scale to check for accuracy and for additional items, before they pay and leave; this process could save money by reducing customer service personnel.

Many businesses are implementing technology to combat wage increases and remain competitive. Many larger retailers, such as Walmart and Kroger, have effectively maintained self-checkouts for customers for years. The self-checkout area may have four to six registers, manned by one associate. Larger gas stations are implementing new technologies, as well. Quick Trip(QT) has installed a system that allows the user to order food and drink by touch screen, print a ticket and pay at the regular counter, eliminating the need for extra cashiers and registers. They serve a variety of items such as specialty coffees, smoothies, pretzels, pizza, sandwiches, ice cream and more with their user-friendly system. In addition, pay at the pump has provided relief at long lines of gas stations for years. Restaurants such as Wendy’s, McDonalds, and Panera bread are currently investing in kiosk to serve the future needs of their customers. Wendy’s will have 6,000 locations equipped with kiosk by the end of 2016. "With the pressure on wages and minimum wage increasing in some places, (restaurants) are motivated," said Bob Welcher, president of Restaurant Consultants Inc. "From an operational standpoint, I can see the advantages." Welcher also adds that “The kiosks are more precise. They always are courteous. They always show up to work on time." (Malone, JD. "Wendy's embraces self-order kiosks." Columbus Dispatch, The (OH) 17 May 2016: Newspaper Source. Web. 9 Dec. 2016.)

Meijer Inc. is considered as one of the largest superstore chains in the United States, and is among the top 30 private companies in the world in terms of revenue. The annual revenue of Meijer has increased to $16.1 billion as per its annual revenue for the fiscal year 2016. Meijer operates 223 stores with more than 68,000 team members that work directly for the company. All the Meijer stores are concentrated into six U.S. states, which include Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan, and Wisconsin. This averages out to 280 team members per store. It has been assessed that Meijer is facing a lot of operational challenges due to decreased employee efficiency. The increased number of complaints reveals the wastage of resources, wastage of time, and lower productivity of employees. Also, holding large amount of inventory is another problem that is faced by the management of Meijer. Accordingly, four key constraints were identified, which refer to improper training of employees, and lack of empowerment of store managers, poor retailer supplier-collaboration, and rigid working hours of employees. The four lean service techniques recommended to overcome these problems are inclined towards training of employees, empowerment of store managers, enhanced retailer-supplier collaboration, and scheduling flexible working hours of employees, respectively. The cost and additional revenue generated has been calculated to determine the return on investment as well as

The first self checkout station was put into use at a Giant supermarket in Severna Park Maryland in 1987 (Gemperlein, 2006). When this kiosk was first put into use many businesses to include grocery stores, box stores, and outlet stores began to watch with a very close eye. It was known that consumers wanted the ability to go into a store and take their time and not feel rushed, that is until they were ready to checkout. Stores have found that after the normal consumer is finished selecting the items that they are going to purchase on a given day that they want to quickly proceed through checkout lines (S. Dudley, personal interview, August 15, 2008). Providing consumers with the ability to do this in effect increases the level of consumer happiness which in return increases the chances a particular consumer will return in the future to purchase more items, resulting in increased sales volume.

In the business, fast customer service is a major goal and each store has to maintain certain time at peak hours and non-peak hours at the drive thru window. In the morning the customer must be served within 25 seconds on the window while in the afternoon they must be served in 35 seconds on average. In the storefront, the customers place and pick up their orders at the POS. They can also place their order on the mobile app and can pick it up in the store. The mobile orders pop up on the screen when the customer is five minutes away from the store.

Over the past 5 years, there has been a shift towards self-checkout technology in the retail industry, especially in supermarkets. Retailers are able reassign employees who would otherwise be working in the cashier lanes to other tasks that cannot be automated but enhance the customer experience, such as restocking goods, cleaning the store, and bagging groceries.

Retail is a fast-paced environment that is always changing and adapting to new trends and styles. This is why we see “fast fashion” stores such as H&M, Gap, Zara, Forever 21 and Uniqlo, cycling through the clothing they have in their stores very quickly. Because of the constant change in fashion trends, such stores are in an extremely competitive battle to be the most successful in their field.

Many grocery stores across the globe encounter the inevitable problem of long grocery checkout lines. Currently, the grocery industry cannot find an answer to this unambiguous problem. This is partially because cashiers have to scan and bag every item that the given individual is purchasing which can be quite time consuming and frustrating for customers. But what if this process was no longer necessary? The solution to this age old predicament is a new and innovative product called Grocery Gadget.

Many grocery stores across the globe encounter the inevitable problem of long grocery checkout lines. Currently, the grocery industry cannot find an answer to this unambiguous problem. This is partially because cashiers have to scan and bag every item that the given individual is purchasing which can be quite time consuming and frustrating for customers. But what if this process was no longer necessary? The solution to this age old predicament is a new and innovative product called Grocery Gadget.

We now live in an innovative world where dull assignments can be performed with no sweat. PCs and programming can do the majority of our work, whether it 's documenting our charges or requesting basic needs (Devereux & Cardinia Care (Vic.) (Firm), 2014). The advantages picked up; in particular, additional time and less room for mistakes, make this sort of innovation speaking to organizations also. There are a few routes in which a mechanized framework for time following can help firms turn out to be more profitable.

Employee discipline is a concept that could automatically set a negative tone in the workplace. Ideally in a perfect world the workplace would be conflict free and every employee would be the perfect employee. However, unfortunately there probably is not a thing as perfect world. Employee discipline method that can be used by organizational leaders on trying to utilize various methods to help promote and encourage orderly conduct in the workplace. According to Zachary (2013), an organization should have the proper systems in place that helps to encourage proper behavior in the workplace. The right methods to be used to change that behavior if it negatively impacts the organization. In situations where discipline is required the HR perspective would be the type of “punishment” that might have to be administered by HR managers this could often times be unpleasant for both the administrator and the employee. Whether it is dismissing the employee. Perhaps suspending the employee. Even just a written warning. Regardless of the intensity of the punishment it requires that leadership utilize the right methods to help ensure that minimum fallout transpires from the discipline that is used.

As times change, companies will have to start changing as well. While the old system of ‘in-person’ customer service and ordering may have allowed the company to be more people friendly, this new system will cost the company less time dealing with each customer which will in turn allow for more customers to be served. On top of the online ordering, we will still keep a few employees at each store to maintain some aspect of direct customer relation. This will allow us to treat our customers in a way that best suits their demands, meets our budget and time ideals and keeps everyone happy while maintaining a steady flow of customer satisfaction. The company is currently looking into his new system because the sooner we convert to a technologically advanced workplace, the sooner the company can start treating new customers and expand safely and efficiently.