The pandemic has seen the local retailing sector massively accelerate its adoption of new technologies, particularly around home delivery and click & collect, shining a new light on the vital role that a great Epos system can play at the heart of new tech strategies.
A decent Epos system is now generally accepted as a ‘must have’ in modern convenience, but the role that Epos plays in running a store these days has been transformed by the coronavirus pandemic. Once seen exclusively as a fantastic tool for running an efficient, profitable business, the role that Epos now plays has been magnified enormously over the last eight or nine months as retailers embrace more and more in-store technologies. To get the very best out of most of these new technologies, retailers need to have them integrated with their Epos system.
The big challenge for Epos companies then is to shed their long-standing and deep-seated reluctance to integrate with third party solutions, be they simple apps like digital loyalty cards or home delivery software or be they more complex solutions like self-scan tills, in-store tobacco vending machines or digital shelf-edge labels.
Without full, real-time integration with an Epos system, many of these systems simply can’t function optimally. Manually extracting price files, stock levels and so on from an Epos system to use in an app or on a website is all but impossible at a practical level without some form of integration, even if that’s just a simple API – but many Epos providers won’t even accept that basic level of integration with their systems.
The reasons why Epos providers are so reluctant to integrate with solutions from other providers are complex and, often, quite illogical – to the retailer at least. Whatever the reasons, it seems inevitable that this accelerated adoption of new tech in the convenience sector is set to continue, so Epos companies that refuse to adapt and evolve with the times could find themselves facing big challenges winning new retail customers, and retaining the ones they already have.
One provider that seeing big growth in Scotland by adopting a flexible approach is Motherwell-based Mhouse Solutions. The company now supplies well over 700 stores in Scotland and has enjoyed a stellar year in 2020. Managing Director Faisal Sattar puts much of that growth down to his company’s open-minded approach to integrations.
He says: “Mhouse can demonstrate an uplift of 3% in gross profit using our MPoS system by giving store owners much greater control over a wider range of store procedures. But we’ve always said that wherever the customer, MPoS will be there to help. It’s all about convenience and it always will be. These days that increasingly means taking an open-minded approach to working with thirds-party solutions and software providers to help deliver the best possible package for both retailers and their customers.”
Mhouse has long integrated with cigarette gantry solutions and loyalty schemes, both digital and paper, and had “countless discussions” with providers of other solutions around the areas where today’s shoppers are showing interest including areas like home delivery and waste management.
“We don’t say yes to every integration that’s proposed to us, for all sorts of sensible reasons, but we will always listen and take a pragmatic approach if we think the solution can work and will benefit retailers and customers,” he says. “Technology is going to play a much bigger role in convenience in future and much of that progress will be built on having a great Epos system as base platform. MPoS is that platform.”
Another Epos provider making big headway in Scotland this year is Northern Ireland-based Henderson Technology. As part of the Henderson Group, the company is in the unusual position of being both a large scale retailer – serving hundreds of Spar stores in the province – and a technology solutions provider. That position gives the company unique insight into the real-world challenges (and opportunities) of using Epos on a daily basis which helps inform and drive the development of its proprietary EDGEpoS solution.
Over recent months the company has used its retail experience to unveil a range of solutions including digital shelf-edge strips, home delivery and click and collect apps and, most recently, a contactless cash recycling solution that sees automated units fitted at every till point and means staff never have to touch cash. Shoppers feed their money into the machines and receive their change without staff ever having to handle the cash – and there is a real-time log of every penny that’s currently in the system so cashing up at the end of the day, sorting floats and all sorts of other time-consuming but vital tasks are fully automated, freeing staff up to focus on replenishing shelves and providing improved customer service.
Ron Whitten, Chief Financial Officer at Henderson Group says: “The solution provides centralised control of cash inventory and optimisation of all cash processes. “The solution has proven time efficiencies through removing routine non-value added tasks such as float replenishment, till uplifts, safe counting and lodgement preparation and so on. Whilst we have been focused on streamlining in-store administrative tasks and removing inefficiencies in our processes to focus on the customer experience, the current challenges presented by Covid-19 have further heightened our interest in new technologies to remove pressure on our store teams.”
Henderson, however, has also taken an open-minded approach to integrations and currently offers integrations with everything from CCTV solutions from SurvSec and tobacco vending systems from Navarra to Azpiral loyalty solutions and Glory cash recycling systems.
It’s a rapidly changing world and it will bring more challenges in future, even when coronavirus is gone. But just as retailers are having to adapt – and quickly – so to are Epos providers.
