Are You Ready For A POS Overhaul?

A grocery store must be prepared to handle a large number of customers efficiently. Grocery store POS systems are tailored for the grocery store environment by facilitating customer checkouts and helping employees manage their inventory. In addition to allowing cashiers to quickly scan, weigh, and ring up any item in the store, grocery store POS systems keep track of inventory and manage all types of transactions. However, when your POS system is incapable of accepting certain forms of payment, it's time to rethink the value of the system. This exact problem happened to Bobby Lopez, grocery supervisor at Cox's Foodarama. As transactional inefficiencies became a regular occurrence, Lopez decided to overhaul the grocer's antiquated POS system.

Houston-based independent grocer Cox's Foodarama owns and operates 18 grocery stores in Texas. The grocer's existing POS system was incapable of accepting the new Texas WIC (women, infants, and children) system, which uses "smart cards" (i.e. credit card-like form factor) to perform EBT (electronic benefit transfer). EBT is an electronic system that allows a recipient to authorize transfer of their government benefits from a federal account to a retailer account to pay for products received. The grocer's existing system was only capable of accepting WIC vouchers, which are paper-based. "At the time, we had 10 stores, and we were continuing to grow," says Lopez. "WIC regulations were changing. We needed an updated POS system as well as a vendor that was more progressive than our current one."

The grocer had other reasons to implement a new POS system in addition to the inception of WIC smart cards. The first problem involved the lack of POS terminals at the customer service centers located in each store. The customer service centers sell money orders, facilitate cash transfers (e.g. Western Union), and cash personal checks. "We didn't use POS systems to record any transaction performed at the customer service centers — we used paper and pens," says Lopez. "For years, we never had an electronic trail for any of these transactions. Each of our customer service employees developed their own system for managing transactions. All things considered, these individual systems worked efficiently enough. But, there was a severe lack of employee accountability."

Credit Card Processing Problems Yield POS Failure
Credit card processing posed another problem for the grocer's POS system. Lopez recounts that the Lone Star card system (i.e. Houston's food stamp program) crashed the grocer's credit card processing system at least once a week — and sometimes once a day. "The Lone Star program uses an EBT system," says Lopez. "When the Lone Star system went down, our entire POS system crashed. So, unless our customers paid with cash, we couldn't complete their transactions until the system was up and running again."

Ensure POS Software Meets Special Program Needs
In 2007, Lopez researched several POS vendors and selected ISS45 POS software from StoreNext Retail Technologies and Fujitsu TeamPOS terminals from Cash Register Services (CRS), a grocery POS VAR. CRS wrote customized software to meet the grocer's WIC needs. The POS software ensures the customer's items do not exceed the price points set by the WIC program. Also, the software generates reports, which the grocer uses to ensure data from WIC transactions has been sent to the state government. The ISS45 POS software and Fujitsu TeamPOS terminals have eliminated the customer service centers' manual processes.

CRS conducted each store's implementation overnight, and completed each one by 5 a.m. The implementation was completed in two phases. The first phase, which involved 10 stores, was completed in January 2008. The second phase was completed by March 2008. In total, 160 StoreNext ISS45 POS software and Fujitsu TeamPOS terminals were installed at all checkout counters and customer service centers in all 18 stores.

Lopez states the new POS system has increased scanning speed by 100%. In addition, system stability and reliability have eliminated downtime problems associated with the previous POS system. All customer service center transactions are now recorded electronically. Also, electronic records ensure customer service center employees are accountable for their work. The StoreNext ISS45 software has eased the entry of daily and weekly POS reports, resulting in pinpointed accountability across the organization. Printed records of all courtesy booth transactions allow customer disputes and questions to be quickly researched and resolved. Courtesy booth customers can now use debit cards to perform certain transactions, enabling Cox's Foodarama to offer shoppers greater convenience. Finally, employees and customers prefer the terminal's monitor. "Customers can actually see the monitor," says Lopez. "They can actually follow along with the transaction, which allows them to validate price accuracy. Also, front end managers can watch the transaction occur for the same reason."

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