The retail tech to invest in to make your store run better

Payment infrastructures and management information systems have undergone significant modernisation in the past few years. Such improvements allow store owners to meet customer needs and make better decisions about ordering and merchandising.

Electronic point-of-sale (EPoS) software systems provide retailers with a way to enhance their use of technology in-store. Yet many still rely on their old traditional tills and EPoS systems which are outdated and no longer offer solutions for today’s much-needed add-on services, explains Darren Nickel, retail technology operations director at Henderson Technology.

“It’s vital retailers invest in their stores’ retail technology,” he says. “It’s designed to make convenience stores run easier and let owners and managers focus on enhancing the shopper experience. We’re already seeing technologies such as hybrid checkout facilities (a mix of manned and self-checkouts) growing in popularity, which will drive more customers to those stores that have them.”

Investing in the latest retail technology

Peter McBride is owner of McBride Retail which currently operates 16 Spar stores in Northern Ireland. The business has been operating for almost 35 years with supplying wholesaler the Henderson Group.

McBride runs EDGEPoS from Henderson Technology across all 16 Spar stores and has the EDGEPoS Head Office system. He recently made an additional investment into retail technology by adding EDGEPoS Self-Checkout, Electronic Shelf Edge Labels (ESELs) and the Glory cash management integration.

“We have invested a significant amount of money in technology over the last few years in order to keep ahead of the game,” says McBride. “At any time investing money in your business is a huge decision, but for me, investing into technology is one of the easiest decisions to make.

“We use the reporting facility on EDGEPoS daily to analyse our sales, and this allows us to make key decisions across various aspects of the business.

“Technology is always changing, and working with EDGEPoS and their integrations with premium retail technology products, such as Glory and ESELs, puts my stores at the forefront of technology. It makes my stores more efficient and allows my customers to be served much quicker and better.

“ESELs are definitely the way to go, they are so efficient,” he adds. “The closed loop Glory system is also a really worthwhile investment as it takes a lot of work out with cash control and balancing. We will be certainly rolling out Glory and ESELs across all of the stores.”

Wendy Cooke, McBride Retail’s area manager, notes: “EDGEPoS reports enable me to fulfil my role and plan rather than react to operations across the stores. They give me the ability to drill down into detail, as there is a variance of what may work in one store, compared to another store where we might need to amend things slightly. EDGEPoS gives me the visibility, confidence and control to make these decisions.”

University Challenge

The University of Essex Students’ Union, based near the town of Colchester, operates a convenience store on-site called simply ‘The Store’.

The University has a long history of welcoming students from around the world and the convenience store reflects this international feel by offering shoppers an extensive convenience range, global brands, and healthy choices, alongside more conventional student products.

With over 100 people working in the store and its niche customer base, the outlet is packed with products not normally seen in a typical convenience store. The 150sqm store also has between 2,000 and 3,000 staff members using it, with lecturers visiting during lunch breaks and at tea times.

Outsiders from local towns also come in and use the store, particularly at out-of-term time. A lot of conferences take place on the campus and delegates depend on the shop, especially if they are staying in campus accommodation.

Michael Bamford, retail manager for the store, says: “It’s an interesting dynamic as we get different customers on different days of the week. Monday and Tuesday are by far our busiest days, but Wednesdays are the University’s ‘Sports Day,’ so we must run specific deals to attract sports team members after their matches.

“At the weekends we get around 50% trade compared to weekdays, and this is made up of our international students. We sell a lot more alcohol over the weekend, and much less food-to-go. For example, on a Monday, we sell around 800 sandwiches, while on a Saturday we sell approximately 200.”

The store installed EDGEPoS in August 2022, with five tills – two cash and card cashier served tills and three card only self-serve tills. “The reason we have the three self-serve tills is because we are extremely busy throughout the day, especially early weekdays during term time,” says Bamford.

“We needed a way to get the customers in and out of the store quickly. Therefore, instead of the five employees we had serving on the tills, I have now reduced this to three members of staff in peak times – two serving and one assisting at the three self-serve tills.

“The self-checkouts have been brilliant for us. They speed up the flow of customers in-store and reduce queuing times significantly; but they also have freed up my staff to stock shelves and help customers in other areas of the store. It saves us so much time.”

EDGEPoS is also fully integrated with Navarra Retail Systems which dispenses a packet of cigarettes automatically from its cigarette gantry and with Electronic Shelf Edge Labels (ESELs).

“We felt it was important to invest in our store to grow our business,” adds Bamford. “We chose EDGEPoS because we are not only looking at what is happening in the next six months, we are also looking at the next three to five years and I will always recommend anyone to invest if they have the money to do so.”

For more information visit www.henderson.technology or go to @_HendersonTech. 

Henderson Technology will be at stand DD331 at the NCS (National Convenience Show) exhibition from 24-26 April at the NEC, Birmingham. Nickels says: “We look forward to welcoming retailers looking to invest into retail technology. On our stand we will be showcasing all aspects of our EDGEPoS system and Self-Checkouts, with the addition of having Glory, a leader in retail cash automation solutions.”