Leading Northeastern Grocery Chain Expects to Have More Than 120 Sites Installed by Year-End to Further Improve Customer Service
The self-service approach is catching on with shoppers at one of New England's leading supermarket chains. Shaw's Supermarkets, Inc., which first piloted self-checkout in 2000, expects to have self-checkout systems from NCR Corporation (NYSE: NCR) installed in more than 120 stores by year-end.NCR FastLane(TM) will be installed in Shaw's Supermarkets and Star Market stores throughout New England. Shaw's currently has NCR FastLane in 52 locations.
"The response from our customers has been overwhelmingly positive, and we are looking forward to offering this convenience in additional stores," said Shaw's Vice President of Information Technology Services Rick Gilbertson. "Thanks to NCR's flexibility and configurability, we can easily customize NCR FastLane to best fit each store's needs."
Shaw's currently utilizes a variety of NCR FastLane configurations within each store, including express units with input conveyor belts, to accommodate shoppers with either small or large purchases. Shaw's 2003 plans also include the implementation of a take-away belt solution.
NCR's Human Factors Engineering consultants worked with Shaw's to analyze front-end operations at stores where the NCR self-checkout solution was already installed. The resulting recommendations are helping Shaw's make decisions about how to best deploy NCR FastLane in each store for optimal efficiency and return on investment.
According to the Food Marketing Institute, 19 percent of chains with at least 11 stores were using self-checkout in at least one store in 2002, compared with 6 percent in 1999.
"With self-service adoption growing at a steady pace, consumers expect to find self-checkout at their favorite retail locations," said Mike Webster, vice president and general manager, NCR FastLane. "Our system is designed to be as simple to use as it is to deploy."
About Shaw's Supermarkets, Inc.
Shaw's Supermarkets, Inc. manages 185 Shaw's and Star Markets throughout the six New England states. The company serves more than 4.5 million customers each week and has nearly 30,000 associates. Shaw's is a wholly owned subsidiary of J Sainsbury plc of London, England.
About NCR Corporation
NCR Corporation (NYSE: NCR) is a leading global technology company helping businesses build stronger relationships with their customers. NCR's ATMs, retail systems, Teradata(R) data warehouses and IT services provide Relationship Technology(TM) solutions that maximize the value of customer interactions. Based in Dayton, Ohio, NCR (www.ncr.com) employs approximately 30,100 people worldwide.
NCR, NCR RealPOS, NCR RealPrice, NCR RealScan, NCR EasyPoint, NCR FastLane and Teradata are trademarks or registered trademarks of NCR Corporation in the United States and other countries.
CONTACT: NCR Corporation
Joy Simpson, 770/623-7089
joy.simpson@ncr.com
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