Application overview: customers 'scan it yourself' for time savings, added convenience.

CLEVELAND--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 25, 1995--According to a 1995 ShopperScan survey, a national poll conducted by ICR Survey Research Group of Media, Pa., 64 percent of Americans reported that bar code technology improved their shopping experience primarily because they spent less time waiting in line.

Take this concept a step further and apply it to a food retail environment. Self-scanning technology dramatically reduces the need to wait in a grocery store checkout line.

With self-scanning programs in The Netherlands and in the U.K., Symbol Technologies has proved that it is both possible and practical to allow customers to tabulate their own product purchases. Industry officials predict that automated scanning will become an important customer attraction as retailers advertise faster checkout times.

John Hollis, partner at Andersen Consulting, cites the push for better customer service and the need for a competitive edge as the motivation behind the expected proliferation of self-scanning.

"Anyone starting up now would use this kind of technology," Hollis says of the "scan-it-yourself" phenomenon, popular with customers and retailers alike.

"It becomes a competitive issue because it's seen as something that enhances customer service," says Penelope Ody, editor of Britain's Retail Automation magazine.

As an additional benefit, self-scanning allows the retailer to provide improved service to its most loyal customers.

A Phenomenon Begun In Europe

First to offer customers portable self-scanning was Royal Ahold, based in Zaandam, The Netherlands. In April 1993, Royal Ahold introduced the concept to the world when it initiated the program at a 10,000-square-foot Albert Heijn Supermarket. Albert Heijn is the largest supermarket chain in Europe and the flagship banner of Royal Ahold, which also owns five supermarket chains in the United States, including Cleveland-based Finast-Ohio. So successful was the initial program, that it has since been expanded to multiple Albert Heijn locations in The Netherlands.

The self-scanning system -- a culmination of a business partnership among Royal Ahold, Symbol Technologies and leading Dutch engineering design firm TNO Product Centre -- was designed to dramatically accelerate the check-out process and significantly improve the customer shopping experience.

Self-scanning expanded to the United Kingdom in March 1995, when Safeway Supermarkets U.K. launched an ambitious program to bring its customers the benefits of self checkout afforded by the Symbol Portable Personal Shopper system.

In The Store With the Portable Personal Shopper

The self-scanning system is simple yet efficient. As with automated bank tellers and mechanical ticket vendors, customers appreciate the convenience, control and enjoyment of handling their shopping transactions.

This is how a customer can "scan it yourself."

1. The customer registers to participate in the Scan-As-You-Go

program that lets them take advantage of the automated system.

2. Upon entering the store, the customer slips a special ID

card into an automated dispenser rack, much like an automated

bank teller, which holds the store's supply of scanners. An

indicator light informs the shopper which scanner to select

from the rack.

3. The customer removes the scanner and begins shopping,

either holding the lightweight and easy-to-use Portable Personal

Shopper -- the PPS is similar in size and shape to a telephone

handset -- or slipping it into a holder affixed to the shopping

cart.

4. For ease of use, the Portable Personal Shopper has only

three keys -- "plus," "minus" and "equals." The customer scans

each product's bar code by pressing the "plus" key to record

selected products. If the customer decides against purchasing

a product, the bar code is rescanned using the "minus" key.

Pressing the "equals" key provides the shopper with a running

total of selected items.

5. Customers are offered collapsible tote bins to eliminate

the need to bag purchases. The tote is filled as items are

scanned in the aisles, and the tote goes directly into the

customer's car.

6. Since items are scanned as the customer shops, the checkout

procedure is streamlined. Upon completion of shopping, the

customer replaces the scanner in the dispenser rack, which

automatically issues a bar coded transaction ticket.

7. The shopper proceeds to a special express pay station where

the cashier scans the bar coded ticket and accepts the customer's

coupons, and payment is tendered. Transaction completed, the

customer receives a full receipt.

Tomorrow's Supermarket Today

This remarkable system lets customers whisk through the checkout line by letting them scan their purchases in the aisles as they shop.

It is likely that the system will be standard in most supermarkets within the next three years, predicts Chris Hughes, managing director of the Retail Automation Consultancy in Great Britain.

"Shoppers already face a tremendous amount of pressure in supermarkets. But self-scanning should cut the queues," Hughes asserts.

The Portable Personal Shopper system is nothing less than revolutionary, according to Martin Sloane, author of "The 10-Minute Shopper" whose nationally syndicated column, "The Supermarket Shopper," is read by 10 million readers.

"I believe Americans will quickly grow accustomed to using hand-held scanners. I would love any system that does away with long checkout lines," Sloane says.

CONTACT: Norman Birnbach

Brodeur & Partners

617/622-2866