Royal Farms rolling out self-checkout chainwide
A privately-owned, mid-Atlantic convenience store chain is equipping all of its 250-plus stores with self-checkout terminals.
Royal Farms is in the process of introducing self-checkout technology in all its stores. This self-checkout rollout adds to the existing NCR solutions that Royal Farms has in place, including the NCR enterprise POS software platform. By adding self-checkout technology, the convenience retailer intends to improve efficiencies for staff, as well as the in-store experience for customers.
Self-checkout is becoming increasingly popular in the convenience store vertical, where quick, efficient shopping for a limited product assortment lends itself to a streamlined transactional experience. For example, Midwest convenience/grocery chain Hy-Vee recently completed a full deployment of the GK OmniPOS, TransAction+ Payments and GK Drive forecourt solutions in all its convenience stores. As a result of the integrated store operations platform deployment, Hy-Vee intends to support a variety of customer touchpoints, including traditional POS, self-checkout, fuel pump, payments, and curbside pickup.
In addition to obtaining end-to-end enterprise integration, Hy-Vee will be able to utilize the GK platform to add flexible touchpoints and alternative payment methods. As a result, Hy-Vee is streamlining payments, as well as mobile and personalization services, in its convenience locations.
During summer 2021, downstream energy company Delek U.S. Holdings, which operates over 250 convenience stores in central and west Texas and New Mexico, deployed computer vision-based self-checkout technology to select convenience stores. The company rolled out artificial intelligence (AI)-based self-checkout technology from Mashgin at more than 70 Delek DK store locations across Texas.
As a result, Delek customers can walk in the store, select the items they want, place them on the Mashgin kiosk tray, and have all items instantly recognized and simultaneously totaled in less than half a second. The solution eliminates the need to search for and scan barcodes.
In general, computer vision-based self-checkout solutions that eliminate the need for scanning product barcodes are becoming increasingly popular in the convenience vertical. In addition to the pioneering “Just Walk Out” cashierless store format Amazon is licensing to other chains, convenience retailers including Circle K, Chartwells at the University of Houston, QuickEats Close Convenience, and Valet Market are all piloting or developing pilots of self-checkout systems based on computer vision.
“We introduced the first NCR self-checkout solutions in 2019, and while we saw direct benefits in the same year, it really took off in 2021 when many of our customers steered to touch-free interactions,” said Shelby Kemp, project manager marketing, Royal Farms. “We selected NCR because of its clear vision of the future of retail and profound experience as market leader.”
“Retailers like Royal Farms must stay laser-focused on placing the consumer at the heart of their digital transformation efforts,” said David Wilkinson, president and general manager, NCR Retail. “As a leading technology provider for the retail industry, we help stores extend and add new technology like self-checkout quickly.”
Based in Baltimore, Royal Farms operates more than 250 convenience store locations throughout Maryland, Delaware, Virginia, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey. Most locations are open 24 hours, 365 days a year.