The Lithuanian company UAB "Raso" has created an innovation in the trade sector - self-service machines for controlled and small goods that work with specially generated QR codes. These machines were first introduced for the sale of tobacco products and balance tracking at self-service checkouts, when the age of customers must be checked and it is ensured that only persons over 20 years of age can buy such products.
Self-service machines have started to be installed in the shopping network "Norfain stores. The created solution allows for faster and more convenient management of the flow of tobacco products purchased at self-service checkouts, and for customers to purchase these products in one purchase with other products.
"Employees who oversee the self-service checkout departments of shopping centers have the responsibility of ensuring the smooth operation of not one, but several, sometimes even a dozen, checkouts. Dispensing tobacco products required additional time and care until now. In some places, merchants solved this problem by selling tobacco products separately in information sections - however, this method is not convenient for the visitor. Our installed tobacco machines optimize processes: tobacco products are paid for together with other goods at self-service checkouts, and they can be collected independently from self-service machines with a printed QR code," says Ričardas Tamašiūnas, sales manager of UAB "Raso", which develops technological systems for trade, logistics, and production.
The principle of operation of self-service machines is very simple from the user's perspective. When shopping at self-service checkouts, the buyer selects the desired tobacco product by pressing just a few buttons. The buyer's age is confirmed, the goods are paid for and a special QR code is printed with the purchase receipt. After reading it on the screen of the tobacco machine, the machine issues the purchased product. All tobacco machines are located next to self-service cash registers, so picking up goods is easy and fast.
"It is very convenient for buyers, but the benefit is mutual, because the employee has only one task in the whole process - to check the buyer's age." Self-service machines allow the salesperson to direct his attention to his direct duty - the maintenance of self-service cash registers, and not to issuing goods," says Vitalijus Garbauskas, head of Raso UAB.
However, the principle of operation of self-service machines only seems simple. In fact, the operation of the machines had to be synchronized with the work of the self-service cash registers, so that the course of trade met the requirements of the law and went smoothly.
"We borrowed the very principle of the tobacco machine from our colleagues - the Spanish company Azkoyen, which manufactures machines for selling coffee, snacks and tobacco products. There, the law allows you to buy tobacco products right on the street. We brought the idea and details, but we programmed and adapted the equipment to work with self-service checkouts. It's just one click for the buyer, but the system itself has dozens of requests going on at the same time. After the customer selects the desired product, the self-service checkout sends a request to the tobacconist and receives a response as to whether the product balance is sufficient and the product can be sold. If the balance is decreasing, the tobacco machine sends a signal to the cash register supervised by the seller and indicates which goods should be replenished. In just a few seconds, the entire chain of communication between different devices takes place, and the customer doesn't even feel it - he gets his chosen product instantly", R. Tamašiūnas presents the intricacies of the system.
According to V. Garbauskas, the introduction of tobacco machines facilitates the work of the entire self-service checkout system. Employees no longer need to manually calculate product balances, no longer need to spend time on additional customer service, human errors are avoided - everything happens accurately and smoothly. When placing goods in the tobacco machine, employees note with a few clicks how many and what goods have been placed, and further accounting is already carried out by the system itself.
Self-service vending machines are currently installed only in Norfa stores, but interest from other merchants is growing and more and more requests are being received. This is an innovation on the market, which can be applied to a much wider range of goods in the future.
"Having seen the real benefits of the technology, merchants are implementing it for the sale of tobacco products not only in self-service, but also at all cash registers. It is much more convenient for the customer to print the QR code and let them pick up the product themselves, because the machine takes care of recording the balance and ensures accuracy. What's more, self-service vending machines can easily turn into a dispensing point for other items, especially small items that are difficult to keep track of. The applicability of the equipment is wide, so seeing the success of the technology programmed by our team, we are already developing new ideas for innovative integrations in retail chains," says R. Tamošiūnas.
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