May I Assist?

All of the checkouts at Fresh & Easy are full-service — it just depends on how you look at them.

One would think that a retailer that operated stores with 100 percent self-checkout units wouldn't be known for “high-touch” service, but Tesco-owned Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market is known for just that, and its self-checkout units are largely the reason.

You see, Fresh & Easy doesn't view its NCR SelfServ Checkout units — which it uses exclusively throughout the El Segundo, Calif.-based chain — in the literal sense, but rather as “assisted” checkouts. In other words, it really considers them manned checkouts, only the store associates are on the same side of the registers as the customer.

“We actually offer assisted service,” marketing director Simon Uwins wrote in Fresh & Easy's blog. “If you want to check out yourself, you can; if you want help, we'll provide it; and if you want us to do it for you, we will.”

The idea behind operating assisted checkouts was part of the company's goal of creating a modern 21st-century company built on efficiency that keeps costs down and prices low, notes Fresh & Easy communications director Brendan Wonnacott. While this philosophy permeates the banner's entire enterprise and supply chain, it's most evident in its stores.

Simplicity is Fresh & Easy's mantra, and is demonstrated in each of its 176 stores in California, Arizona and Nevada. Each location is approximately 10,000 square feet in size and offers between 3,500 and 4,000 SKUs, primarily pre-packaged produce and meat, frozen foods and bakery goods, many of which are store-brand items. (Fresh & Easy has a strong private label program. Its store-brand wines, for example, have won 275 medals in wine competitions since 2007, with the majority of its award-winning varietals retailing for under $10.) Stores offer basic fixtures, and many items are displayed in their cases on the shelves, which speeds up restocking.

Check it Out

Fresh & Easy teamed up with Duluth, Ga.-based NCR to design a checkout configuration that typically consists of four convertible conveyor-belt units with four bag stations for shoppers with larger baskets, as well as four smaller-footprint, non-belted units with two bag stations. The number and layouts of the units vary with the design of each store, and all units accept cash, credit and debit cards, but no checks.

By running its checkouts in this manner, Fresh & Easy technically has all of its lanes open, all the time — a claim most grocers can't make — which translates into shorter lines, enabling customers to complete their shopping faster.

Extra-assisted Checkout

Pending legislation in California may mean the need for more assistance for Fresh & Easy shoppers looking to purchase wine using its assisted checkout units.

Assemblywoman Fiona Ma, who represents the Richmond District in the California State Assembly, is the author of AB 183, which the grocer has nicknamed the “Son of Tesco Fresh & Easy Law” and which has already passed in the California State Assembly. Currently awaiting consideration in the California State Senate, the law, if passed, would officially ban the sale of alcoholic beverages at self-service checkout stands.

This would mean that Fresh & Easy would have to alter its current store concept to offer at least one full-service checkout stand, with a clerk working it all of the time, in each of its 127 stores in the Golden State.

Ronald Fong, president and CEO of the Sacramento-based California Grocers Association (CGA), criticized the bill, saying it's backed by the powerful United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW) merely to attack non-union retailers.

“Assembly Bill 183 is just another recycled idea from previous legislative sessions,” says Fong, pointing out that a similar bill (AB 1060-De La Torre) was vetoed by former governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, who said at the time: “There is no legitimate evidence to suggest that self-service grocery checkout stands are contributing to the theft of alcoholic beverages and sale to minors or intoxicated persons. Retailers have several strong reasons to prevent the theft or sale of alcohol to minors, including the fact that alcohol is an expensive product to be stolen and a grocer's alcohol sales license could be placed in jeopardy. Thus, it is unclear what problem this bill seeks to address.”

CGA also says that new data collected from the state's Department of Alcohol Beverage Control (ABC) confirms that the overwhelming majority of violations for selling alcohol to minors occur at small liquor stores, not at retail markets.

“Our members understand that selling alcohol to minors is a serious violation of the law, and our members work hard to ensure that minors cannot buy alcohol,” says Fong. “No responsible retailer would risk losing a license to sell these products in their stores. Stores that use self-checkout have solid protections in place to prevent minors from attempting to purchase alcohol, considering that the current technology requires an attendant to approve alcohol-related transactions. We see this legislation as a solution in search of a problem.”

“We no longer use stations to oversee the checkout units. … We want our employees to mix with our shoppers.” — Brendan Wonnacott, Fresh & Easy

Having all assisted checkouts also gives the grocer the flexibility to re-deploy store associates where needed, which reduces the number of staff necessary to man a store, as employees are used more efficiently, and means that the maximum number of associates is interacting with customers.

Untethered Interaction

“This allows us to increase the level of touch we have with our shoppers,” says Wonnacott. “By untethering our employees from the front end, we allow them to interact more with shoppers on the floor. That's also why we no longer use stations to oversee the checkout units. We took them out in the beginning. We want our employees to mix with the shoppers. Since opening, our customers have time and again commented on just how friendly and helpful our staff is. It's a really defining feature of our stores.”

Because of this greater interactivity, Fresh & Easy places a greater emphasis on people skills; it provides two days of life skills training for each store associate.

Indeed, Wonnacott admits that not all shoppers prefer using the assisted checkouts, and many diehard fans of full-service checkouts shopping Fresh & Easy for the first time may find themselves a bit puzzled when they realize the option isn't available. But a store associate is always on hand to take over and handle the transaction for them.

That's the point when the shopper realizes the term “full-service checkout” isn't defined by the type of register a store has, but rather by how those registers are used.

Nuts and Bolts

NCR SelfServ Checkout was developed to allow customers to scan, bag and pay for items on their own, or with the help of a store associate. Its updated design offers store and lane reconfiguration capability. Following are some of its features and benefits:

■ Enhance the Shopping Experience: NCR SelfServ Checkout helps speed up the checkout process by making more checkouts available more of the time.

■ Optimize Resources: Self-checkout units enable retailers to redeploy labor to other areas of the store when needed to answer in-aisle questions, maintain inventory and assist customers.

■ Customization: The design of NCR SelfServ Checkout supports in-lane upgrades for unloading, bagging and color options. Retailers can also request color customization to match their company brand image.

■ Seamless Integration: The system's open architecture was developed to integrate easily with existing POS applications and peripherals, using a customized Transaction Broker software layer to create a “virtual cashier” for each self-checkout lane.

■ Shrink Protection: A number of psychological and physical theft deterrents are included in the NCR SelfServ Checkout, including an integrated security scale, a sophisticated self-learning and adjusting-weight database, intervention lights and sounds, and attendant-monitoring tools.

■ Ease of Use: Units feature a user-friendly interface that guides the consumer through the checkout process with animated demonstrations.

NCR has also developed its Checkout Mini, which enables retailers to extend their self-checkout areas in a fraction of the space, while offering the flexibility to add special lanes for smaller baskets or card-only purchases. The Mini supports the NCR SelfServ Checkout user and attendant experience, and has several security and monitoring options.