No items found.
There is no doubt that nowadays customers are used to convenience and comfort. What matters to them is no longer just the rich assortment available in the store, but also the overall shopping experience and the time they need to spend buying their chosen products. Contrary to what might seem, for many retail chains, the increase in the number of customers can translate into a number of challenges in the form of the need for additional costs associated with hiring more staff and reduced customer satisfaction due to long checkout queues. The answer to the problems, both for shoppers and stores, has been found by a Polish startup ZeroQs, which has developed and deployed SmartCart mobile self-service checkouts on the market. Their technology has already been used by chains such as Społem and Detal Centrum, and talks are underway with major retailers in Europe - the company is preparing to increase its presence in Poland and foreign markets.
It has happened to each of us to feel a little irritation, standing another minute in line at the store checkout. It is all the more so when we see a significant number of products in the shopping cart of the person in front of us, which guarantees that it will be some more time before we can pay for our purchases. Queues in stores are the biggest bane not only of consumers, but also of retail chains, which realize how much it lowers the so-called shopping experience, and thus the level of customer satisfaction and the possibility of the customer choosing another retail outlet in the future. For this reason, among others, we have been observing in recent years an increased motivation of fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) retail chains to reach for innovative solutions to improve their operations and support consumer satisfaction. In some cases, retail stores try to solve this problem through self-service checkouts, but in this case, too, we often encounter queues and technical problems that require the intervention of store employees and increase the time spent by the customer on the payment process. A Polish startup ZeroQs has gone one step further. The founders, Jarosław Kaczmarczyk and Tomasz Brulinski, developed and implemented mobile self-service checkout technology on the market. Their SmartCart is a smart shopping cart that has an integrated weighing and vision system, barcode reader and touch screen. The customer, putting the products into the shopping cart, scans the barcode of each product using a built-in reader. The weighing and vision system controls the entire shopping process, which protects retail chains from possible theft, attempted fraud or customer confusion. As the customer leaves the store, the payment is automatically charged from his or her account. - Describes the ZeroQs functionality, the company's CEO, Jaroslaw Kaczmarczyk. Our technology not only allows retail chains to offer their customers a new level of shopping experience through fast and convenient queue-free shopping, but also enhances their security and allows for significant savings due to reduced staffing requirements. - adds Kaczmarczyk. The savings from the automation offered by ZeroQs can be very noticeable for store chains. Currently, the market is experiencing an increasing problem with rising employment costs. GUS data from the fourth quarter of 2022 shows a 14.2 percent increase in employment costs compared to the previous year. The employment cost index between the first and fourth quarters of 2022 increased by 8.3 percent, which poses a challenge for various sectors of the economy, especially the retail sector. On the other hand, from the customer's perspective, a good shopping experience, leveling out the time spent in queues and simplifying the entire process, definitely encourages repeat use of a particular store or chain.
According to our analysis and reports available in the market, such as the one prepared by McKinsey & Company titled 'Transformation in Store,' automating in-store processes, implementing effective inventory management to reduce waste, and providing customers with an exceptional shopping experience can significantly increase EBIT margins, possibly even doubling them. This demonstrates that innovative solutions like SmartCart from ZeroQs have the potential to transform the way we shop today and in the future, benefiting both consumers and businesses. - comments one of the company's investors, Michal Lewandowski, managing partner at Freya Capital. We must remember that ZeroQs not only streamlines the shopping process, but also collects an incredible amount of data about customers and their shopping preferences, which allows analytics and predictive departments and store managers to make better and more accurate decisions. It is worth noting that the global market for in-store analytics alone is estimated at $3.43 billion in the current year. What's more, the aggregated data makes it possible to offer personalized advertisements displayed to customers on shopping carts, adding to ZeroQs value. - adds Zbigniew Barwicz, managing partner at Freya Capital.
Certainly, convenience, time saving and simplicity of the shopping process on the part of customers, as well as its automation, cost reduction and efficient inventory management will be the future of the retail sector. Store chains, under the pressure of high market competition, are increasingly looking for additional areas to build their advantage. This creates a huge opportunity for startups offering solutions in this very area. The market situation that we perceive, as well as the very positive feedback from our customers, only strengthen our original assumptions about the functionality of our product. The implementations on the Polish market allowed us to extensively test and refine our technology, which prepared us for the foreign expansion planned in the near future. - comments Jarosław Kaczmarczyk, CEO ZeroQs.
We can be sure that in the coming years we are facing a revolution of sorts, which will definitely change the shopping experience of stationary store customers. The fast pace of life, and consequently consumers' limited time for shopping and desire for convenience, are forcing retail chains to change and innovate. There is no doubt that technological solutions can and will support retail chains in this pursuit, for satisfaction, comfort and customer loyalty.
Check it out for more 👉 Rzeczpospolita article
