Magnum supermarket: checkouts without cashiers

Magnum, Kazakhstan's largest retail chain, is opening stores with self-checkout counters where shoppers can make express purchases without a cashier, scanning product barcodes themselves and paying by bank card. The terminals are being integrated into Magnum's information systems landscape by the IT company Prime Source

In November the new service went live in three Magnum hypermarkets: in Almaty, at the branches on Gagarin Street and in the Aport mall, and in Nur-Sultan, at the company's newest and largest store on Turan Avenue. Magnum plans to roll out such counters at its other branches as well.

This is one of the first projects of such scale in Kazakhstan.

Cashierless checkouts bring a number of benefits. Experience shows that self-checkout shortens queues, since these counters do not depend on staff availability. They can run around the clock, with no breaks or shift changes. Projects of this kind also help cut operating costs. In the new self-service area, a single consultant will look after several counters and step in whenever customers have questions. The self-checkout zone comes with intuitive instructions that guide the shopper all the way from scanning barcodes to leaving the store.

Self-checkout stores are widespread around the world. According to the consulting firm RBR and its report “Global EPOS and Self-Checkout 2019”, in 2018 alone sales of self-checkout counters grew by 28%. Last year around 80,000 such counters were sold worldwide. RBR analysts report that by 2024 the number of self-checkout “islands” in stores will rise to 675,000.

“The main goal we are pursuing by installing self-checkout counters is to improve service quality and add convenience for our valued customers. We also expect turnover to grow as the store handles more shoppers,” — says the Chairman of the Management Board of Magnum, Azamat Osmanov.

What makes the self-checkout zones special is that customers can ring up their goods and pay for them on their own. The counters are designed for express service, that is, up to 10 items. Payment is accepted by card only.

“Successful modern enterprises differ from the dying ones in that they harness the boundless power of robotics and artificial intelligence to build smart, proactive and customer-friendly processes. The project at Magnum is a vivid demonstration of how a company cares for its customers and fine-tunes its processes with modern technology, and all of this is what makes Magnum an industry leader,” — commented the CEO of Prime Source, Evgeny Scherbinin.

https://forbes.kz/process/technologies/supermarket_magnum_kassyi_bez_prodavtsov/