Browser based store specific emergency POS

Somerfield: A Case Study

With over 900 stores, Somerfield operate in many prominent locations throughout the UK. The range carried in each store is a delicate balance depending on the size of the store and meeting the needs of the local community. There are over 9 million transactions each week totaling £4.37 billion turnover per annum.

Somerfield was looking for a cost-effective solution that would provide all stores with an emergency point of sale application in order to be 100% legally compliant for all their promotional activities, whilst ensuring a consistent corporate look across the whole estate.

To this end, Somerfield are introducing a new ticketing system which will allow stores to select and print last minute offers and replacement POS for their own specific range of promotions including 'simply value' and produce.

By using the central web based solution, net.tickIT, stores have halved the time they currently take to generate an emergency ticket and can be certain of its accuracy on a day-by-day basis. This is particularly significant for produce lines requiring Country of Origin and Class where these can change daily. The POS management system developed by Eastman-POS, who are now part of Pierhouse Business Solutions Ltd, is capable of installation within a few weeks as the system is modular, scalable and quick to configure to suit each retailer's needs.

The main two-weekly promotions are automatically feed into net.tickIT from their Freedom Shopper system and stores are able to print their store specific promotions at the click of a button. For more reactive price changes, net.tickIT can also import a range of spreadsheets, allowing head office to visually proof these before releasing the changes to all their stores. Additional benefits of the web-solution give head office users the ability to audit stores for compliance and can review exception reports of those stores who do not fulfil their printing requirements in good time. Another benefit to stores is the ability to create temporary POS by selecting product descriptions from the library, selecting the required template and extending the offer in line with local need.

Somerfield says the solution has enabled last-minute changes to be accurately reflected in all stores with a 50% saving in labour that is equivalent to more than half a million pounds per annum, giving an ROI of less than four months.