OPTIMIZATION OF SERVICE AND THE INTRODUCTION OF SELF-SERVICE CASH REGISTERS IN A GROCERY STORE

Abstract

A grocery store chain is exploring the possibility of increasing customer service and, more specifically, introducing self-service checkouts to optimize its staff. However, increasing service productivity should not come at the expense of compromising service quality. Due to the specifics of the technological activity surrounding the improvement of service and the introduction of self-service checkouts, the staff needs to be trained by the manufacturer. By introducing self-service checkouts to the store network, an opportunity is identified to achieve an increase in service speed through organizational and technical changes in service processes, along with an investment in adding new equipment. Providing fast and quality customer service takes time, and this is where customer service checkouts come to the rescue. This report is related to many of the advantages associated with using customer service checkouts and we will give some valuable tips that you can use to increase your customer satisfaction. By using self-service checkouts in stores, the customer service team could be significantly optimized. At the same time, it is emphasized that not all problems can be solved with the use of self-service checkouts, but nevertheless they will significantly help save time. Self-service checkouts for customer service in stores in customer service are a great way to achieve the goal, which is to consider the possibility of optimizing the operational staff in a company - a food chain of stores, as well as optimizing the workflow in terms of customer service activities at the checkout, by introducing self-service checkouts (SCO-self-Checkout), which will improve the effective use of human resources and the efficiency of the work of the operational staff. Self-service checkouts are becoming increasingly widespread in Bulgaria. Introduced by a number of international companies operating in the country, this type of service has not yet taken over retail in our country and the cashier with real cash is often the preferred method of payment in the store. It provides customers with the opportunity to manually mark and pay for the products in their basket, saving time. A suitable choice for supermarkets, hypermarkets and smaller format stores, but with a high load during peak shopping hours. The benefits of automation are many, especially for the retail outlet: improving the working conditions of employees related to customer service activities, by forming uniformity in the daily distribution of service personnel and optimizing the workflow of the cashiers, which saves labor costs, insurance premiums, etc.; reducing labor costs - one cashier can assist 4 to 10 self-service cashiers simultaneously; speeding up the customer service process and shortening queues; free employees can focus on better customer service; cashiers do not have access to the customer's money. In addition, the quality of the service offered improves and customer satisfaction increases. Self-service checkouts that are open and operating constantly are presented as a Multi-server mass service system. One employee from each shift takes care of servicing these checkouts to help the customer. The technology or discipline of service implies that customers enter a common queue, and the service takes place in a multi-server device with a number of server equal to the number of checkouts. Changes in the system's throughput are possible, the goal being to reduce the waiting time of service requests in the system.