People want convenience in everything they do, and shopping is no exception. As a retailer, you’ll be keen to deliver customers a smooth checkout experience that stands out against the competition. But you also have to keep costs down and make your operations as efficient as possible.    

It’s time to take your point-of-sale to the next level and meet your operational and customer needs. The missing ingredient is accessible AI.  

Choose a smarter point of sale system  

The point of sale is the key to your store operations and customer transactions. Choosing POS software that’s efficient, accurate and easy to train on will have benefits for your cashiers, your customers and your bottom line.  

Get this right, and your cashiers will be more satisfied and will be able to give your customers more time and attention. The more efficient your cashiers are, the more you can increase throughput. The faster the checkout process is, the more satisfied your shoppers will be. And improved accuracy will prevent loss and help your bottom line look good.  

Relieve the burden on store staff  

Are your cashiers’ checkout screens covered in notes with PLU for fruit and veg? It’s not uncommon! Supermarkets have a range of fresh produce available, with seasonal variations, organics and local produce. Many of these items either won’t be labelled or will be priced based on weight, adding up to a lot of PLU. It’s up to your staff to identify the produce, remember the correct PLU code, enter the code and weigh the item. In other words — your cashiers work hard.  

Integrating computer vision with your point-of-sale software makes their job easier. It helps your cashiers identify produce without needing to key in a code. Staff simply put the item on the scanner platform, and the AI does the rest. It’s faster than entering a code, so it’s more convenient, and the cashier can be more efficient. Plus, they can avoid the stress of remembering countless codes.  

Deliver smoother, faster, more accurate shopping  

According to the Retail Insight Network, 78% of consumers say they value convenience more today than before the global pandemic. Home delivery, online gym classes, online doctor visits and more fuelled the rise of the convenience-seeking consumer, and they’re here to stay.  

Even as shoppers return to the shop floor, customers still want the choice of a contactless shopping experience.    

A study by PYMNTS.COM found that as shoppers get more comfortable with digital experiences, 80% of like the idea of a non-traditional checkout, and 66% of consumers said that these new checkout experiences are what they want to try the most.  

Avoiding lines was cited the most as a reason to choose a self-service checkout, just after speed.  

Keep lines short by offering your shoppers a self-checkout option. The same clever AI can integrate with your SCO to provide customers with a smooth, fast checkout experience. With accurate, automatic product identification, you’ll be able to prevent shopper misidentification and remove the opportunity for fraud, which will help you tackle shrink.  

A word about staff training  

It takes time to train those hard-working cashiers. Over the holiday periods, many supermarkets take on additional students and casuals, so training really is a continuous process. With a little AI magic, you can remove the need to train on PLU codes. Let the system do the work, so your staff can focus on assisting your customers.  

Make sure you take advice from your vendor when it comes to training material and best practice so your people get the best out of your POS from day one.  

Get the right produce recognition software  

Artificial intelligence is pretty common nowadays. But not all AI is created equal, and supermarket needs are very specific. You’ll want to choose AI-powered automatic product recognition that’s made specifically for supermarket use cases and categories.    

Look for product recognition that you can install at your checkouts and self-checkouts to identify fresh produce and your bulk goods; can assist your cashiers and offer you a range of benefits. If you’re going to invest in cutting-edge tech, make it count and ensure it will be adaptable to changes in your produce range and future uses.  

Look for AI with bag detection, so you can make further savings by not wasting profit on bag taring costs unnecessarily.  

The secret ingredient? Tiliter Computer Vision

Once you integrate Tiliter AI with your point of sale, you can:  

• Reduce shrink  
• Reduce the opportunity for fraud  
• Reduce bag taring costs  
• Reduce the need for ongoing staff training    
• Give customers a choice of checkout options  
• Give your staff time back to focus on customer service  
• Reduce lines at traditional checkouts    
• Enable customers to maintain social distance  
• Improve inventory control    

If you’re ready to add a little magic to your checkout, take a look at our AI Checkout Solutions here, and get in touch if you’d like to know more.