How do supermarkets use ict

In addition to recording and tallying the sale, the system also performs other important tasks, including:. Many grocery shoppers stop by the store for only a few items and want to get in and out quickly. Self-serve fast-lane terminals with voice assistance allow customers to check out by themselves without having to wait in line.

Point-and-select touchscreens, a computerized voice assistant that gives directions for completing the sale and integrated payment processing speed the checkout. Scales and a produce picture directory on the screen eliminate the need to know specific codes for produce items. When questions arise, one employee can step in and manage four to six terminals, reducing the need for several employees operating multiple checkout lanes.

Also among the many uses of computers in supermarkets is the push toward expediting shopping with the use of scan-and-go technology. Stores are experimenting with a variety of techniques to help shoppers move in and out of stores quickly, such as hand-held scanners, smartphone apps and computer vision.

Some supermarkets offer hand-held scanners to their customers to use throughout their shopping trip. These computers are totals and for forecasting deliveries. These are the 'branch computers'. The computers are multi- Like many companies, they have experimented with giving functional, and each can access the data, which gives the customers hand held scanners to enter their own shopping.

The company is currently looking at developing a better system to get round these problems. Each product to be sold must have an identifying code number which is different from that of every other product. Different sizes of the same product even need different code numbers. These code numbers are printed onto the labels or packaging of the product in the form of bar codes. Each till also has its own base to which all of the above is attached.

It is the base unit which is connected by cables to the branch computer in the supermarket's system office. Bar codes are made up of a set of black lines and white spaces. Look at the bar code. You can see that it is split into two halves, and each half is contained within two thin black stripes. The diagram shows the pattern of lines for each digit on the bar code.

Notice that the pattern for a digit on the right hand half of a bar code is the opposite of the one on the left hand half. This is EAN. This is a thirteen achieved by using a scanner, which sends out infra-red laser digit number which can be used to uniquely identify a product. This is used to make sure the bar code has been read correctly. So is the EAN for a box of 80 Tetley tea bags. This is converted into electrical pulses which are sent along the cables to the branch computer.

The branch computer then searches its stock file for the product matching the EAN number. When this record is located the price and description of the product is extracted and sent back to the EPOS till at the checkout which then shows this item and price on the digital display, prints them on a receipt and adds the price to the total.

At the same time, the branch computer records that one of this item has been sold. We will look at how this is used for stock control on other pages. The scales at the EPOS till are also linked up to the branch computer. All loose fruit and vegetables are weighed at the checkout. Each product has a code number which, when typed in at the keyboard, gives the customer a description of the product on the receipt along with the weight and price of the purchase. The weight of the product is also deducted from the stock file.

This lessens the chance of mistakes as well as When a bar code has been correctly scanned, the scanner minimising the amount of time a customer has to spend at the emits a bleep. If no such sound is made, the item can be checkout. The keyboard is used to enter codes of products that will not scan, for example reduced price items. Not every customer pays by cash or cheque though. Many now opt to pay by a debit card such as Switch or Delta.

The latest in store development has been the arrival of smart card readers at the EPOS. A debit card with a smart chip is placed in the reader and the customer then enters their PIN to authorise the money being taken out This information is then added to the details of how much the of their account. This is because the corner shops are not able to compete with supermarkets. Also, nobody is ordering milk from milkmen anymore because they just go and buy milk from a supermarket once a week.

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These are typical operations that are easily found in supermarkets where the aim is to provide efficient service to customers while aiming at reaping optimal returns. It is an improvement to usual POS system. This system is placed at distribution outlets to dispense required change and manage transaction funds such that the attendants do not have to manually count change or calculate deposited cash in the collection box. There are separate slots for change and deposits and the user may not need to access any of the stored cash.

According to Takahashi, Hirai, and Kaneko , the system can improve fund management, efficiency of operations of tasks, and efficiency of management where errors could be incurred in manual counting of cash or when issuing change to customers.

The system eliminates need for reconciling cash at the end of the day which can be laborious and sluggish to supermarket managers. In this case, operational efficiency is improved in saving of time for operations and increasing effectiveness in fund management at the point of sale. These machines are especially applicable in large stores where customers queue to be served and expect to be served correctly at the least time possible.

Monitoring and controlling of stock is one of the many operations that is basic to supermarket business. These are businesses that have multiple suppliers and thousands of products for sale and make reorders at certain designated periods. Through automated supply chain management SCM system, electronic communication is made between the suppliers and the mainframe computer of a supermarket such that upon reaching a certain level, a reorder request is triggered and effected automatically.

It is possible to make faster decisions in this scenario where operations can be remodelled within the system to reflect the wishes of the specific company Emmett, A supermarket can use the system to perform other functions such as tracking order of goods as soon as they enter their warehouse and preventing overstocking of goods where depending on movement of specific items.

Bar codes, which identify products, their origin, manufacturer details and other specific details such as price and quantity, are used at the point of sale where EPOS system is often installed. Bar codes are useful in improving time of serving customers and enabling the business to do other functions such as performance analysis of various goods and maintaining stock levels of particular goods. At POS, scanned products send a message to the central computer that has data about all goods in a store which can be retrieved at will.

Information such as country source, the manufacturer, specific products details are useful in making reference to the product in future and especially at the point of sale where usually quantity and price are needed. At the same time of scanning, there is a system that runs seamlessly and helps in monitoring movements of the specific products within the store ISACA, Bar codes and automated stock performance and monitoring control system aid in making a store to be efficient and effective.

Operational efficiency is achieved in several ways such as accuracy of records, saving of costs, better integration and coordination among workers within the business and other stakeholders such as suppliers, easy to control and also ability to offer better service. At the end of the day, a business that utilises these opportunities achieves competitive advantage in the market. Loyalty cards are used to collect data about customer spending habits where preferences and other analytics are done to help a business better satisfy its customers.

Almost all major supermarket chains have loyalty cards that are used to collect customers spending data thus enabling them to serve customers depending on their shopping preferences Yeshin, Operations at customer service at the supermarket are thus made possible using loyalty cards with customer details stored in the system within the business.

Instead of analysing manually what specific customers shop and at what frequency, ICT automates this process and makes the otherwise laborious exercise to be achieved easily, accurately and effectively.

A supermarket business can then ensure preferences of certain orders are made in advance to meet needs of specific clientele as analysed by product analysis systems. Customers prefer to be served as individuals rather than being lumped together as if their needs and preferences were universal. This is in line with objectives of businesses to increase customer satisfaction. Online stores are applicable where ordered goods using internet platform are delivered at the homes of customers, saves time for customers that due to their nature of work or condition are unable to leave their physical locations.

Gupta and Jaroliya aptly captured application of ICT in retail environment by linking operational efficiency to competitive advantage. According to the duo, ICT is used to better serve customers hence maintaining a competitive edge in business. E-commerce is one of these ICT applications that enables customers to compare prices of products in various stores.

This improved flexibility enables them to buy products of their preference and also make payment on the same without necessarily leaving the comfort of their homes or places of works. This could be due to personal privacy or health reasons that may prevent customers from doing shopping at supermarket premises as usual. However, this platform may be a disadvantage to some shoppers where they are not able to check goods before buying them physically and chances businesses of misusing of customer data that is collected at the time of placing an order online.

This may influence online shoppers to avoid going online for shopping for fear of especially their credit card data being abused. This saves customers need for withdrawing cash from the ATM machines and also helps in reducing time to issue change.

The exact amount of money is deducted sometimes customers withdraw limited amounts of cash from the supermarkets. However, this system is also fraught with risks such as using skimming devices to impersonate ownership of debit card privileges Byron, For security reasons, debit cards should be used sparingly since they are not as secure as credit cards.

Customers are often advised against using them for online shopping since their funds are not protected Ryan, Some of the benefits of ICT take a long time to before they are fully realised due to issues such as skills, regulations, organisational change inertia Rocha, There is significant development in ICT in the general retail sector that if applied effectively, a business can gain in operational efficiency and customer satisfaction. Most of the information gathered was from developed countries that have significant differences in ICT infrastructural development from the current scenario in the country.

Whereas there is documented literature of ICT application in retail sector, it is assumed that level of adoption and its effectiveness is the same for all regions.

However, there is little to show for success in achieving operational efficiency in developing countries in the biggest retail segment, supermarkets or convenience stores. Through this research the level of adoption and gains in operational efficiency would fill this gap.

The conceptual framework of the research is represented diagrammatically in the figure below. Various applications such as supply chain management system SCM , enterprise resource planning ERP , customer relationship management CRM and bar code systems are used by the supermarkets at the backend of operations of a supermarket.

Others such as closed circuit televisions CCTVs and point of sale systems are used within the premises while loyalty cards and ATM cards that are used as debit cards are used interactively by the customers in the process of doing their purchases in the supermarkets.

The end goal of effective application of ICT is attainment of operational efficiency that is used to increase customer satisfaction and company profitability. Operational efficiency is explained using variables of speed, flexibility, reliability and cost efficiency. The research intended to use cross-sectional survey and descriptive research designs. These research designs are adequate since data collection was done once and were used to develop a regression model.

The resulting equation were used to explain the relationship between operational efficiency and extent of ICT usage in the sampled supermarkets in Nairobi. The researcher targeted supermarkets operating in Nairobi. At the moment, the total number of supermarkets operating in Nairobi, provided in the appendix , according to the Official Yellow Pages Kenya are one hundred and ten yellowpageskenya.

These supermarkets therefore formed the target population for this study.