As the largest regional co-operative society in the UK, United Co-operatives sees the importance of investing in today’s advanced technology for the benefit of its members and customers.

United Co-operatives boasts a £2.5 billion turnover, and employs 16,500 staff throughout the Midlands and Northern England. As such, it’s committed to maintaining a high standard of service to customers, while offering incentives and discounts to its members and employees. Of the major businesses run by United Co-operatives, it is the forecourt division which has recently undergone a complete EPoS upgrade. With 36 forecourts across the region, the Society was keen to employ the latest technology to ensure consistency and efficient service at every site. “We needed to implement a single consolidated system over all the forecourts, to aid the smooth running of our business while presenting a professional image,” said Janson Woodall, Technical Analyst at United Co-operatives. Another priority was to find an EPoS system that would accommodate and facilitate its ‘active members’ loyalty scheme, promotions and staff discount schemes.

The answer was a solution including Torex Retail’s Iridium EPoS software and Prism back-office software, together with Epson’s MR-800 modular terminals. Offering complete versatility and multiple connectivity options, the touchscreen MR-800 is intuitive and easy-to-use, and offers the flexibility and adaptability required by United Co-operatives. “Training on the new system has been very straightforward,” commented Woodall. “So much so that we’ve been able to do most of it in-house.”

Being totally modular, the MR-800 provides United Co-operatives with full layout flexibility. “Arranged so only the touchscreen is visible on the counter, the PoS area now looks modern and smart, which makes a good impression on our customers,” commented Woodall. “And we really appreciate the fact that we can configure the on-screen layout to give a corporate standard based on the forecourt offering.”

Torex also recommended Epson’s TM-T88IV thermal receipt printers, for added speed and efficiency at the point of service. Having previously used dot-matrix printers, United Co-operatives has been delighted with the fast results: “The TM-T88IVs are so quick and easy to re-load – it’s just a case of dropping in the paper roll, and away you go!” said Woodall. And the MR-800’s built-in Magnetic Stripe Reader (MSR) has also been a hit: “It simplifies the whole process of making discounts accessible to our staff. We now simply swipe their cards in order to activate the discounts.”

The new EPoS and back office management system has now been rolled out in all but one of United’s forecourts, and the Society plans to add additional features as the business develops further. Woodall concluded: “We’re delighted that our new system is so adaptable, resilient and reliable, and that we can build on the Epson and Torex solution as the Society grows.”

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