Woolworths is a retailing Aladdin's Cave. Whether your shopping
list includes the eclectic mix of a new washing-up bowl, a
Lego set and a pair of gardening gloves, or you simply crave
a bar of chocolate and a magazine, it is actually possible
to find everything you require under the roof of this high
street institution.
In fact, while it has around 800 stores located in
the centre of the UK's town and city centres, Woolworths is
now beginning to broaden its appeal even further with different
formats and new product offerings. For example, the 18 Big
W superstores have been established to meet consumer demand
for out-of-town destination shopping.
At the same time, the company has also begun an EPoS replacement
programme ("The Kingstore Project") in order to
speed things up at the point of sale and enhance the service
it offers to customers. Running Coalition software from NSB,
the new system will also benefit from Epson TM-H6000II printers,
chosen by Woolworths for their speed and reliability.
When they selected the receipt printer they had several key
requirements in mind. Fast and quiet receipt printing was
essential, as was cheque printing and endorsement and a compact
design. It was also important that the printer was user friendly
and very reliable as it would obviously be one of the most
heavily used elements of the system.
Woolworths commented that so far, feedback from store colleagues
has been very good, the printers are extremely fast and very
reliable; consumables can be easily changed with virtually
no disruption. The receipts can also now be 'queued' electronically,
which means the whole receipt is now only printed once the
transaction has actually been completed. Due to the TM-H6000II's
print speed, this can be done without causing delays at the
point of sale and it means the customer's receipt is much
clearer and easier to understand.
Following the Trial and Pilot phases of the implementation,
the new EPoS system is now live in over 200 stores. A full
rollout commenced in January 2002 with a projected completion
date for all stores of October 2005.
For further information contact
David Little, NSB Tel: 0121 329 8000.
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