Supermarkets embrace self-checkout tills

Tesco's Metro store near Liverpool Street station operates more self-checkout tills than anywhere else in the country, having converted 20 of its 42 lanes to unmanned, automatic terminals to cope with the large volume of customers, states Financial Times.

Tesco is spearheading the biggest deployment of self-service tills in Europe, with almost half its 2 115 UK stores featuring the tills - a 30% rise on last year. More than 6.5 million Tesco transactions - 25% of total sales - are performed on automated tills each week.

But Tesco is not alone. Supermarkets are aiming to double self-checkout tills within three years, spurred by improvements in technology and recession-induced cost cuts.

GuestLogix has announced a strategic agreement to provide personalised advertising on receipts printed by GuestLogix point-of-sale handhelds and viewed on devices used by travellers, according to Earth Times.

The ads are delivered via Jetera's patent pending targeted content delivery system through GuestLogix' latest merchandising service to airlines, Ads by OnTouch, and the receipts are automatically generated whenever a passenger makes a purchase via GuestLogix.

"Destination-based, personalised receipt advertising is a brand new onboard advertising category," said Tom Douramakos, president and CEO, GuestLogix.

Three of the industry's top technology specialists have formed a partnership to provide an e-commerce offering for retailers hoping to attract and serve consumers shopping on the Internet, reports Furniture Today.

The partnership includes Colorado-based ProfitSystems, North Carolina-based MicroD and Ohio-based The Lively Merchant. Together, the companies have developed an advanced Web solution called e-Showroom.

The process basically allows retailers with no Web sites or Web sites that need improvement to get a turnkey enhancement. The process starts with an assessment of what the retailer really wants his Web site to do (The Lively Merchant) and continues to encompass the creation of catalogues and room-planning capabilities (MicroD) and setting up a system to run it on (ProfitSystems).