Posted on 07/23/2012 12:17:42 PM PDT by kevcol
J.C. Penney (JCP) will say farewell to cash registers, checkout counters and cashiers by 2014, said Ron Johnson, the chain's CEO, during the Fortune Brainstorm Tech conference, reports Time.
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"Think of a physical store without a cash wrap," Johnson told the audience, according to Time. "About 10% of all the money we spend, half a billion dollars a year, goes to [checkout] transactions." The money saved by replacing checkout stations with new technology could be invested in improving customer service, he said.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailyfinance.com ...
Although I seldom shop at Sears, in some departments there is a person on the floor that carries all the way through with the transaction.
I bought a chainsaw last week and an associate made the sale and cashed it out.
The same is true for electronics. I don’t know about clothing
For many, many years, customers at Service Merchandise stores had the option to ring themselves out using a kiosk called Silent Sam.
Sam never accounted for more than about 2% of store transactions. Mall shoppers are not Early Adapters.
They’ll still take cash just fine. I shop at Fresh and Easy for Groceries and there are no cashiers. luv it and im fast.
I dont shop at JC Penney but if they want to turn the shopping expeeience onto a commodity it will be reflected in thier sales.
It will feel like shopping online and I’m comfortable buying from certain manufactueres of clothing.
Brooks Brothers, Burberry, Paul Stewart, Allen Edmonds, Ferragamo, Cole Haan all fit exactly as they should for my size and i rarely try them on in the store as such.
They won’t have to worry about cash registers, or doors. They will be closed.
They're pulling them from high theft stores, we still have them in my area.
We still have most gas stations where you can get your gas and then go in and pay for it. Traveling in Missouri recently all I could find was "pay first". Too many "drive offs", I suppose.
This sounds like a loser to me.. while younger folks may be fine with this, how do you think older shoppers will deal with it?
This guys trying something 20 years before he should IMHO, at least in a retail venue where you have a lot of elderly shoppers.
I liked them, but one of the things I bought regularly at Walmart was a two pack of lithium coin batteries ($3 for one battery, $3.50 for two?). Every time I tried to use the self serve the package was too light to be detected on the bagging scale and a supervisor had to come over and punch in an override code. Since then they've jacked up the two pack price so I don't go very often anymore.
I don’t shop Sears because of its made in China Craftsman tools and I don’t shop Penney’s because of its poor quality merchandize and its embrace of the homosexual agenda. Sears is projected by some analysis to be out of business by year’s end. Penny’s should follow.
I refuse to use them because I won’t help a company deduce its employe base. I’ll stand in long lines if it will help even a few people remain employed.
I’m with you. I like the personal touch when I shop.
My credit union has gone to computer monitor xactions only.
I never go in the bldg anymore. Apparently neither does anyone else as I never see any cars around the bldg.
OTOH it’s probably just what they want. Less staff.
In the old days each person had their own sales book, from which they got their bonuses from good sales, that was back when they treated their customers with care, which brought them back. Times have changed!!!
I do like the self checkouts myself for the small stuff.
This approach makes a lot of assumptions about their clientele (that they are all technologically savvy, for starters) that may not be accurate. However, J C Penney is floundering and probably desperate to find a way back to profitability. I doubt this is it but I rarely shop at Penney's so I don't care much if it is - or not.
... as well as stores, warehouses, and trucks.
My Stop & Shop super market has some of the JCP planned technology, in use; for customers who choose to use it.
You register for the service at the Customer Service counter. The registration assigns the Credit/Debit card you select to your Stop & Shop savings card. When you enter the store, you can use your Stop and Shop card to pick up your owner scanner, to take with you when you shop - if you want.
You use it to scan the items you are putting in your cart. (It might be a different cart - I’m not sure). It is tabulating your bill as you shop. The one thing it can’t do is weigh your produce on an electronically connected scale (coming in the produ8ce dept they say). It does have a little screen, and although I’ve never used it, I am told it can make suggestions to you - like a similar item that is on sale.
When you are done shopping, you stop at one of the “Self Check Out” stands, scan your Stop & Shop card, and your bill is shown on the check out screen. If you registered with a Debit card, it will still ask for your Pin#. If you registered with a credit card, it will ask for your signature on the electronic pad. Then it prints your receipt. In all the Stop and Shop supermarkets I know, “Self Check Out” usually means “self bagging” generally unless someone is available.
As for as how much additional RID tags they have (or hope to add), to try to confirm you scanned all the items placed in your cart, I am not sure.
Myself, I don’t use it.
But I do use the “Self Check Out” stations. The lines are usually non-existent or shorter.
I can understand how these type of moves have become almost essential in the super market industry, where the profit margins average between $0.01 and $0.02 on the dollar.
But, clothing has HUGE mark-ups, and the mark-ups on housewares, furniture, electronics & jewelry are all greater than what Super Markets can do on food.
The JCP comment was:
“About 10% of all the money we spend, half a billion dollars a year, goes to [checkout] transactions.”
I am little perplexed about exactly what that means, and how it might compare with their industry - retail-general dept store, and with other retail industries. You’d think a good “journalist” would have researched that info and given it to the reader - with which to make our own judgment of the JCP comment.
Yet, if merchandize is sold, then how do you record the sale and debit the customer unless there IS a “checkout” transaction” - somewhere, somehow.
They obviously are NOT talking about NOT making a “check out transaction” - in some manner, but only looking at how to economize in the methods of doing it. It will be interesting to watch.
———In the old days———
There is another very important fact involved. Those here chose to trash the queer and not shop where there are queers but missed the main factor in the Penny’s change. The knee jerk reaction missed the salient point.
The more important factor in the failure of the now fired CEO was that he trashed generations of how to make retail sales. Those methods and rules and consumer habits have been evolving since the founding of the company and most other retailers. He changed the advertising and imposed his thoughts on how to sell.
He failed totally . He will be remembered for ever in business school courses and even text books as an example of what not to do.
Is it too late to short the stock?
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