West Midlands Co-op has awarded a£1 million contract to Fujitsu Services to replace its ageing EPoS system, supplied by Torex and Riva.
The system, based on Fujitsu's GlobalStore EPoS platform, will be installed across the retailer's 35-store estate and comprises cash tills, a radio frequency (RF) wireless network to support data transfer to and from the tills, and an automated stock management system.
The tills improve on the read rate of the previous EPoS and feature touch-sensitive screens which, according to West Midlands Co-op food division general manager Roy Frodsham, are preferred by till operators.
The stock management system will enable Co-op to automate its inventory and replenishment processes, and is expected to reduce each store's stock holding by 20 per cent.
West Midlands Co-op is also trialling self-checkouts in its new store at Bicton Heath, Shrewsbury. Of the eight tills being installed in the 10,000 sq ft (930 sq m) store, four will be unmanned. 'We will then go on to include them (self-checkouts) in further refits,' said Frodsham. 'We are all going to see a lot more of this in the future.'
The self-checkout tills will by supplied by Optimal Robotics, which has also installed them in the retailer's sister company, the Oxford, Swindon and Gloucester Co-op.
However, the biggest first for the West Midlands Co-op is the installation of iLid electronic shelf-edge labels at Bicton Heath. Frodsham claims this is the first time that the labels - which are controlled by the flicker rate of store lighting - have been used in the UK.
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