The Future of Grocery Shopping Comes to Wisconsin

This winter, shoppers at the Woodman’s Food Markets Gammon Road location in Madison, Wis., got a look at the future of grocery shopping when the store unveiled and conducted demos for customers of the Woodman’s Mobile Shopper, powered by NCR Corporation.  The app is currently available on the Apple App Store.

With Mobile Shopper, shoppers can:

• Save time and make shopping easier by using their own iPhones to scan items in the aisles as they shop;
• Use the app to create virtual shopping lists before going to the store, further increasing the speed, efficiency and ease of shopping trips;
• Checkout at the Woodman’s self-checkout (SCO) stations with a QR code on their phones that transfers their mobile shopping information to the SCO.  The SCO station confirms the weight of the items scanned with the phone against the items being bagged at the SCO station;
• Pay with their preferred method of payment;
• Quickly be on their way. 

During the checkout process, attendants can quickly help customers reconcile any discrepancies the system identifies and answer any other questions they may have.  Produce, other non-barcoded items and impulse items can also be added at the self-checkout.  The store also features free WIFI throughout so shoppers do not have to use their own data plan while using the Mobile Shopper app.

“NCR brings unique and powerful technology that helps Woodman’s achieve our goals of customer service and convenience,” said Chad Greenwald at Woodman’s.  “We’re excited about launching this Mobile Shopper solution with NCR and look forward to delighting our customers with this new, high-tech shopping and check-out option.”

“With this launch, Woodman’s is moving toward making the shopping experience faster and more convenient for their shoppers,” said Chris Lybeer, vice president and general manager of retail marketing and mobile solutions at NCR.   “Launching mobile checkout takes Woodman’s to the forefront of the 21^st Century and creates additional opportunities in the future for Woodman’s to interact with their customers in real time during the shopping experience.”

Following deployment at the Madison location, Woodman’s will explore deploying Mobile Shopper at their other 13 stores in Wisconsin and Illinois.

For more information about the Woodman’s Mobile Shopper, follow the feed on Twitter, @WoodmansApp.  Or, check out this Mobile Payments Today video that shows how this great shopping tool works!

See more at: http://blogs.ncr.com/converged-multi-channel-retailing/point-of-sale/the-future-grocery-shopping-comes-wisconsin/

8 Ways Your Employees May Be Stealing From You

According to the National Restaurant Association, employee theft accounts for a loss of approximately 3% of annual sales. You may be wondering how to spot employee theft. This short list below gives some of the ways employees may be stealing from you:

• Transferring self service items (those that don’t generate a kitchen chit, such as coffee or soda) off a check that has been paid for with cash and reusing the same item on another check.
• Giving away self service items, such as a drink or dessert, to a guest with the expectation of receiving a larger than normal tip.
• Short ring – ring up a lower priced item and pocket the cash difference
• Using lower priced liquor and charging for call brands
• Placing tip jars next to the cash register – easy to put cash into the jar and ring “no sale” on the register
• Comping checks after they have been closed. Manager finds a check closed to cash by an employee who has already checked out. The manager reopens the check, applies a comp, closes the check and pockets the cash.
• Comping checks after printing. Employee will print a check for the full amount and present it to the customer. After the customer pays with cash, the employee comps an item off the check and pockets the difference.
• Claiming phony walkouts – Employee presents the check and quickly collects the cash. Employee tells manager that it was a walkout, pockets the cash and asks the manager to void the check.

Employee theft is serious business. In addition to the above suggestions, it may also be wise to look to at a employee theft deterrence software such as Restaurant Guard to figure out the best way for your business to address the issue.

Have you fallen victim to one or more of the types of scams above? What steps have you taken to protect your business? I’d love to hear from you in the comment area below.

- 

See more at: http://blogs.ncr.com/hospitality/thoughtleadership/8-ways-your-employees-may-be-stealing-from-you

NCR Launches Aloha Mobile

NCR declared NCR Aloha Mobile, a modern expansion of the NCR Aloha Table Service point-of-sale (POS) software.  Aloha Mobile allows restaurants to easily and safely set up mobile technology for table side purchasing and payment. In addition, this allows for an increase in rate and services information and order precision, thereby enhancing visitor fulfillment. 

Aloha Mobile is comprehensive, feature-rich application that gives web servers full mobile access many of the solid features of the Aloha POS. The UI for Aloha Mobile mirrors the well-known UI of the Aloha POS application. This makes it quick and simple for restaurants places to practice web servers and have them begin table side purchases and payments instantly and very effectively. Further, Aloha Mobile provides web servers this ability across many mobile components systems, such as the newest creation of NCR Orderman devices as well as Apple® iOS devices like the iPad®, iPad Mini®, iPhone® and iPod touch®.

Original Source: http://www.ncr.com/newsroom/resources/aloha-mobile-launch