The Evolution of the Checkout Line

[Former Member]

Like many shoppers, Joe Shopper doesn't always remember his grocery list.  When he goes to the store he usually returns with without many intended items.  Sometimes he forgets altogether, blindly walking by sales of his favorite foods; and other times he remembers an item but changes his mind when he can’t find his preferred brand. 

These are moments when sales are lost for the grocer: opportunities to up-sell, cross-sell or remind shoppers that their favorite soup or tomato is on sale.

Precision retailing offers a solution. It capitalizes on scatterbrained shoppers like Joe, and helps them find the products they want (or don’t remember they want).  It is similar to the displays of gum and magazines at the checkout line.  We rarely come in looking to buy them, but since they're there, we can’t resist.

Yet precision retailing is even more effective than the magazine rack at the cash register.  The technology can even help retailers make make predictions based on what time shoppers enter the store. For example, if Joe goes to a drug store only to find his favorite brand of toothpaste and is out of stock, he will likely go to a different store.  But if the first store had used SAP's precision retailing solution to tracks its inventory, it could have guessed he was shopping for toothpaste and also suggested a different option and kept his business.

By providing targeted information and promotions to customers on the fly, SAP's precision retailing platform makes the entire store the checkout line.  It uses SAP HANA technology to offer customers deals constructed just for them, while they are in the store. Each deal is sent to customers’ smartphones for maximum effect.

Businesses are already reaping the benefits of the new technology.  Stores that have used the system reported seeing as much as a 20 percent increase in promotional conversion rates.  On top of that, basket sizes have risen up to 15 percent, and 10 percent in up- or cross-sell suggestions.

Although the world where a corner butcher remembers your regular order is largely a thing of the past, precision retailing brings some personalization back to the shopping experience. The ability to keeping time-based customer data on customers is not new, but the ability to remind customers of items they regularly buy is transformational.  If Joe buys cereal every two weeks and hasn't in the last month, he probably could use some more.  With precision retailing, he is alerted of this via text. The personalized shopping experience of precision retailing is not only beneficial to the retailer, but helpful to customers as well.