Tech at the till: Inside Poland’s semi-autonomous store
A Polish retail technology startup has created a pilot semi-autonomous convenience store near Warsaw. The store is powered by Hikvision, supporting the entire customer journey, from account verification and store access, to the scanning of goods and checkout. It garnered high praise from customers for its innovation and user-friendly experience. Encouraged by the initial success, the company plans to scale its presence in the market by using this store as a model to introduce similar concepts in multiple locations throughout Poland.
Many retailers around the world are investing in technology solutions that help them move from traditional store operations to autonomous operations. These kinds of solutions allow customers to enter stores and select and pay for products without assistance from store staff – giving them full control of their shopping experience and reducing operating costs.
However, this kind of automated retail solutions depend on the seamless integration of multiple hardware and software elements. Where these are sourced from multiple companies, the integration requirements can be highly complex and costly, making deployment a significant challenge. Moreover, efficiently operating a store without in-store staff while also ensuring customer satisfaction also present challenges.
To demonstrate that semi-autonomous retail can be deployed swiftly and economically, a Polish retail startup has partnered with a retail construction company to build a pilot store near Warsaw. Over 80% of the store’s technology is provided by Hikvision, complemented by supplementary software and self-checkout units from alternative brands. Thanks to the seamlessly integrated nature of the solution, it proves remarkably cost-effective in terms of procurement, integration and deployment.
Once shoppers have created their store accounts, they can access the store by displaying a distinct QR code to Hikvision’s MinMoe access control terminal (DS-K1T61TM). Subsequently, they can complete the entire process of selecting, scanning, and paying through the company’s application on their mobile phones. The application is seamlessly integrated with Hikvision devices and the HikCentral Professional software. Alternatively, they can choose to scan goods on a self-checkout device, which is also integrated with the Hikvision solution. The scan, pay and go approach gives customers the flexibility to bypass queues, resulting in a smooth, hassle-free shopping experience.
The validity and veracity of each customer transaction is checked by AcuSense Cameras (iDS-2CD2746G2-IZS) that are integrated with the point of sale (POS) system, with a Hikvision NVR at the back end. These cameras cross-reference checkout transactions with associated video data.
The pilot store demonstrates to retailers that rolling out this kind of store can significantly reduce workload and ongoing operational costs. With HikCentral Professional, store staff can easily manage and maintain all devices remotely from the HQ, eliminating the need for on-site checks and the associated time and expenses. Furthermore, due to its high level of integration, the solution was simple to build and deploy, making it a cost-effective choice.
“This flagship project demonstrates that we can deliver an end-to-end, full-featured semi-autonomous retailing solution for our customers that is fully competitive with well-known solutions from other tech companies,” says the Co-Founder and CTO at the company. “This is great news for retailers deploying semi-autonomous stores, who can now speed up their deployments and reduce costs.”
Another benefit of the solution is its scalability, allowing retailers to start small without heavy upfront costs, and add in more devices and capacities as the business grows. According to the company’s COO, “Using the pilot store as a basis, we can build additional retail capabilities such as heat mapping, footfall counting and other forms of customer intelligence analysis if required, by adding in more Hikvision cameras.”
Based on the flagship solution, retailers have a blueprint for delivering excellent customer experiences and achieving their business goals. “With this pre-architected model for success, we are ready to roll out semi-autonomous retail stores for our customers with minimal risk and at low cost, both here in Poland and across the region,” says the Co-Founder of the firm.
We’re used to security investments being a kind of insurance policy and a compliance aid, but we can do much more than that with Hikvision. Now, we not only perform centralized security management, but also generate business intelligence that helps us deliver even more relevant offers and promotions for our customers to keep them coming back and increase their spending.
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