Grocery stores have become an essential and expanding hub of in-store retail during Covid-19. Most need more flexible and integrated store systems. An example is Big Y partnership with NCR’s cloud-based Emerald system.
Many grocers are leveraging the higher store traffic and sales volume to upgrade store systems especially those impacting the customer experience for payments, loyalty, and marketing offers. Shoppers are also looking for more self-service options with mobile playing a role in this as well in order to avoid waiting in checkout lines.
The following excerpt from a Chain Store Age article reports more on the topic:
Big Y is combining payment processing, loyalty and merchandising on a single platform.
The Springfield, Mass.-based independent grocery chain is deploying the NCR Emerald cloud-based retail POS solution across its 85 stores in Massachusetts and Connecticut. Big Y will use NCR’s technology to integrate its grocery and convenience stores with a unified platform and promotion tool.
By running the agile NCR Emerald platform, Big Y hopes to create a consistent customer experience, while also gaining the ability to dynamically adapt to changing market needs. Big Y will run the solution on all POS checkout terminals, connecting the entire store including grocery, fuel, pharmacy, self-service, gift cards, and PIN pads. As a result, the retailer intends to deliver a consistent, elevated customer experience, across all touchpoints both in-store and online.
“With our platform approach, we help retailers deploy new customer-facing applications quickly, so they can keep on top of changing customer demands,” said David Wilkinson, president and GM of NCR Retail.
Overview by Raymond Pucci, Director, Merchant Services at Mercator Advisory Group