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NUTI: “The self-service revolution is real because consumers see how they personally gain from it.

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NCR Corporation has ambitious plans for its queue-busting solutions in the Middle East. Retail News investigates how it is fuelling the self-service phenomenon.

At its fifth annual Self-Service Universe Executive Conference in Budapest last month, global technology company NCR Corporation showcased the world's first self-service returns solution.

The solution permits retailers to provide more queue-busting convenience to their customers during the often time-consuming merchandise return process, and it is the firm's latest feat in a string of groundbreaking developments for the retail sector.

"The ease of returning products is a significant factor in a consumer's purchasing decision. Our research finds that over half of consumers would prefer to shop at stores that offer a self-service solution to help speed returns," comments Mike Webster, vice president of strategy and communications, NCR.

"The first solution of its kind, NCR FastLane Self-Return provides retailers with a new vehicle for enhancing the consumer experience and building customer loyalty, while also improving staffing and operational efficiencies.

Shoppers can return goods for a refund on their own by first scanning the items and entering relevant product information, then a store associate inspects the items and approves the return. A reimbursement is then issued in the manner the item was originally purchased, whether cash or debit, credit or gift card.

The need to ramp up customer loyalty, improve employee service levels, optimise revenue growth, and drive up productivity in the industry has accelerated NCR's position as a business and the self-service phenomenon, according to Stelios Fragkos, vice president, Middle East, Africa and East Mediterranean Region, NCR.

"We recently celebrated our 70th year in Egypt, and we established our presence in most of the GCC states in the 50s and early 60s. In the early days, we had a strong presence with cash registers and mainframe computers, but we later applied a Jack Welsh strategy to stay only with solutions that were number one or two worldwide.

"We have a strong presence in top-tier accounts in the retail industry, primarily with POS devices, and we have some instances of self-service kiosks in Saudi Arabia.

The company is "capturing only the tip of the iceberg in the Middle East," he admits, and it will move its focus from its "comfort zone" the financial sector in the GCC, in which it holds 70% market share, and "now start addressing all vertical markets in an intense manner, as consumers in the region are interested in self-service.

In stark comparison to the mature markets of the US and Western Europe, where FastLane is the dominant solution, Middle East retailers secure labour "relatively cheap, so as a result of that the business need is not compelling.

"These solutions offer 24-hour servicing, convenience, privacy, faster and more convenient business, which are high on the agenda for CEOs keen to improve service quality.

In the Middle East we have 20 direct branches, one of the highest figure per region worldwide, which is a big advantage," he says.

Considerations for this market, where some "major chains" have already shown interest, include interfaces amenable to multiple nationalities and languages to serve expatriates and local consumers, currency certification for machines, and appropriate training for engineers to service the machines.

Pilot projects are in full swing in South Africa, and "we will secure the first deal soon in Saudi Arabia, where retailers have bigger volumes and bigger challenges. All of the GCC states are on our immediate target list for checkout and self-service solutions.

The FastLane Version 5 has been released for supermarkets and hypermarkets in Saudi Arabia and South Africa, he reveals, while other GCC markets are assessed and its POS products are "continuously refreshed.

When asked about the significance of loyalty cards in the region, he responds: "The first generation of self-service solutions dealt with consumers in an anonymous way, now one-to-one marketing is crucial or a distance will be created between shoppers and the business, so they facilitate this correspondence.

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