Three self-service funds had been installed the day after the Canadian branch pandemic fired on the Wilfrid-Hamel boulevard in Quebec.
Its owner, Jean-Marc Leroux, has just removed them in order to prioritize a return to traditional funds.
This decision is also at the discretion of each associated merchant at Canadian Tire, since stores are held and operated independently.
While the rental of its autonomous payment terminals was expired, the franchisee decided to bet on human contact. He also observed that the positions were underused by his customers.
This is without counting the important updates that it should make “in a close future”, while technology is fast approaching. “Do we renew?” It is often [un bail] in the very long term. I decided for my store not to continue and come back with more boxes as before, ”concludes Mr. Leroux, who will add two traditional boxes to his store.
On the Dolrama side, about a quarter of its 425 stores in Quebec are now equipped with self-service funds. The one located on Soumande Street in Quebec has nevertheless made his own disappear.
Since the start of the deployment of technology in 2016, the low-cost retailer has been mobilizing “self-service funds in certain high-traffic stores in order to accelerate the treatment of transactions,” explains the company based in Montreal in an email transmitted to Soleil.
“In order to optimize the use of its self-service box park at the scale of its national network, it happens that Dollarama removes the funds from a store to redeploy them in another,” said the company that operates 1616 points of sale on a Canada scale.
At Walmart Canada, the needs of each branch and its customers are studied on a case-by-case basis “in order to determine the combination of treadmill and self-service boxes available for customers”, writes Steeve Azoulay, principal director of public affairs, without specifying which stores affected by these adjustments.
“Local service funds are currently available in our Quebec branches and partners are present in the self-service boxes to help customers if necessary,” he adds.
A tendency to abandon?
After having surveyed retailers through the province, Michel Rochette, president of the Canadian Retail Council – Quebec, says that these withdrawals are exceptional cases.
According to him, the norm is more to improve technology than to abandon.
“There is not a desire to reduce the number of automated funds. There are technologies that evolve, there are arrangements that change, there are new equipment that arrives, “he says, from the echoes he obtained on the ground.
The objective is to make systems more intuitive for customers and to reduce the presence of employees in support. But also to respond more to the needs of consumers.
“There was a time when customers had two to three articles and they went to an automated fund. Sometimes they arrive [maintenant] With a full basket. How do you ensure that it is rapid and that the way of having the products on the machine, then in the bags is optimal? This is always what is in revision, ”concludes Mr. Rochette.
Some testimonies of retailers revealing have arrived at the ears of Manuel Champagne, Director General of Retail Québec. More than one reason is mentioned to justify this decline.
“Transactions are not always as fluid and effective. It is even sometimes longer when an article blocks for a particular reason, ”notes the spokesperson.
“Even if they have been there for some time, it still remains an irritant for a good number of consumers.”
— Manuel Champagne, CEO of Retail Quebec
Prevention against theft is another argument that weighs in the balance of traders. “In traditional posts with the presence of cashier or cashier, there is less theft, because there is the presence of a person who passes each item one by one,” adds the one who sees that it is now easier to recruit personnel.
Success to repeat
Even if he usually prefers not to name banners, Mr. Champagne maintains that Décathlon and Uniqlo are examples of success. “It’s easy, we put everything in a basket. THE [capteurs] Measure each price label well. We don’t have to spend an item after the other, ”he explains.
Despite the automation of transactions, employees are present to accommodate each client. “At the end of the track, consumers, as we are human beings, we are really trying to get in touch. We want to have a customer experience, ”observes the one who believes that self-service is there to stay.
The Chairman of the Canadian Retail Council – Quebec shares his opinion.
Technology has not said its last word, while innovations are visible, in particular, in supermarkets on the other side of the border. “All that is put in the basket, as you go, is recognized. You need to go to a cash register for payment, but you don’t need to get the items out of your basket, “he gives for example.
In Quebec, convenience stores of the Banner Couche-Tard also assess the establishment of automated payment.
“As long as we will not have to have found the most optimal technology for the consumer, we will continue to evolve and innovate,” says Mr. Rochette.
Pay off without checking out
A young Quebec shoot has also developed its own contactless shopping solution.
In 2020, Leav launched a platform that allows customers to shop on their smartphone from a QR code, without having to go to the checkout.
Whether in one of the Bakeries Mamie Clafoutis or at Doyon Després, just scan it items with your phone, pay online, then present the invoice to your exit from the store.
This techno from here is also used in 25 boutiques life in pink across Canada. Éric Champagne, vice-president responsible for technology for the retailer, began to establish it in 2021.
During high traffic periods, just like weekends, customers choose this option more in order to complete their shopping faster.
At the Place Rosemère store, in the Montreal metropolitan region, 5 % of transactions go through the Leav platform.
“I have as many point of sale systems as I have customers in stores. If I have 100 customers in a store, I can hardly do 100 transactions at the same time. Using consumer devices and not my devices to me, I can avoid any line of waiting, ”says the vice-president.
The fact remains that this innovation has limits as soon as a consumer needs more support in their purchasing journey. “Immediately, that a clientele goes to the cabin, this technology goes a little less well,” he admits.
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