Content supplied by CBE:
“Self-service checkout is the colleague you always wanted to work alongside you in store. It gives freedom to maximise sales, by releasing colleagues from till duties to replenish the business at critical times, without compromising service.” Wayne Harrand, Retail Director, MPK Garages
Acquired in 2018 by Stratford Retail Group, MPK Garages is one of the UK’s top 10 forecourt operators, with 29 sites across the Midlands and Northern England. With a dynamic vision to create a world-class retail operation the team utilised professional analysis of their till data to better understand their customer behaviour and where significant value needed to be added.
MPK Garages primary goal was to speed up service (in particular during unexpected off-peak volumes) and maximise sales via improved availability in store but without the additional labour cost. With the increasing escalating pressure on labour costs for the industry, MPK Garages needed to continue streamlining costs and growing sales to protect the profitability of the business. Thanks to their partnership with CBE, which saw the brand introduce self-checkouts to several forecourts across their portfolio, they have experienced significant value through labour benefits, sales growth and improved customer offering at key times.
“Since the beginning of our self-checkout journey we experienced high volumes of customers moving across. With the majority of the mainstream supermarkets offering a version of self service to their customers the natural progression and expectations is for the forecourt sector to offer a comparable contactless service within the retail store. The speed of service has been brilliant with customers moving quickly via the self-checkouts at peak times. Most importantly, for us as a business, it has protected us in off peak times, against theft, opportunistic drive offs, loss of up selling / sales and worst of all the loss of a customer, when colleague numbers are limited. The bonus of been able to settle fuel transaction without colleague / customer interactions has proven to be a very successful operating model for us and we now transact over 25% of our fuel volume typically via the self-service till point. We are also experiencing a slightly higher basket spend thanks to the units. Customers seem more willing to purchase that extra treat or multi-buy item when using the self-service counter, driving further basket spend in store. It’s just a fantastic bit of tech integration that delivers results and adds value.”
The introduction of the self-service checkouts has allowed MPK to reallocate resources to the right place at the right time. Initially for the first few weeks the spare colleague was used to support customers in the transition of the self-service checkouts by providing socially distance guidance on the terminal with customer, with the task of converting regulars to the new operating system. During the transitional period, they worked to get the messaging right, invested in sign ware and labour for a colleague to support and guide consumers onto the unit, creating a new customer habit early in the journey. They now have one colleague operating 2 or 3 tills at peak trading, allowing them to maximise sales with more focus on replenishment / availability and overall profitability in store.
“Re-distribution of our labour resource to grow the business was one of the key decision-making factors when we decided to install the self-service checkouts. We knew the additional time it would release for colleagues to spend on the shop floor would allow us to maximise the site sales performance. Self-service will enhance your business if you are installing it for the right reasons. I would strongly recommend any forecourt operator with a c-store model to invest in this technology now, based on the results we have seen in our sites.”
