How Cashierless Technology Improves Retail Operations

Much of the conversation about checkout-free technology tends to focus on the consumer experience: how shoppers can enter the store and pick items off the shelves without having to stand in a checkout line. But cashierless technology like Zippin’s also creates a better experience for retailers and store staff. It gives retailers new opportunities for improving store operations, enhancing store efficiency, and helping store staff do more of what they do best.

New Zippin Crew App for Retailers 

Zippin has recently launched a new app for retailers called “Zippin Crew.” This is different from our shopper app that’s used to enter stores and pay for their purchases, and is designed to help retailers manage their stores. 

The app works storewide within a single store, or can help manage multiple store locations. Retailers can use the app to restock items, see what items are available and where items are located on specific shelves within the store. 

The Zippin Crew app gives retailers better visibility of key details, including:

• Item availability and locating items within the store: “This item is available in all these shelves.” 
• Where to find items that have been stocked on the wrong shelves: “All of these items are wrongly placed and where they are.” 
• Out of stock alerts: Retailers can also use the app to get notifications for out of stock alerts. If stock goes to a certain level, such as less than three or less than five items, the app delivers push notifications. 
• Restocking history - who stocked (or removed) which items in the store and when. 

Several Zippin retailer customers and partners are already using the new Zippin Crew app, and we are in the process of rolling out the app to all of our customers.  

Real-time Inventory Management 

Zippin’s platform gives retailers real-time visibility of what inventory is in the store. Retailers get access to the Zippin dashboard to see what people are buying, adjust to demand, and offer an optimal selection of products. Inventory Management is also available via Zippin Crew app. 

One of Zippin’s partners, Alison Birdwell, President, Sports & Entertainment for Aramark, has mentioned that one of the surprising benefits of Zippin’s platform from the retail perspective is that it helps Aramark offer a better variety of products for fans at the Denver Broncos’ Empower Field at Mile High. Real-time inventory management from Zippin’s checkout-free platform helps retailers be more agile in providing the right amounts of products at the right time. 

Better Retail Operations 

Checkout-free technology affects more than the front of the store - it helps improve retailers’ entire operations. A few other benefits that cashierless platforms like Zippin’s can offer include: 

• In-Store Analytics: Zippin’s cashierless platform tracks customer behavior inside the store, and delivers detailed analytics such as how much time customers spend considering a product, which products get put back onto the shelf, and how the same customer shops during multiple subsequent visits to the store. Over time, Zippin’s technology can help retailers understand their customers better, create better merchandising of products on store shelves, and get more precise at offering products to anticipate customer demand. 
• Shrink Prevention: The Zippin cashierless platform makes it practically impossible to shoplift. Any product taken off a shelf is immediately added to the customer’s virtual cart. So it doesn’t matter whether they put the product in their coat pocket or purse instead of their shopping cart. And as the customer provides their payment information at the entrance, before they walk into the store, there is no way to walk out without getting charged. 
  
  Another common cause for shrinkage is when a traditional cashier or self-checkout lane is involved, items might get accidentally misplaced or overlooked and put into a bag without payment. The Zippin checkout-free technology eliminates that form of shrink as well, by eliminating the need for any scanning by the customer or a cashier. 
• Rear Loading for Stocking: Many retailers prefer to do restocking from the rear loading area, behind the store shelves. This allows for faster and more efficient stocking, because the store staff don’t need to interrupt shoppers or take up space in the store aisles. Zippin’s technology now supports restocking items from the rear loading area.