Huge potential
Wincor Nixdorf’s new Cash Cycle Management™ concept offers huge potential to lower costs, increase customer
service and maximize security, as the company’s first pilot in a retail store shows. Discount furniture retailer
POCO-Domäne has automated cash handling in its Hanover store to establish a completely closed cash cycle.
Security is a top priority at POCO-Domäne
Holding GmbH. Many of the company’s
stores were the target of armed robberies.
“The problem is not so much the material
damage, which is covered by insurance, but
the impact on employees,” says Friedhelm
Rudolph, Executive Director and Director of IT
and Controlling at the furniture company.
“We have to deal with the fact that not only
employess who are directly affected often
stand under shock and eventually miss work
for a long time but other colleagues become
scared as well.” As a result, it becomes a challenge
in some stores to find people willing to
work in the checkout zone. And not only that,
business is interrupted and sales dip.
Unlike its other stores, the POCO-Domäne
outlet in Hanover has nearly a zero chance of
being robbed. Since September 2009, cash
handling is automated. Cashiers only register
products; customers manage the payment
process themselves. Cash is placed in a secure safe integrated into the CINEO POS system.
The cash can’t be removed by checkout personnel
but only by authorized personnel per
code and with a special key.
Revolutionary approach
The POCO Hanover store is the first retail
outlet to pilot Wincor Nixdorf’s new Cash
Cycle Management Solution. The solution has
pro ven itself not only at POCO-Domäne but
with other users as well. Cash is no lon ger
accessible. And potential robbers scouting
the area for possible targets quickly realize
that there’s no chance of stealing any money
in this store.
POCO-Domäne’s strategy to keep cashhandling
costs at the lowest possible level is
revolutionary. The company has completely
automated the cash process at point of sale as
well as cash payment, bundling and provision
functions in the cash office and even transportation
by cash-in-transit (CiT) companies.
Wincor Nixdorf’s concept to minimize
processing costs goes beyond the individual
store. Instead of having to transport a huge
amount of cash from their cash office to a
branch of Germany’s Central Bank, retailers
can make their intelligent cash cassettes with
clearly registered cash amounts available to a
cooperating neighborhood bank to replenish
ATMs. Cash in an intelligent recycling system
saves money for retailers and banks and anyone
else dealing with cash.
Fully automated POS
With more than 85 outlets in Germany and
two major hubs in Bergkamen and Hardegsen,
POCO-Domäne has already taken key steps
toward realizing this revolutionary solution at
its store in Hanover, initially at point of sale.
The checkout points in the 7,000-square meter
store have been equipped with advanced selfservice
technology from Wincor Nixdorf: the
iCASH 15 for coins and the CINEO C6010 for notes from the company’s brand new Cash
Cycle Management Solutions portfolio.
The technology has completely automated
coin and banknote payments. And customers
have quickly accepted the technology. “From
the very beginning, our customers, including
the older ones, have not been afraid to use the
technology,” IT Director Rudolph says.
The solution offers many benefits. Discrepancies
in register receipts, for instance,
are a thing of the past because store employees
no longer have access to cash. Since they
only scan products, they have more time to
advise customers seeking support. Another
benefit: time is saved. Cashier shift changes
and evening till settlements take only seconds.
“This allows huge flexibility in deploying
cashiers and provides opportunities to
reduce costs,” Rudolph says.
In addition, the IT director points to special
campaigns, such as the “Moonlight Shopping”
program, held occasionally in POCO
stores. With these types of night programs,
employees feel much more comfortable
knowing that they don’t have to settle tills
after midnight.
 
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