First self-service checkout for pharmacy customers

Kelberg, July 2, 2020 – Customers at the Zur Rose pharmacy in the Tivoli Mall in Spreitenbach, Switzerland, can now use a self-service checkout to purchasebeauty and personal care products. This is all possible thanks to a newly installed self-checkout terminal from BD Rowa™, which was put into operation yesterday.

Cut waiting times through self-service checkout

The Zur Rose pharmacy in the Tivoli Mall is a shop-in-shop pharmacy integrated in the Migros supermarket branch and offers a complete pharmacy range of prescription and non-prescription medications as well as health and beauty products exclusive to pharmacies. Customers can combine shopping for groceries and other essentials at Migros with a trip to the pharmacy and also benefit from the expert advice of the specialist staff. Items available in the pharmacy are paid for directly in the pharmacy. “We are delighted that with the self-checkout terminal we have been able to make paying for beauty and personal care products easier for our customers and simultaneously cut waiting times,” said Christophe Bornand, CEO of MBZR Apotheken AG. It is also possible to collect Cumulus points when paying at the self-service checkout. 

 

Planning for the self-checkout solution got underway back in 2019 after the Expopharm fair where the product was presented for the first time. Together with our partners, we developed a concept which takes into account how customers move around the pharmacy and which also dovetails into the pharmacy design. “The beating heart of any hardware is always the software. The main focus here is on ensuring problem-free integration in existing systems. At BD Rowa™, we created a central interface a number of years ago which connects our products to the ERP system used, in this case the ProPharma pharmacy software. As such, the self-checkout and the closeout at the end of the day function smoothly and the pharmacy stock is always up-to-date,” stressed Dirk Bockelmann, Global Commercial Director at BD Rowa™. “Our interface works with all ERP systems and only has to be set up once. We can also use this to integrate other BD Rowa™ products.”


Offer a barrier-free payment method

The actual self-checkout terminal is the brainchild of Diebold Nixdorf with whom BD Rowa™ entered into a cooperation last year covering the European pharmacy market. The aim is to install further self-checkout terminals in the coming months in order to provide pharmacies an optimal customer journey and offer pharmacy customers the kind of shopping experience they know from the retail sector. “In the current climate in particular, cash-free and contactless payment methods are growing in popularity,” explained Dirk Bockelmann. “Cash will always be deemed as inconvenient and unhygienic. The self-checkout terminal offers a barrier-free payment method.”