DULUTH, Ga. — NCR Corp. ranks No. 1 worldwide in the self-checkout market, according to Retail Banking Research Ltd., a strategic research and consulting firm headquartered in London.
The newly published "Global EPOS and Self-Checkout 2009" report from RBR shows that the adoption of self-checkout solutions has accelerated over the last two years. In addition, RBR predicts that the installed base of self-checkouts is due to nearly triple by 2012 to reach 250,000 units globally.
According to an NCR news release, more than 140 retailers from 12 different retail segments and more than 20 countries use NCR SelfServ Checkout. NCR attributes its market leadership to its continuous innovation and a consultative approach to helping retailers meet key business objectives with their self-checkout strategies.
"Two out of three self-checkouts shipped in the last five years are from NCR," said Mike Webster, NCR's vice president and general manager for retail and hospitality. "This includes a 'who's who' list of retailers. They value NCR's relentless focus on improving store productivity and customer service levels. We are achieving this not only through innovations in the technology itself, but also the way in which it is deployed and managed."
NCR believes the current challenging economic conditions will prove a stimulus for the wider adoption of self-checkouts. Industry initiatives, such as the introduction of GS1 DataBar barcodes, are expected to improve self-checkout ease of use even further. These new barcodes can be more than 50 percent smaller than current EAN/UPC barcodes, making them suitable for use on loose produce, such as fruit and vegetables. This can allow consumers to simply scan such items, rather than search for them on the screen or key in codes.
