Kroger's main point of sale system is the 4690 operating system from IBM which incorporates ACE software.
For sales terminals Kroger uses SurePOS 700 machines. The same terminals are used in Kmart stores.
The SurePOS 700 was also originally supplied by IBM, but Toshiba has recently purchased the point of sale part of IBM's business.
The SurePOS 700 terminal excels in the following areas:
- Speed. It uses a powerful Intel Core i3 which keeps the terminal running at a fast pace.
- Low operating costs. It has a clever deep sleep mode built in which saves power, but can be rebooted and fully functioning in just a few seconds.
- Versatility. It can be configured in many different ways giving each Kroger store the power to arrange its terminals in more flexible and creative ways.
Kroger also employ a self-checkout system tunnel system. Instead of using a single scanner these tunnels use several cameras to scan barcodes as goods are passed through. This means products can be scanned up to 3 times faster than a traditional checkout.
In some stores, they have also trialed handheld scanners. These are issued directly to customers to use as they move around the store.
Faster Checkout
Kroger's primary aim drving all these changes is to make its checkout process extremely fast and problem free for all of its customers. It's so important to the company that they have even released television commercials to emphasize how fast the checkout process is it its stores.
You can watch two of these commercials in the video below:
