PADERBORN, Germany - Reverse vending and integrated retail solutions are garnering attention in Europe. For the majority of western and central Europe, reverse vending is legislatively mandated.
Since the early '90s, European retailers have worked tirelessly to comply with governmental requirements without adversely affecting their bottom lines.
Manual reverse-vending processes are costly, namely because they leave retailers susceptible to fraud and financial losses. Vulnerabilities close in on retailers from the consumer side, where fraud is the problem, and from employee compromises.
During the second day of Wincor World 2006, retailers from throughout the world stood shoulder-to-shoulder at Wincor Nixdorf International's Store Vision program display, where Wincor's total retail solution highlighted automated retail vending, cash management and self-service checkout.
"Reverse vending is a big deal in Europe," said Joachim Pinhammer, Wincor's director of marketing for retail. "All of this is connected to TP.net (Wincor's Windows-based retail architecture), so it is truly an integrated solution."
The conference's more than 7,000 attendees were drawn not only to reverse vending but also to cash management and self-checkout solutions, both of which are leading to a "revolution" in the marketplace, Pinhammer said.
"I often say there is a revolution in the market, and that is because of the changes that are taking place in checkout," he said.
Those changes, he added, revolve around integrated software solutions and cash management.
Through partner collaboration and traditional banking expertise, Pinhammer said, Wincor is taking its banking knowledge and applying it to retail. He said it's a strategy that is setting Wincor apart in the market.
Cash management and self-checkout solutions are already in pilot mode in Europe. Shell Deutschland Oil GmbH, as an example, is using Wincor's iCash 50 (note) and iCash 15 (coin) modules at three of its locations. Shell signed up for the pilot in November.
Customers place coins into the iCash 15, which is located in the front at the counter. Cash, on the other hand, is given to the cashier, who feeds the notes into the iCash 50. The iCash 40 then feeds the notes into a safe that is located in a back office, inaccessible to consumers and employees.
The cash-in-transit company then picks up the cash and takes it the bank. It's a closed system, Pinhammer said. Retailing has come full circle, he said, from the retailer back to the bank.
