Preston Road 7-Eleven store stocked with innovations
zwire.com
By NANCY SMITH , Business editor 08/21/2002
The 7-Eleven store at 6465 Preston Road in Plano is about as close to a space station as the company can produce. This is the prototype lab store, chosen because it is near one of its suppliers, EDS, and so appreciated by customers that it averages 1,600 a day.
The most futuristic innovation, which was installed this week, is the NCR RealPrice electronic shelf label system from NCR Corporation, which provides digital readouts of prices alongside items, and automatically changes prices at the cash register.
Not only is 7-Eleven the first convenience store to try out the shelf label system, it is the first in both Texas and the Southwest, said NCR spokesman Kelly Kramer in Atlanta, Ga..
Although the technology has been around for about a decade, he said the early units were "cost-prohibitive" and connected by wires. Elsewhere in the country, they have been introduced at grocery chains mainly in Boston and Wisconsin.
A bonus for store employees, they eliminate one of the most tedious jobs - pricing and re-pricing merchandise.
7-Eleven spokesman Margaret Chabris explains, "This will reduce labor costs and the workload. A lot of effort goes into tearing off the old shelf tag and re-pricing merchandise. Now it's automatically done."
The system also works for inventory control.
"There will never be discrepancies, and this will help us make sure we're not out of stock on any items," she adds. "If a product is getting low, the employee will know and will be sure the item is restocked."
Chet Scott, 7-Eleven information systems project manager, explains that antennas installed in the ceiling send signals from the back office computer to the price labels on shelves to the cash registers at the front.
For the beginning trials, the four areas with the liquid crystal display (LCD) labels are the nutritional "power bar" department, the candy shelf, the freezer of frozen foods and ice cream, and the vault of carbonated beverages.
"We'll keep adding in the future. We wrote software to pick up the price changes, and integrated it with the register. These communications-based systems are mounted in the ceiling and transmit and receive via antennas. The CBS unit communicates with the shelf tags when the price is changes wirelessly."
Chabris said the 4,312 square foot 7-Eleven lab store was built and opened last December, and is the first to feature a drive-thru window and a car wash.
"The gas dispensers are state-of-the-art, like storm troopers in 'Star Wars,'" she said. "At night, it's like day light under the canopy where people fill their gas tanks."
Another recently installed innovation, this one produced by EDS, is the "Location Information Service."
Chabris explained that any given day at virtually any 7-Eleven, at least 10 to 20 people come in asking for directions. This way, the technologically savvy customer can use the portal to input his destination and get a free print out that will guide him.
Still another new trial is a so-called "smart card" that functions like a pre-paid long-distance phone card.
Chabris said the prototype store even has a special new kind of soft pretzel. She says they're so popular that some people drive to that store specifically for pretzels since they can't buy them anywhere else.
The store is managed by Kellie Ellis, an Army and National Guard veteran and former food service and bakery manager for the Tom Thumb grocery chain.
She joined 7-Eleven as part of a store management training program and was assigned the prototype store last month.
Contact business editor Nancy Smith at 972-543-2231 or e-mail smithn@dfwcn.com.
©Plano Star Courier 2002 |
