The price is light, at self checkouts
australianit.news.com.au
Diana Thorp
SEPTEMBER 17, 2002
CUSTOMERS may soon be able to scan, bag and pay for their purchases - or even scan their merchandise in the aisle of a shop and request delivery later - without interacting with another person.
A Melbourne company showcased its electronic labelling system, which it has patented internationally, at the Retail Business Technology, Business Services and Shopfit 2002 exhibition in Melbourne last week.
Indoor Light Interactive Display (ILID) uses existing lighting infrastructure to transmit data to its shelf labels.
ILID business development director Lawrence Pelletier said the invention was "Australian designed, Australian invented and Australian manufactured".
"We modulate light in existing fluorescent lighting and transfer data by fluorescent lighting to the shelf," he said.
Electronic labels ensured prices were accurate and simplified price changes, he said.
Another exhibitor at the show was NCR, whose FastLane vice-president and general manager Michael Webster predicted that self-checkout technology would be deployed in Australia in the first quarter of next year.
NCR's RealPrice electronic shelf labels ensure the price is the same in the aisle and at the point of sale.
It is already used in hundreds of shops in the US, and in some European shops.
Many shops were including three or four FastLanes as a checkout option, he said.
"It reduces the time consumer spend in queues," he said.
It also takes up less space than a human operator, requires less operator labour and does not close at the end of a shift.
The self checkout solutions and electronic shelving labels were among the many systems attracting interest at the exhibition aimed at revolutionising shopping.
----------------------------------------------------
The linked post talks about "managements" desire to finance our future through non-dilutive means. I think at that time we had around 15m shares outstanding and dilution of approximately 25% due to convertible debt. Management had also accrued some share liabilities in exchange for unfundable salaries.
Today, we have in excess of 60m shares once convertible debt and such is exercised. |
