Self-checkout in a grocery store or farm shop

Self-service, a ZP POS terminal like any other

A self-checkout lets the customer scan their own items and pay unassisted, while your team stays on the shop floor or in the storeroom. It doesn't replace staff, but it absorbs small baskets while the counter till stays free for everything else. This guide covers the points to check before installing one in a grocery store or a farm shop, and shows how ZP selfCheckout answers each of them.

Who it's for: grocery stores, convenience stores, farm shops

A grocery or convenience store sells a wide catalogue, with frequent trips to the till and often small baskets: it's the natural home for a self-checkout. A farm shop, with a narrower range but a customer flow that peaks at certain times, finds the same benefit in it. Either way, the goal stays the same: the customer scans, weighs where needed, pays and moves on, with no queue behind a bigger basket than theirs, while your team stays free to advise customers, restock shelves or ring up larger baskets.

Barcode scanning

The customer scans their own items past the kiosk's scanner, whether the code is a standard EAN or an in-house shop code. ZP selfCheckout recognises the item and adds it to the receipt, on the same catalogue as the counter till: no separate list to keep up to date.

Items sold by weight

Fruit, vegetables or loose coffee don't always carry a standard barcode, but the customer still needs to be able to ring them up unassisted. Two solutions exist, and ZP selfCheckout handles both: a weight-price label, read by the kiosk's scanner like any other item, or a scale connected directly to the kiosk, where the customer weighs their items.

Cash, with no cashier

A self-checkout also needs to take cash with no one behind the counter. Two solutions again: a Cashmatic or Cima cash recycler, which accepts coins and notes and gives change, or an honesty box, simpler, where the customer leaves the exact amount. The choice depends on your footfall and how much of your takings are paid in cash; card payment is of course still accepted on the kiosk's payment terminal, along with gift vouchers and prepaid cards.

Loyalty, with no cashier

A shop that offers a loyalty card doesn't want to leave it out of the self-checkout experience. On ZP selfCheckout, the customer scans their loyalty card the way they'd scan an item, then chooses their reward straight on the screen, with no one behind the counter needed. Gift vouchers and prepaid cards are settled the same way, at the point of payment.

A dedicated kiosk, or the counter till at lunchtime

Two setups are possible, and ZP selfCheckout covers both. The first: a dedicated kiosk, often 21 inches for a shop, installed permanently alongside the staffed tills, with its own scanner, printer and payment terminal. This is an indicative benchmark: the exact size depends on your sales floor and the number of kiosks planned, to be worked out with your reseller.

The second setup needs no extra hardware: the counter touchscreen till switches into kiosk mode itself, for example over the lunch break when staffing is lighter, without closing the session under way. The customer scans and pays unassisted, then the till switches back into an ordinary till once the team returns, with a report of the sales rung up in self-service.

The same catalogue, the same till

In both setups, the kiosk stays a terminal of ZP POS: the same catalogue, the same prices, the same sales journal, VAT included. A price changed at the counter, a newly printed label or an item added to the catalogue shows up on the kiosk right away, with no re-entry and no separate file to maintain. That's also what keeps a self-checkout from drifting out of step over time: it always sells what the staffed till sells, at the same price, on the same day.

The check-list before choosing your self-checkout

1. The shop's profile: grocery store, convenience store or farm shop, and the volume of small baskets to absorb.
2. Barcode scanning, standard EAN as well as in-house codes.
3. Items sold by weight: a weight-price label or a scale connected to the kiosk.
4. Cash with no cashier: a cash recycler or an honesty box.
5. A permanently dedicated kiosk, or the counter till switched into kiosk mode at certain times.
6. A catalogue shared with the main till, with no double entry.

Go through this list with your authorised reseller, for a shop that suits you, whether it's a small neighbourhood grocery store or a farm shop with a more seasonal flow. Licence prices, in CHF excl. VAT and paid once, are listed on the Pricing page. For a restaurant rather than a shop, the self-order kiosk for restaurants guide covers the same choice for food service.