As a supermarket (manager), you feel responsible not only for the ups and downs of your store, but also indirectly for the area around it. When nuisance is caused by shopping carts lying around, the supermarket manager is often approached logically. Such was the case at a large supermarket in a medium-sized town in Germany. The manager explains, “Too many of our shopping carts were not returned. Later we found them back in the neighborhood or they disappeared completely. We noticed that we had to start deploying our staff at fixed times to go pick up shopping carts from all over the city. It was clear that something had to be done, because the cost of the lost shopping carts as well as the hours we were losing kept increasing.”
The turnaround came when the municipality also became involved. The manager continues: “Because all the shopping carts lying around ruined the streetscape, the municipality also collected carts itself. We could then buy them back on payment of a fine. Because all parties saw that this was not a desirable situation, we came to a good solution. With the help of a municipal grant, we implemented the Rocateq solution. The municipality financed the installation of antenna cable and we covered the cost of the Rocateq wheels. Thus, all stakeholders got an outcome that was advantageous to them.”
Around the parking lot of our store, Rocateq installed the antenna cable. The Rocateq Transmitter is installed securely and out of sight in the store so it can always be reached.
The Rocateq wheels fit perfectly under each shopping cart and were installed within a few hours. Customers are not inconvenienced by the change because the engineers perform the assembly during quiet hours and in sessions.
After installation, the Rocateq team informed the supermarket staff about how the new system works. Through signs in the shopping carts and red marker lines, customers also get to know how everything works.
The results are impressive. The manager continues, “Since we have been working with Rocateq’s solution, not a single shopping cart has disappeared. This not only saves on the cost of stolen carts, but also on the time and energy we were spending on constantly retrieving the shopping carts. Our employees are now doing what they love to do: working in our tidy store with a smile on their face. And perhaps most importantly, the appearance and atmosphere in the neighborhood has improved tremendously. Our store has a better name because there are no trolleys with our logo on them floating around, and we no longer get complaints from local residents or the municipality. Everyone is happy.”
Now that we have Cart Security in our supermarket, we hardly lose any carts. In 6 months we only lost 7 shopping carts!
View projectSchedule a free consultation and find out how the Rocateq system stops shopping carts lying around and gives your store and neighborhood a positive image.
