Operating a supermarket in a busy metropolis brings its own set of challenges. The supermarket manager explains, “Our supermarket is in the middle of the city in a shopping center with a lot of activity. People from all classes of the society live in the neighborhood and you can see that in our store. In general, this is mostly a form of enrichment and sociability, but unfortunately it also means that not everyone always feels like returning their shopping carts. We encountered them all over the neighborhood. Besides the fact that it cost us money, we also noticed that customers whom we normally saw shopping weekly were now avoiding our supermarket. All the nuisance of wandering shopping carts put our neat store in a bad light, and our staff received quite a few complaints. We knew we had to do something to reduce the nuisance and keep a good atmosphere in the store, in the neighborhood and on the street.”
The issue was to stop shopping carts from leaving the premises. The director continued: “We were looking for a solution that meant we no longer had to pick up shopping carts everywhere and no longer got angry looks from local residents. When we heard about Rocateq’s anti-theft solution, we were immediately excited. It became even more interesting for us when we decided to join forces with colleagues from another supermarket in the same shopping center and share the costs. After all, the antenna cable only has to be laid once and then it functions for both supermarkets. In one day, Rocateq installed the antenna cable around our parking lot and the Rocateq wheels were assembled in three different shifts. They did this at the beginning of the day when it was more quiet, so that customers did not notice anything. The parking lot also remained accessible as usual, because we have multiple access points and the cable was installed in a few hours.”
Around the parking lot, Rocateq installed the antenna cable. The Rocateq Transmitter is installed securely and inside the store, so it can always be reached.
The Rocateq wheels fit perfectly under any 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. Thus, there are always enough shopping carts available for customers.
After installation, the Rocateq team informed the supermarket staff about the operation of the new system. Through signs in the shopping carts and red marking lines, customers are also informed how everything works and it is clear to them how far they can take the shopping cart in the parking lot.
A lot has changed in the supermarket since Rocateq’s solution was installed. The director says enthusiastically, “It was really beyond expectations. Since we have been working with Rocateq’s wheels, not a single shopping cart has disappeared. People simply can’t take them anymore. The area around the mall has been completely brightened up and no longer has such a cluttered look. We get compliments from the neighborhood about our approach and we see customers returning who had stayed away for a long time. The most important change is the overall atmosphere in our store. Customers come in in good spirits again and happily chat with our staff. That’s a lot more fun for them to work with than just getting complaints and angry comments. Last but not least, it obviously saves us the cost of having to pick up or replace missing shopping carts every time.”
Now that we have Cart Security in our supermarket, we hardly lose any carts. In 6 months we only lost 7 shopping carts!
View projectFind out how the Rocateq system prevents shopping carts lying around and brightens up your store and neighborhood.
