All fruit and vegetable sections of large retail stores now offer an extensive selection of products, which consumers choose, weight and price by themselves. The self-service scales therefore play an essential role here. And this is precisely why they should not be an obstacle but rather be easy to use, even by those needing to do so for the very first time with no inkling of how they work. DIGI And Omega Bilance describe the latest trends.
Omega Bilance self-service
“As they are designed for self-service, fruit and vegetable scales are those that must be the simplest to use -Carlo Criscuolo declares, General Manager of Omega Bilance. Indeed, they are almost always in contact with the end customer, who choose the products, weighs them and prints out the label, all by themselves”. The scales must therefore provide clear information and a user-friendly interface to allow anyone to quickly understand what they need to do. “It should also be stressed -Mr Criscuolo continues- that as they are unmanned scales, they must use a connection system to promptly notify any downtime, even if only for a paper roll change. Thanks to the Dws platform, Omega can transfer this type of alert to the tablets of the supermarket workers, thereby assuring rapid intervention”.
DiGi, the smart change to self-service
“There are two interesting trends in the self-service world -Federico Tanesini declares, Chairman of DIGI Italy- the integration of customer smartphones in everyday operations and the management of loose products sold by weight”. DIGI has developed a solution that allows the customer to use their mobile telephone to make operations smarter. In practical terms, in the fruit and vegetable section, the customer can scan a QR code and, using Bluetooth technology, send the codes and data of the articles scanned to the scales. The operation is completely contactless and has a twofold advantage: customers do not need to remember the code of each individual article and retailers can be certain that products are always selected correctly. Digi also offers an all-in-one solution for weighing loose products. “The customers can weigh the product directly while serving themselves and decide the quantity they wish to buy, without limits”.
The advantages of being modular
Hardware modularity is one of the hallmarks of the Omega Freestyle range of scales. But the concept of modularity also extends to the software. Indeed, customised applications are available for each section. Thus the interface of the fruit and vegetable section is particularly simple and user-friendly: a few clear, linear steps take the customer through weighing and labelling the products they wish to buy. In addition, it is also easy for the specialised technician to enter the dedicated menu to perform specific operations, such as, for example, change prices in real time to the electronic labels present in the section, thereby ensuring that the prices displayed on the shelves are always aligned with those at the till.
Recognising products with artificial intelligence
With a view to offering the very best customer experience, DIGI offers two models of smart scales, the SM6000 for self-service and the RM6100 for check-out operations. Both can recognise the products placed on the plate.
There is therefore no need to enter a number or select a product from the display, simply rest the product on the plate. A built-in camera and an artificial intelligence system allows the scales to recognise the product in question and thus apply the right price.
Digi smart scales are based on an edge computing system with AI gateway and AI cloud. Thanks to these systems and a constant “learning” process based on a library uploaded to the cloud, the scales improve their product recognising through use and when faced with an unknown product, they can add it to the library.
