An Australian Asian grocery retailer that is progressively installing automated cash-handling devices across its store network says the technology has cut customer checkout waiting times, reduced manual labour for its staff – and boosted its bottom line.
Tong Li – Sydney’s largest Asian grocery chain with 19 stores – has installed Glory Global Solutions (Glory)’s CashInfinity closed-loop cash handling system in 13 stores over the past three years, with the other nine scheduled to convert in the coming year.
When retailers think of retail automation, they are prone to conjure images of such in-store features as check-out lanes and digital payments. While some retail businesses have chosen not to accept cash payments – thus potentially alienating parts of their customer base – Tong Li has chosen to continue to do so to serve its customers however they prefer to pay.
Founder Thomas Jin feels that managing the cash chain securely and accurately is a vital part of any retail business, and using the Glory technology has saved his staff “a lot of time”.
The closed-loop system means that customers feed their cash into a machine at checkout that calculates and issues the correct change – that process alone saves each cashier about 20 minutes in end-of-day cash reconciliations. At the end of shift, cassettes containing the cash are removed and installed in another secure device in the back office.
Here, another 90 minutes are saved each day in manual cash counting prior to banking and distributing floats for cash registers, freeing staff to focus on the more important task of interacting with and assisting customers in stores. The use of the cassettes has halved the number of cash-in-transit security van visits required to ferry cash between Tong Li stores and its bank.
The checkout system is so fast and efficient that customer waiting times have been cut by around 20 per cent – and there has been a 99 per cent reduction in cash discrepancies due to human error. Not a single member of the Tong Li team ever touches a note or coin.
Another benefit, according to Jin is the reduction in damaged or fake currency being tendered by customers – the solution can detect a fake note instantly and reject its use for payment.
With Glory’s systems connected via secure cloud hosting, Jin and authorised members of his team can remotely monitor the cash flow in any store in real time – right down to the precise amount of cash and denominations at each connected checkout.
Jin told Inside Retail that he was in contact with multiple cash management brands before signing with Glory. “Most could only provide standalone front-office or back-office solutions. The CashInfinity solution stood out for its security and scalability, which aligned with our strategy to monitor our operations and cash flow across a growing fleet of stores.”
Deploying the equipment on an average of four checkouts and the back office of each store represents a significant capital commitment, however, Jin has calculated he has achieved a return on investment of around two years per installation – on equipment with a planned five-year lifespan.
“When you are paying senior managers wages and they are spending so much time handling cash every day, the money saved from automating that process is significant.”
When the first machine was installed, Jin was obviously concerned about how regular cash-paying customers would respond to the change.
Early adoption might have been boosted given the timing of the first machines’ introduction during the peak of the Covid pandemic when customers appreciated the hygiene factor from less human contact with cash and being able to maintain personal distancing, he explained.
“In the beginning, we definitely thought it would be a challenge, especially for aged customers because they don’t know how to use it. But as more and more stores switch over, our customers are educated, so it is much easier now. And they see how it saves them time.”
Jin is a firm believer in the concept of automated, closed-loop cash handling systems. He says food and beverage concession stand tenants of his stores have been so impressed by the results that many of them had voluntarily adopted the equipment on their own behalf, to reduce the physical handling of cash and eliminate human error.
His advice to other retailers considering adopting the solution? “If you only own one shop, maybe as a husband and wife, you can handle the cash by yourself. But for peace of mind, if you are opening a few more shops, or you are having staff operating your business, I strongly recommend using Glory’s cash automation technology because you can monitor your everyday cash flow in and out. This solution plays a crucial role in relieving people from administration and worry.
“At the beginning, this may seem like a heavy investment, but it will save headaches and money in the long term,” he concluded.
Learn learn more about Glory’s closed-loop cash-handling systems for retailers here.
