Matalan puts new till system in place

Retailer Matalan has upgraded its till systems to improve customer services and staff efficiency.

The high street chain has installed a revamped electronic point-of-sale (Epos) system at 2,600 tills in 186 stores, allowing it to speed up checkout times, provide better information to staff, and respond to business change and demand more effectively.

The system, which also allows the company to process chip-and-PIN transactions, is a central component of a wider technology project to replace core financial and supply chain systems.

'Chip-and-PIN was important but it wasn't the main driver for the project,' said chief information officer Nick Beighton.

'The primary driver was technology replacement, because support for the previous Epos software was due to run out within 12 months.

'When preparing the business case for the project we looked at the wider benefits possible through implementing a modern Epos system,' he said.

Matalan worked with Capgemini to put the Epos system in place, and created a 'virtual store' at its offices that provides a realistic but risk-free environment to test the usability of systems with sales and customer service staff, managers and the IT team.