Better business and tobacco compliance with Select & Collect

As the market keeps progressing, retailers are struggling to keep up with tobacco sales regulations without sacrificing a user-friendly customer experience. Is it possible to have it both? We believe it is. This is our concept for creating the perfect balance.

Meet tobacco regulations

By using Select & Collect, retailers can automate tobacco sales and, at the same time, live up to tobacco regulations. The margin for tobacco products is usually around 5 %. This can be compared to other store products with an average of a 20% margin. Even so, tobacco selling is still important for driving traffic to the store. A customer entering the store to buy cigarettes usually ends up leaving with additional items.

Tobacco sales regulations are becoming more strict in many countries, making it challenging for retailers who want to keep selling the products. They now have to present the tobacco in a certain way, with hidden packages and price lists. This makes the process a hassle for retailers. They want to keep selling the products, but are concerned about not living up to regulations.

Select & Collect provides a solution that keeps all tobacco products hidden in a dispenser, with price lists conveniently presented to the customer on touchscreens or in a cashier picklist. This makes it easy for retailers to live up to regulations and maintain tobacco sales.

Save money on stocking

Select & Collect stores all tobacco products in one place, secured in a dispenser. This is not only beneficial for avoiding internal and external thefts, but also great for stocking. It requires a minimal warehouse, since products don’t need to be stored by every checkout. With dedicated tobacco shelves by each checkout, stores have to stock up on a larger amount of products than required for a dispenser. Stocking items in a dispenser also lets staff members save time on inventory and refills.

A pack of cigarettes can cost around 4-9 euro, which makes it easy for one shelf of tobacco products to reach a price between 2500-5000 euros, just for stock! With Select & Collect, you don’t need to stock numerous physical products by the checkouts. The only stock needed is the one inside the dispenser. Just this one factor can save your store a lot of money.

Sell tobacco in self-checkouts

Making tobacco purchases at the self-checkout can be a real hassle without a solution like the Select & Collect. For each purchase, the customer would need to call for a staff member to bring the tobacco product to the self-checkout. With Select & Collect, customers only need to press a button, make the purchase and then collect the product at the dispenser on the way out. Other than age approval, provided by a staff member, it’s a smooth process without excessive interventions.

By offering tobacco products at the self-checkout, the store caters to the demands of customers who prefer self-checkouts for smaller purchases. This prevents the store from losing customers to nearby corner shops or the local gas station. As the use and demands for self-checkouts increase, investing in systems that integrate well with self-checkouts is a proactive way to keep up with the changing market.

Sell more with promotions in self-checkouts

When the Select & Collect solution is integrated with the self-checkout, it opens up for new up-selling opportunities and promotions that are otherwise impossible in self-checkouts.

While scanning items, the customer can view various product suggestions and promotions on the screen. That can include beauty products, sweets, or other products stored in the Select & Collect dispenser. The customer can easily select items, add them to the receipt and then pick them up from the dispenser. This kind of upselling would be impossible without the Select & Collect solution.

Are you interested to learn more about how Select & Collect can improve your store? Download our guide “Zero shrinkage and optimised tobacco compliance with Select & Collect”.