POS-Mobile Coupling for Self-Checkout Missing Item Recovery
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Solution Overview
Problem
Customers often realize during checkout that they have forgotten to purchase essential items, leading to inconvenience and increased transaction time, which frustrates other shoppers and requires additional verification steps.
Innovation Solution
A system and method that utilizes a user computing device, such as a mobile phone or tablet, to scan barcodes, track purchase history, predict consumption rates, and generate a list of needed items with recommendations, allowing for mobile self-checkout and direct transmission of shopping lists to a point of sale device.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a customer manually checks their cart at checkout, then they can identify missing items, but this increases checkout time and causes frustration for customers and other line members
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary verification of cart contents by automatically comparing scanned items against the shopping list before checkout is completed. This preliminary action identifies missing items in advance, allowing customers to retrieve them without delaying the checkout process for everyone.
Solution Approach 2:
The system provides real-time feedback to customers during checkout by displaying alerts when items from their shopping list are missing. This feedback mechanism enables customers to immediately address the issue without manual verification, maintaining both accuracy and speed.
2Ease of operation
If a cashier waits for the customer to retrieve missing items, then the customer can complete their purchase, but this increases the time the customer requires to checkout and frustrates other customers in line
Solution Approach 1:
The system generates and displays a list of missing items before the customer leaves the checkout area, enabling them to retrieve items efficiently without requiring the cashier to wait or engage in lengthy verification processes.
Solution Approach 2:
The system empowers customers to self-verify their cart contents by providing them with the missing items list and enabling them to take corrective action independently, reducing reliance on cashier intervention and minimizing disruption to the checkout flow.
3Productivity
If the cashier concludes the transaction for already purchased items, then the transaction can be processed, but the customer must wait in line again to purchase the unretrieved item and verification of previously purchased items is required
Solution Approach 1:
The system provides a complete list of missing items before the customer finishes their shopping trip, allowing them to retrieve all necessary items in one go and return to complete the transaction without needing to wait in line again or undergo verification of previously purchased items.
4Productivity
If no verification system is used, then the checkout process is fast, but customers may arrive home realizing that a needed item was not purchased
Solution Approach 1:
The system provides real-time feedback during checkout by comparing scanned items against the shopping list and displaying alerts for missing items. This feedback ensures purchase accuracy without significantly impacting checkout speed, as customers can quickly address the issue and complete their transaction.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary verification of cart contents against the shopping list before the customer leaves the store, ensuring that all needed items are accounted for. This preliminary check prevents the scenario where customers arrive home to discover missing items, maintaining both speed and reliability.
Data Source
AI summary
In some embodiments, purchase systems and methods are provided. Some embodiments comprise one or more processors configured to receive, at a point of sale device, a request to use self-checkout through a user computing device; couple the point of sale device with the user computing device by: display by the point of sale device a coupling code configured to be scanned by the user computing device; receive the coupling code by a server system; and interpret, at the server system, the coupling code to identify the point of sale device; cause contents of an electronic shopping cart associated with a transaction to be transmitted to the identified point of sale device; receive a customer identifier associated with the transaction; and conclude, on the point of sale device, the transaction based on the coupling of the point of sale device with the user computing device.