WAKEFERN POS GEARING UP FOR ELECTRONIC PAYMENTS

LINDA PURPURA

ELIZABETH, N.J. -- As Wakefern Food Corp. here moves to a PC-based point-of-sale platform, the cooperative is installing new POS electronic payment terminals in member stores to handle their needs now and in the future.

The POS electronic payment terminals, which are currently being used for debit and credit transactions, are installed in approximately 50 members' stores. About 40 more stores will receive the system by year-end, according to a source familiar with the installation.

"Wakefern had to make sure our members have a solid solution that would last," said a source at Wakefern. "Wakefern is looking at [a POS] solution for the next 15 years. The system has to grow."

While Wakefern members are not currently using all these functions, the POS electronic payment terminal can support electronic benefits transfers and can serve as a check reader. The terminals can also be accessed at the register and from a central support location for on-line diagnostics and asset identification.

In addition, the POS system can survey customers with questionnaires programmed into the system. The terminals will also allow customers to activate the personal identification number pad rather than having the cashier do it.

Wakefern reviewed a number of POS systems on performance measures, enhancements to support the device and the ability of the system to provide future enhancements, according to a source familiar with the program.

Wakefern's basic performance measures were the number of times a shopper has to reswipe the card and the number of times the cashier has to reset the device and manually enter the card number.

According to the source at Wakefern, manual entries were in line with the national average of 1% to 2%. The source noted that reswipes and reloads are more difficult to measure. Enhancements to the POS system were vital to Wakefern, particularly the ability of the system to support a check reader and perform diagnostic routines through the register. By being able to handle the latter, the retailer could be proactive in determining what might be wrong with the terminal.

Wakefern also places high importance on the ability to track all its equipment.

"Members needed a way to electronically ask the system what kind of magnetic-strip reader this is and its serial number," said the source at Wakefern. "Then we can relay it back to a central location and load it into a database."

Wakefern also explored the ways in which it could use the system in the future. One option it may use is surveying customers with questionnaires conducted on the terminal at the POS. The terminals are designed with simplified function buttons much like an automated teller machine, which makes them more consumer-friendly.

The terminals will also be able to accept smart cards, which store information on a microchip within the card.

"If you can get one or two questions answered out of a customer, that's very valuable," the source said.

The POS system comes from Atalla, a Tandem company in San Jose, Calif.