Unisys to support mission-critical in-store systems for Foodstuffs

Unisys New Zealand has received an extension of its contract to provide Foodstuffs (Wellington) Cooperative Society Limited, New Zealand’s biggest grocery distributor, with IT services for store point-of-sale (POS) and related systems.

Through these services Unisys supports an IT infrastructure that enables Foodstuffs to efficiently manage its operations and enhance customer service at its member stores.

Under the extension, Unisys will continue to provide services to cover the full IT infrastructure support lifecycle for the POS systems running in 124 New World, PAK‘n SAVE and Four Square stores across the lower half of New Zealand’s North Island. The services comprise installation and maintenance services, including remote and on-site software support, implementation and deployment of changes and upgrades.

The Infrastructure Support Solution provided by Unisys is key to three mission-critical processes for Foodstuffs’ member stores:

• The POS system at the traditional and self-service checkouts where customer purchases are transacted
• An electronic shelf price labelling system that allows price changes to be quickly updated across a store
• A hand-held self-service price scanner solution for members of Foodstuffs’ Shop’n Go card programme.

“POS and pricing systems are critical for a retail business and need to be up and running for us to serve our customers quickly," said Egon Guttke, Group Manager Strategic Projects, Foodstuffs. “Because Foodstuffs is a cooperative, each store is individually owned and managed autonomously within Foodstuffs guidelines. This means the 124 stores may each have different hardware and refresh cycles creating a complex environment. The Unisys IT support model has the flexibility and reach to accommodate the individual needs of each store.”

Foodstuffs has been a Unisys client since 1996.