91探花

• Mobile app Ubamarket can reduce virus transmission with aisle sat-nav and聽in-app payment, removing need for queues and checkouts
• Will Broome, CEO of Ubamarket,聽discusses the importance of convenience and hygiene amidst Coronavirus fears and discusses role of tech in retail

Retail technology company Ubamarket have developed a mobile app which could help stop the spread of Covid-19 in supermarkets by reducing time spent in-store and enabling customers to bypass the checkouts and queues.

Touchscreens found at self-checkouts and card payment machines聽in stores and supermarkets across the country聽represent hotbeds of activity amongst the public, as people continue to shop for essential goods during the coronavirus lockdown. However, these areas are also key contributors to the spread of Covid-19, as聽scientists now believe that the virus can cling to and survive on surfaces for several days. This makes self-service machines, touchscreens and keypads at checkouts an area of considerably increased risk.

In today鈥檚 retail landscape, technology can provide the answer for hygiene and convenience concerns currently facing shoppers and businesses聽alike.聽Ubamarket鈥檚聽mobile app and 鈥淪can, Pay, Go!鈥� technology聽allows customers to scan products as they shop, be guided around the store with a supermarket sat-nav, and completely bypass the tills and queues by paying for their shopping in-app.

The usage of this app drastically reduces the amount of time spent in-store for customers, but still allows them to effectively purchase all goods and avoid any potentially dangerous contact at the tills, whilst enabling retailers to cater to more customers and better assess the consumer demand for all products. The technology on offer allows for staff to be deployed elsewhere in the store, and with stock levels under scrutiny during this crisis, colleagues can help replenish items and safely help more vulnerable customers.

Will Broome, CEO of Ubamarket,聽discusses the need for retail technology, both in the current climate brought about by COVID-19 and the future of retail:

鈥淭he outbreak of COVID-19 has highlighted a number of areas in which Britain鈥檚 grocers can improve by making the shopping experience far more hygienic and convenient for customers, not only for the current circumstances, but moving forward.聽Self-checkout tills are one key area where the coronavirus is likely to remain and then be passed on to shoppers, contributing to the wider spread of the virus.

Retail tech such as Ubamarket will remove the need for long queues and potentially dangerous contact at the tills. We are committed to helping聽supermarkets to provide a more hygienic shopping experience for their customers, by doing聽away with the need for time-consuming queues, unhygienic checkouts, complicated store layouts and confusion about where products are and whether they are in stock.聽

What鈥檚 more, on the retailer side, stores which implement retail tech solutions will be able to聽access far more in-depth and accurate consumer data,聽helping聽them to assess their behaviour, manage stock more聽efficiently聽and effectively, whilst being able to effectively communicate directly to the consumer base.鈥�