Huge potential
Wincor Nixdorf’s new Cash Cycle Management concept offers huge potential to lower costs, increase customer
service and maximize security, as the company’s first pilot in a retail store shows. Discount furniture retailer
POCO-Domäne has automated cash handling in its Hanover store to establish a completely closed cash cycle.
10 report | FEBRUARY 2010
S ecurity is a top priority at POCO-Domäne
Holding GmbH. Many of the company’s
stores were the target of armed robberies.
safe integrated into the CINEO POS system.
The cash can’t be removed by checkout per-
sonnel but only by authorized personnel per
Wincor Nixdorf’s concept to minimize
processing costs goes beyond the individual
store. Instead of having to transport a huge
“The problem is not so much the material code and with a special key. amount of cash from their cash office to a
damage, which is covered by insurance, but branch of Germany’s Central Bank, retailers
the impact on employees,” says Friedhelm Revolutionary approach can make their intelligent cash cassettes with
Rudolph, Executive Director and Director of IT The POCO Hanover store is the first retail clearly registered cash amounts available to a
and Controlling at the furniture company. outlet to pilot Wincor Nixdorf’s new Cash cooperating neighborhood bank to replenish
“We have to deal with the fact that not only Cycle Management Solution. The solution has ATMs. Cash in an intelligent recycling system
employess who are directly affected often proven itself not only at POCO-Domäne but saves money for retailers and banks and any-
stand under shock and eventually miss work with other users as well. Cash is no longer one else dealing with cash.
for a long time but other colleagues become accessible. And potential robbers scouting
scared as well.” As a result, it becomes a chal- the area for possible targets quickly realize Fully automated POS
lenge in some stores to find people willing to that there’s no chance of stealing any money With more than 85 outlets in Germany and
work in the checkout zone. And not only that, in this store. two major hubs in Bergkamen and Hardegsen,
business is interrupted and sales dip. POCO-Domäne’s strategy to keep cash- POCO-Domäne has already taken key steps
Unlike its other stores, the POCO-Domäne handling costs at the lowest possible level is toward realizing this revolutionary solution at
outlet in Hanover has nearly a zero chance of revolutionary. The company has completely its store in Hanover, initially at point of sale.
being robbed. Since September 2009, cash automated the cash process at point of sale as The checkout points in the 7,000-square meter
handling is automated. Cashiers only register well as cash payment, bundling and provision store have been equipped with advanced self-
products; customers manage the payment functions in the cash office and even trans- service technology from Wincor Nixdorf: the
process themselves. Cash is placed in a secure portation by cash-in-transit (CiT) companies. iCASH 15 for coins and the CINEO C6010 for .
CASH CYCLE MANAGEMENT | report 11
notes from the company’s brand new Cash ing cashiers and provides opportunities to
Cycle Management Solutions portfolio. reduce costs,” Rudolph says.
The technology has completely automated In addition, the IT director points to spe-
coin and banknote payments. And customers cial campaigns, such as the “Moonlight Shop-
have quickly accepted the technology. “From ping” program, held occasionally in POCO
the very beginning, our customers, including stores. With these types of night programs,
the older ones, have not been afraid to use the employees feel much more comfortable
technology,” IT Director Rudolph says. knowing that they don’t have to settle tills
The solution offers many benefits. Dis- after midnight.
crepancies in register receipts, for instance,
are a thing of the past because store employ- Fewer costs in the cash office
ees no longer have access to cash. Since they Emptying cash from POS terminals is both
only scan products, they have more time to swift and secure. An authorized person, typi-
advise customers seeking support. Another cally the head cashier, initiates the cash emp-
benefit: time is saved. Cashier shift changes tying processes at the CINEO system by enter-
and evening till settlements take only sec- ing a code. The system’s banknote storeage
onds. “This allows huge flexibility in deploy- module is emptied to a defined level so that
12 report | FEBRUARY 2010
The POCO-Domäne Solution
W One iCASH 15 coin recycler and one
CINEO C6010 note recycler are installed
at the POCO Domäne in Hanover. The
systems are controlled by modules from
the Cash Cycle Management Solutions
Base. Two conventional POS terminals
can be opened if needed during peak
change remains in the system. The cash tak- longer necessary, counting mistakes are not shopping times. The CINEO C6020
ings are then transferred to a mobile drum possible. In general, the whole process signif- cashier safe is installed in the back
module. After the drum module is carried to icantly lightens the workload of employees office and is also controlled by software
the cash office, it is docked to CINEO C6020 and offers huge time and cost savings as well from the Cash Cycle Management Solu-
and emptied. as higher security in sales accounting. tions Base.
This is where the second part of the W The solutions were installed in Septem-
process to reduce costs comes into play. Cash Decision in spring ber 2009 during regular shopping opera-
doesn’t have to be counted or consolidated. Wincor Nixdorf is currently helping POCO- tions without any interruptions to the
These tasks are taken over by the CINEO Domäne assess how huge the benefits could normal checkout. They have been work-
C6020 system. It sorts and stores the bank- be by quantifying the savings effects and ing failure-free.
notes in the intelligent cash cassettes, which evaluating the security and customer service W POCO-Domäne has been collaborating
are also used by the CiT companies for trans- aspects. Return on investment can be calcu- with Wincor Nixdorf for some time. Most
portation. The cash is automatically recorded lated based on this information. “The benefits of the company’s stores are equipped
and reported to the materials management of the system are undisputable,” Friedhelm with Beetle POS systems. Its good expe-
system. “Cash handling is completely elimi- Rudolph says. For him, it was important that riences with this technology and Wincor
nated in the cash office,” IT Director Rudolph “customer acceptance is high and that the so- Nixdorf’s excellent references prompted
says. “The double-checking principle is no lution has passed the field test during the tur- the company to pilot the Cash Cycle
bulent holiday shopping season.” Management concept.
The outlook is good. The amortization
still has to be calculated. In spring, POCO-
POCO-Domäne Domäne plans to make a decision on whether
Holding GmbH to deploy the Cash Cycle Management tech-
W Strategy: Attractive living for little nology in other stores. W
money – Under this motto, the discount
furniture chain POCO-Domäne opened
its doors to business in 1972.
W Stores: 85 in Germany with sales space
ranging between 5,000 and 6,000 square
meters.
W Focus: Furniture, home textiles and
home accessories
W Sales: About €900 million in 2009
W Employees: Around 4,000
. www.poco.de
CASH CYCLE MANAGEMENT | report 13