A price checker is a self-service machine that verifies a product’s price for customers. It also shows promotions, membership program benefits, advertisements, and detailed product information. In this article, you’ll learn more about its different functions and how these affect you and your customers.
Price Verification
A price checker displays a product’s price to customers. While price labels or tags are often displayed in aisles, they can sometimes be difficult to find. Price checkers ensure customers can always access accurate product prices.
Price checkers are often found in supermarkets and retail stores. In this article, the examples discussed will focus on supermarkets.
According to Drive Research, price is the biggest factor that influences where customers shop for their groceries. The survey states that 72% of customers value price. When a business offers high visibility and easy access to product prices, customers are more likely to return.
Self-Service Price Checking
Caption: Bimi’s 10.1-inch Windows price checker [Image: Bimi Price Checker]
Its self-service operation is one of the main functions and benefits of a price checker. It is very easy to use, so customers can quickly access product information on their own.
According to Drive Research, 74% of customers prefer shopping for groceries in person. Because of this, business owners need to ensure their customers have satisfactory shopping experiences.
Thankfully, a price verifier is easy to use. Its main components are its barcode scanner and screen. When customers want to check the price of a product, they’ll first need to scan the product’s barcode. Then, once the machine reads the barcode, the price is displayed on the screen.
Highly visible price checkers encourage customers to use these machines. Business owners strategically place price checkers on walls, shelves, and busy areas in the store. This is especially helpful for customers who want to stick to a budget or are looking for the best deals.
When a customer pauses their shopping to verify prices with an employee, it can decrease the quality of their experience. Even during peak hours, customers can simply use a price verifier and scan a product to check its price. A price checker’s self-service option also helps employees prioritize other tasks.
Showing Product Information
The information price checkers display isn’t limited to just product prices. Businesses can show detailed product descriptions and recommendations to their customers. This information provides customers with more details about products and can encourage them to buy more.
A customer’s shopping experience includes their use of a price checker. These days, price checkers come with a touchscreen to help customers navigate the on-screen options. The best price checker manufacturers use touchscreens with quick response times so customers can seamlessly access product information.
Access to detailed information helps customers to make more informed decisions and even discover new products. Here are some examples of additional information price checkers can display to customers in a supermarket:
- Similar products
- Product variants
- Expiry dates
- Nutritional facts
- Meal pairings
- Dietary restrictions
- Item location
- Product tutorials
Displaying Promotional Media
Price checkers boost customers’ awareness of promotions and limited-time offers. Promotions help businesses increase their sales and gain more customers. In addition to this, customers looking for affordable products or discounted items can easily find what they’re looking for.
A study conducted by the National Grocers Association states that 75% of customers complete their purchases in-store. When price checkers display promotions, businesses increase their customers’ interest in the items while shopping.
Limited-time offers are also important to customers. According to Drive Research, 51% of customers buy products on limited-time offers or are part of weekly ad specials. The machines can be programmed to display promotions such as:
- Flash sales
- Buy One, Get One (BOGO) promotions
- Limited-time offers
- Bundle or bulk promotions
- Special store hours
- Giveaways or raffles
As a Digital Signage
In addition to displaying promotions, price checkers allow you to showcase your business. These machines play promotional media, such as videos and slideshows, to tell your customers more about your company. Whether you’re celebrating a milestone or hosting an event, price checkers are a great way to announce this.
Price checkers from manufacturers let you make the most of your price checkers, even in sleep mode. You can display in-store promotions and advertisements from brand partnerships as screensavers.
Centralizing Business Data
Caption: A 7-inch Bimi price checker attached to a shopping cart [Image: Bimi Price Kiosk]
With the help of integrations, price checkers centralize business data. While price verification is its core function, integrations enable customers to access detailed product descriptions and promotions. Later on, you’ll learn that price checkers also display customer loyalty program benefits through integrations.
The extent of integrations depends on your price checker’s operating system. The common options are Windows, Android, and Linux. With your system of choice, you can choose to integrate your machines with software such as:
- Inventory management
- Customer loyalty program
- Point-of-Sale (POS)
- Wayfinding software
- Price monitoring software
- Warehouse system
- Sales tracking
- Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system
Relays Accurate and Consistent Data
With online shopping gaining more popularity, some supermarkets display product information on their websites. The National Grocers Association’s survey found that 68% of customers who shop online continue to visit the store. When prices are displayed online and in-store, product labeling discrepancies can occur.
In the UK, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) monitors how product information is presented to customers. The CMA encourages supermarkets to use consistent unit pricing online and in-store to help customers accurately compute per-unit prices.
Businesses use integrations to ensure product information is automatically synced across platforms. Prices, including per-unit metrics, are uploaded into a database and deployed into the machines.
Your price checker’s Wi-Fi and Power-over-Ethernet (PoE) capabilities enable you to transmit data to devices within your network. By centralizing how information is updated, price checkers help your customers find accurate and consistent prices.
Displays Customer Loyalty Program Benefits
Supermarkets and other retail stores typically have customer loyalty programs. With every purchase, customers earn loyalty points and unlock exclusive benefits.
Even small or independent grocery stores with loyalty programs make a big impact on their customers. According to the National Grocers Association, 7 in 10 shoppers choose to shop at the same independent supermarket. The survey also states that these small businesses have very loyal customers due to their products’ quality and prices.
Through integrations, customers can check their loyalty points using price checkers. To check their points, loyalty cards or apps have a barcode that a customer scans using a price checker. Then, their current points and benefits are shown on the price checker’s screen.
This is especially important for businesses with tiered loyalty programs. Because customers gain exclusive deals and perks as they increase their points, monitoring their progress is important.
Aside from this, loyalty program members can also access special events, such as contests or raffles. This enables you to engage with your customers and find out strategies to increase their loyalty to your business.
Legal Compliance
Caption: A 10-inch Android price checker manufactured by Bimi [Image: Bimi Price Verifier]
Price checkers are required to meet mandatory quality checks and pricing regulations. These standards protect your business operations. When these regulations are met, you’re ensuring your customers get correct pricing information and have a good shopping experience.
Meeting International Quality Standards
Quality assurance starts with the price checker manufacturer. The best manufacturers thoroughly test the quality of their price checkers in their factories. Afterward, the price checkers undergo another round of evaluation to ensure they meet international and state-specific quality standards.
The most common certification for electronic products like price checkers is the Certification Body (CB) Scheme. This regulation ensures price checkers meet the certification’s safety and quality requirements. Similarly, the European Union (EU) counterpart of this certification is the CE Marking.
In addition to these, most countries require price checkers to meet their own standards. These quality checks ensure businesses are deploying reliable machines in their stores.
Compliance with Pricing Laws
Accurate pricing is important to both customers and businesses. As mentioned above, customers prioritize prices when shopping for products. Pricing laws require businesses to price their products competitively. This prevents price fixing, overcharging, supply manipulation, and discriminatory pricing, which negatively affect customers.
Businesses use price monitoring software to prevent these pricing violations. The correct prices are transmitted to the price checkers using software integrations. This also ensures you’re not losing profit by undercharging.
Delivers a Big Impact in Every Business
Price checkers do more than just price verification. These machines ensure customers can independently access product information and get the best deals. Meanwhile, you can synchronize your business data into your price checkers. These devices check all the boxes for your business’s needs so your customers can add more items to their carts.
There are many price checkers in the market, but some manufacturers stand out from the rest. Bimi has over 15 years of expertise in price checker manufacturing. Bimi’s price checkers have fast capacitive LCD touchscreens encased in durable hardware. Its devices undergo strict quality checks and are easy to maintain to ensure reliable performance.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
1. How does a price checker work?
A price checker uses a barcode scanner to verify prices. 1D/2D product barcodes contain more than just lines and numbers. These are codes that contain product pricing and information. This is why a price checker needs a reliable barcode scanner to work.
After a customer scans a product’s barcode, the machine displays the price on its screen. If it has a touchscreen, the customer can browse other available product information.
A price checker integrates with other business systems to streamline information. Because of this, a network connection is also needed for a price checker to display accurate prices. These machines use Wi-Fi and Power-over-Ethernet (PoE) to transmit data.
2. What are the benefits of price checkers?
Price checkers enable customers to verify prices without needing staff assistance. This self-service function is one of the main benefits of price checkers. Because store employees can focus on other tasks, their efficiency is increased.
As mentioned above, price checkers integrate with other systems. This ensures businesses display up-to-date and accurate information to customers. This also prevents price labeling errors that violate pricing laws.
Price checkers also display detailed information such as expiry dates, product variants, product tutorials, and nutritional facts. Aside from this, customers can view promotions and their customer loyalty program perks using a price checker. With this information, businesses can boost their customers’ loyalty and increase purchases.
3. Is it easy to install a price checker in a store?
Yes. Top manufacturers like Bimi offer price checkers that are easy to install. For example, Bimi price checkers include a bracket that allows businesses to mount them on walls or shelves using screws.
Price checkers from the best manufacturers are also compatible with VESA mounts. These are the standard mounts that enable businesses to place the machines in strategic locations.
These machines commonly use operating systems such as Windows and Android. This ensures businesses can easily deploy the machines in their stores.
4. Can peripherals be added to a price checker?
Yes, you can add peripherals to price checkers. These machines evolve with your business’s needs, including its hardware. Price checkers are highly customizable to accommodate peripherals such as:
- Fingerprint readers
- Printers
- Webcam
- Status lights
- 3D cameras
- Speakers
- Mounts
- Stands
Printers help customers have physical copies of pricing information on specific products. Printing information is also useful for in-store promotions and raffles.
Mounts and stands enable businesses to place price checkers in different locations. While these increase accessibility, they also help with legal compliance in some states. In Massachusetts, price checkers are required to be at a customer’s eye level. However, some of these peripherals are considered add-ons, depending on the manufacturer.
5. Where can you find price checkers in a store?
Price checkers are commonly found on shelves and aisles. In a supermarket, they are also found in busy areas, such as the produce and dairy sections. Businesses place price checkers in these locations to ensure customers can easily verify prices, especially for essential items.
However, the number of price checkers in a store may vary. In Connecticut, businesses are required to have one price checker per 12,000 sq. ft. of retail space. On the other hand, in New York, the number of price checkers depends on the number of check-out counters.
6. Can price checkers integrate with a Point-of-Sale (POS) system?
Yes, price checkers can be integrated with a POS system. This integration enables your price checkers to process payments through your POS system. By doing so, you can provide a more seamless shopping experience for your customers and reduce checkout queues.
POS systems typically have industry-specific software. Whether you’re a retail store or supermarket, you’ll need to check if your POS system is compatible with your price checker.
First, check whether your POS system can integrate with your price checkers. Then, ensure your price checkers and POS system have compatible operating systems such as Windows and Android.
7. Do price checkers come in different screen sizes?
Yes, price checkers have a wide range of screen sizes. Businesses can choose from compact 5” to impressive 24” screens manufactured by the best price checker manufacturers.
Your choice of screen size can also depend on where you’ll attach it. For example, 5-inch machines are ideal for walls while 7-inch ones are best suited for shopping carts.
These sizes enable businesses to optimize the use of their floor area while providing self-service price verification to their customers. However, smaller screens don’t mean less reliable performance. The best manufacturers design their price checkers to cater to your business needs, regardless of screen size.
8. Are price checkers easy to maintain?
Yes, most price checkers are easy to maintain. Three factors that affect the ease of maintenance of price checkers:
- Components
- Customer support
- Warranty
The best manufacturers use easily replaceable components in their machines. This ensures repairs or replacements are uncomplicated.
Customer support also helps businesses with their maintenance needs. Look for manufacturers that provide chat, voice, or video support to make troubleshooting easier.
Lastly, product warranties also keep your price checkers in good condition. On average, warranties range from 3 to 5 years to help you maintain your machines and prolong their lifespan.
9. What additional features should a price checker in a supermarket have?
Price checkers are highly customizable devices. The best price checker for a supermarket should have a high-quality barcode scanner that reads different barcodes, even from a distance. Barcodes on frozen food can be difficult to read, but the best machines can correctly verify their prices.
Supermarkets also benefit from price checkers that can be mounted in different locations. Some manufacturers like Bimi offer portable devices that can be attached to shopping carts. However, most price checkers are compatible with VESA mounts and can be placed on shelves and walls.
On the other hand, the price checker’s software enables it to go beyond simple price verification. Through integrations, businesses can sync their devices with inventory management software, price monitoring, customer loyalty programs, and POS systems.
10. Can price checkers influence customers’ loyalty to a business?
Yes, price checkers influence customers’ loyalty to a business. Price checkers affect how customers perceive a business, depending on their impact on their shopping experience. Price checkers boost customers’ trust in a business when accurate and up-to-date prices are displayed.
Because price checkers are self-service machines, customers won’t need to seek staff assistance for price verification. This provides a pleasant experience, especially for customers who prefer to shop independently.
Lastly, businesses with customer loyalty programs can display membership benefits on their machines. These exclusive deals encourage customers to return and purchase more items to gain loyalty points.
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