Rede Market, a supermarket chain with 13 stores, including two in the wholesale format, located in Rio de Janeiro, faced a common challenge among retailers: checkout lines and frequent registration errors that resulted in long customer service times. Additionally, the chain struggled to measure the financial losses resulting from these problems.
Classic Supermarket Challenges
Júnior Pereira, Director of Operations at Rede Market, describes the previous situation:
"In one of our standard stores, with 17 checkouts, we had up to six checkout supervisors in a single unit. Even so, these professionals could not keep up with the demand we had in terms of product cancellations, discounts, and customer service. They spent a lot of time on these activities. Additionally, we did not have monitoring of these supervisors' actions, so we could not accurately measure everything that was happening within our store." — Júnior Pereira
The Solution: Inwave Darwin Platform - Remote Supervisor
The change came with the adoption of the Inwave Darwin Platform. Through this solution, Rede Market was able to significantly reduce the time required for validating checkout operations and monitor all activities in real-time within the point of sale. This technological innovation not only simplified the processes of the retail chain but also provided enormous time and cost savings.
"Today, we have a central unit that monitors all our POS, with three remote operators, to monitor 177 checkouts, which is our total. Previously, I needed six supervisors per store, who often could not keep up with the establishment's demand. Now, a single remote operator can efficiently handle three to four stores. Moreover, on average, a cancellation operation with supervisors took two to five minutes. Through the Inwave Darwin Platform, it has been reduced to an operation of 10 to 40 seconds."
Easy to implement
The ease of implementation of the tool was also highlighted by Júnior:
"At the beginning of the project, we thought we would have more difficulties, but the Inwave team helped us a lot with the implementation of the new system. They provided full support, from the signing of the contract to the present, with very efficient and constant support. Therefore, it was a very easy implementation." — Júnior Pereira
Security, Loss Reduction, and Profit Increase
In addition to improvements in customer service and checkout process management, Rede Market also adopted Inwave technology for merchandise protection, using antennas and anti-theft tags.
"The antennas have brought even more security to our exposure. Some high-risk products, such as beverages and meats, we had some difficulty maintaining security. Today, with real-time monitoring, combined with the use of anti-theft antennas, we have complete control over these high-risk products. We have managed to significantly reduce the number of losses and frauds within the business."
As a result, Rede Market not only reduced losses but also increased profits, gaining security and control over product displays. Whereas previously Rede Markethad no control over losses, now the chain can estimate the average loss at around 10 to 15 thousand reais per store, a significantly lower number than before adopting the platform.
"Today, with Inwave's help, we have managed to inhibit many of our losses. Before, we couldn't even measure what that number was. Now, in addition to having this parameter, we can act instantly to recover that money. And the Darwin remote supervisor technology, monitoring, and EAS antennas give us more confidence to expand the network more and more safely, and we undoubtedly consider Inwave as part of our journey into the future." — Júnior Pereira
The partnership with Inwave and the adoption of the Inwave Darwin Platform transformed Rede Market's operation, providing significant improvements in customer service, checkout process efficiency, and merchandise security. Inwave's technology and support allowed Rede Market not only to solve critical problems but also to achieve a new level of management and control, preparing the chain for secure growth with technology that protects its profits.
Source: SA+ Varejo
