Zhang Wan takes a closer look.

 

　　The cash register which has been ringing up sales in our stores for over a century may soon be a thing of the past. An increasing number of retailers are handing out mobile devices to their sales assistants. The system enables customers to pay assistants wherever they find them, avoiding the need for long checkout queues.

 

　　The assistants can also carry out other tasks as well as taking payments. As part of his plan to transform the US department store chain J.C. Penney, Chief Executive Ron Johnson, the mastermind behind the Apple stores, aims to get rid of most of the chain's cash registers over the next few years.

 

　　He started distributing iPod Touch devices to sales staff at the end of 2012 and the plan is to have small service counters where customers can pay by cash or resolve other issues.

 

　　At department stores, it is estimated that as many as 15 percent of shoppers walk out of a store because they don't want to queue up to pay. So far, shoppers seem to like the convenience.

 

　　"I think it's great it makes check out a lot quicker, and I'm on my lunch break from work, so the faster the better."

 

　　"I mean it's definitely a tool to get people to buy things a lot quicker. Like if I see for example a skirt that I like or a dress that I like I can easily try it on, take it off, buy it and I'll be good to go."

 

　　But there is some concern amongst retailers that the new system could also put off shoppers who like to pay at the counter where the barrier makes them feel anonymous.

 

　　It also means shoppers have to be re-educated about how to pay, stores have to be redesigned when cash registers are removed and it forces retailers to rethink the age-old merchandising trick of where to place impulse items, traditionally placed at the cash registers.

 

　　Joe Cardamone, manager of Penney's Manhattan store says that further down the road, the mobile devices will be able to take care of everything.

 

　　"I think as you see it right now these big terminals are going to be gone. You really won't see them anymore we're going to be able to now use the space for our new shops coming in. So it'll be, we'll be able to enhance that part of the experience for the consumer too as we move forward because these take up a lot of space. It opens up the store a lot more too."

 

　　Stores have to replace their cash registers every eight years, spending millions of dollars. Retail strategists Kurt Salmon estimates that based on a chain of 20 stores with two registers per store, it would cost 100,000 US dollars to roll out iPad devices, half of the costs of using traditional cash registers. iPads with accessories like card readers costs1,500 US dollars each, compared with 4,000 US dollars per cash register.

 

　　Al Sambar, Retail Strategist at the management and strategy consulting company Kurt Salmon says the ultimate aim is to improve revenue but also to enhance the customer experience.

 

　　"Well from a financial perspective ultimately the goal is to raise revenue and conversion in that square footage but I do that by improving my customer experience can I let this customer shop me in a richer way? Can I allow them access to more of my assortment than I can offer in just the physical square footage that I have? So ultimately that drives a financial performance. It allows me to drive more revenue and through better recommendations on these devices even better margin performance on the product moving through that square footage."

 

　　The introduction of the new devices comes as retailers grapple with the increasing demands of shoppers who are buying and researching on their mobile devices and expect a similar speedy experience in the stores.

 

　　For CRI, I am Zhang Wan.