At the end of 19th century a new type of sales organization was born, the department store. This phenomenon originated in Paris in 1852 with the store Au Bon Marchè (free entrance, low prices marked on goods, etc.) after which the model was adopted in the United States and all around the world. This new sales system became very successful.
Today when you go shopping at the supermarket, you take your cart and collect what you need. Once you’re sure that you haven’t forgotten anything, you proceed to the checkout area. That part of shopping has not changed much since 1852. But now when you reach the checkout area, you can select from a number of payment methods and checkout area formats.
Once upon a time, transactions were calculated using pen and paper, and a simple box was used for storing cash. Afterwards a new way of accounting was introduced; the cash register. And at the beginning of 20th century that machine evolved into a conceptual archetype of the modern cash counter, including both a cash register and a series of drawers for storing proceeds of the various sales departments.
Today we have modern cash registers, called Point of Sale Systems, which include innovative touch screen displays, receipt printers, and barcode readers. They even connect with electronic payment systems, but cash is still there, stored in same cash drawers.
In recent years, a significant innovation has also been introduced for retailers to help address cash management challenges. These are Smart Safes; intelligent systems that automatically accept, validate, record and store notes in a secure environment while freeing up store personnel to focus on more productive tasks.
Learn how Smart Safes simplify retailers’ life from now on.