To fight labour crunch, Giant eyes self-service payment kiosks

SINGAPORE — Following a pilot project at its Tampines hypermarket store, retail chain Giant could roll out self-service payment kiosks that accept cash and return exact change at its stores, potentially becoming the first among the major chains to do so in light of the manpower crunch.

To date, several supermarket chains have installed machines that accept card payments.

Due to the tight labour market, his company is also trying to hire more seniors by simplifying job processes and offering flexible working hours, Giant CEO Ruald Swart said in an interview with TODAY last week. These initiatives seek to “fight the acute shortage of manpower and crazy rentals”, he said.

On the moves to attract more seniors to its workforce, Mr Swart noted that this group of potential workers are “scared to take up jobs (in the retail sector) as they fear complex and high-load work”.

“As we start reaching out to the older generations to help out, we need to set the stage for them in a way that is easy for them,” he added.

Giant is also automating its ordering systems with centralised distribution for its stores. Its marketing director Lim Wee Ling said: “This helps us reduce storage space at our outlets, helping us keep rentals down. We are also increasingly working with manufacturers to pre-pack products in a way that is less labour-intensive at our end.”

The chain recently embarked on a campaign with the Singapore Food Manufacturers’ Association (SFMA), providing complimentary space to 31 homegrown food manufacturers at its Tampines store to showcase their products. The most popular products will subsequently be sold across Giant stores in Singapore.

Separately, it is working on developing more house-brand items, given that the proportion of revenue from the sales of these products doubled over the past two years to 8 per cent.

“We expect it to account for 10 to 12 per cent of our sales in the next two years,” Mr Swart said.

Giant currently operates 63 stores across the island in three different formats: Express, Super, and Hyper. Given the small size of the Singapore market, Mr Swart said the company is eyeing the smaller store segment for possible expansion. “We are working more on getting the ‘Express’ store model correct here while we continue to focus on all the three formats, with efforts on getting the right items at the right store format.” He added: “Driving volume and giving consumers value for money on everyday purchases is core to our strategy.”

Giant is owned by parent group The Dairy Farm Company. The group, which is the second-largest food and grocery retailer behind NTUC Fairprice in Singapore, also operates Cold Storage, Jasons Market Place, 7-Eleven, and Guardian.