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Norgesgruppen is expanding and there will now be more partially staffed stores.
A total of four Norgesgruppen stores will test new technology that makes it possible to keep convenience stores open longer than they can afford to have employees at work.
– The goal is to ensure that it is easier for local stores to survive as they will have longer opening hours, says Hanne Evensen at Kjøpmannshuset, which runs local stores Nærbutikken, Spar and Joker.
Kjøpmannshuset is under Norgesgruppen, which owns, among other things, Kiwi and Meny.
Evensen says this is a pilot project under the auspices of the Mercury program. It is a development program for stores in rural Norway, and the program is owned by the Ministry of Local Government and Modernization.
– You enter the store using your bank card, then you collect the products you need and pay at the self-service checkouts when you leave, explains Evensen.
To exit, you must scan the receipt.
HOW TO OPEN: To enter the store after the staff has gone home, you need to scan your bank card outside.
Photo: Kjøpmannshuset
Free time
Norgesgruppen now has four partially staffed stores. Last year, Hegna Landhandel also opened in Telemark, which is Norway’s first fully self-service store, which is also open 24 hours a day.
Here are the four convenience stores that as of this year are partially unstaffed and open 24 hours a day:
- Lyngdal Landhandel – municipality of Flesberg in Viken
- Svatsum Samvirkelag AS – Gausdal municipality in the interior
- Åmdals Verk Daglegvare AS – Township of Tokke in Telemark and Vestfold
- Tufsingdal Landhandel AS – Os municipality inland. This opens next week.
EXPANDS: Hanne Evensen in Kjøpmannshuset, who is part of Meny- og Kiwi owner Norgesgruppen, says stores that are partially unstaffed are part of the Merkur program.
Photo: Private
– It will be easier for the locals to use the store as they can shop when it suits them, says Evensen.
Also read: Hegna Landhandel is Norway’s first 24-hour unattended store
She says that in many of the small local stores there are few employees, the hours of the day that they are at work, they can dedicate more time to the chores of the store than to checkout. This is because the stores have self-service checkouts, as they are not manned for part of the day.
– They are given free time to reload goods and help customers.
Watch the video below to see when Nettavisen visited Hegna Landhandel last summer:
Trust customers
In shops without service, there is no one who can take care that nothing goes wrong or that no one steals merchandise. However, Evensen does not believe it is a widespread problem.
– There will always be the risk of someone abusing it, but we have not experienced theft from neglected stores so far, he says.
At the same time, Evensen points out that there are cameras in the stores, and you have to register your bank card to enter the store.
– But we can never avoid stealing one hundred percent, he says.
Also read: Tine makes a big change with the new milk cartons, but she’s definitely seen it before
Good experience
Steinar Fredheim, District Center department director and Merkur materials director, says a total of eight Merkur stores will open in the fall.
– How long will the pilot project last?
– Basically, he is a pilot to gain experience. We won’t wait that long before we gain experience in stores, and we will eventually see what effect it has on the local community, he says.
Fredheim says it’s hard to say specifically how long the partially staffed stores will test, but he believes it will meet expectations.
– We see that Hegna Landhandel has done very well since they opened. It is interesting to see how customers are distributed 24 hours a day and at times when the store would normally be closed. Accessibility is an important keyword, he says.
YOU WILL REAP EXPERIENCES: Steinar Fredheim at the District Center says they will look at the experiences of the stores, which are now partially staffed and self-serve, in order to assess whether they should invest more.
Photo: Distriktssenteret
Fully self-service stores or partially unstaffed stores are important in districts because in some cases they may be the alternative to closure.
– Many of the smaller stores have low profitability, few employees, and it’s hard to match the opening hours and service you can get at larger stores and malls, he says.
Some stores close at 5pm and are therefore not available to travelers and other groups looking to shop in the afternoon and evening. Therefore, Fredheim believes that it is a good solution if the local store can be partially self-service.
Feel free to give your opinion in the survey before reading further, the article continues below.
Several chains are betting
This summer, Nettavisen wrote about Coop, which is Norway’s second-largest grocery group, which has also chosen to focus on unstaffed stores.
Last year, they opened their first store which is open without employees at work part of the day, and is located in Bogstadveien in Oslo. Here, customers can lock themselves in the store, find the items they want, and pay at the self-service checkouts before leaving.
Also read: Believes that Amazon contributes to the development of the Norwegian grocery trade: – Consumers can enjoy
Coop opts to intensify this initiative and will have two new stores without employees for part of the day. The chosen ones this time are Coop Marked Folkestad, which is located in the municipality of Volda, and Coop Market in Nedre Eggedal. The latter, which opens already in October, at the same time will be re-profiled for Prix.
However, the last two stores will not be open 24 hours a day, just extended hours. But new technology is especially important to keep stores in towns.
– We have many stores in the districts and some of them do not have the economic base to have the opening hours that customers expect. The rotation is simple and easily too low. This means the store can be opened on an equal footing with stores in larger locations, Rune Økland, director of grocery operations at Coop Nordvest, told Nettavisen.
Also read: Great result for the food giant: increases turnover by more than nine percent
He believes there will be many partially staffed Coop stores in the future.
The Snarkjøp chain of stores is also investing in partially unmanned stores and opened a store in the municipality of Vaksdal in western Norway in May and will eventually open one in the municipality of Ullensvang in western Norway.
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