Greggs & J2 Retail Systems EPoS partnership completes its 5th anniversary year

Feb. 8, 2012 - PRLog -- For global manufacturer of PC-based touchscreen point-of-sale hardware, J2 Retail Systems, and the UK’s largest retail baker, Greggs, 2011 marked an important milestone in their EPoS collaboration.  

Explains Roy McDougal, Head of IT at Greggs: “For five years now, J2 has supplied us with EPoS units that are ideal for our retail bakery environment. J2 hardware is space-efficient and practical.  It’s very reliable and gives a long lifespan, so its value for money is good.”

“In 2006, we were looking for a partner who could give us an EPoS terminal with all the I/O and CPU in the head. We ended up collaborating with J2 on a terminal that was bespoke-developed for us.”  

J2 designers have developed thin-client hardware with various mounting options to maximise the space Greggs has available for customer service.  Use of flashcard technology negates the need for a hard drive, so the system is completely solid state. The latest units are designed around the innovative Intel Atom chip set, which does not require a cooling fan.    

Adds Roy McDougal: “The result is a flexible, durable and competitively-priced system.  We are now on our fourth-generation terminal and all the J2s need very little ongoing maintenance so give us an overall low cost of ownership.”

He continues: “J2 have positively affected our development and we’ve done the same for them.  ‘All in the head’ is now J2’s trademark differentiator and, thanks to the quality of the EPoS they’ve supplied over 5 years, J2 have played a tangible part in our expansion.  The features Greggs has designed with J2 have gone on to benefit the whole market.”

“Today, our tills are split between 1,000 J2 615s with Solid State Drives which will eventually be our de facto model, 2,500 J2 560s and some earlier models.  We order a significant quantity of tills each year, for replacement of older models and to equip new shops.  We aim to get a 5-7 year life from every till. The longevity of the J2s is good and we’re certainly getting that lifespan.”

“We find the J2s the ultimate in flexibility.  We can easily convert them to be flat counter-mounted, or mounted on the glass counters with the screen on a bracket at the server’s eye-level.  Importantly, too, being fanless the J2 tills can’t overheat or suck in dust and flour.”
   
Concludes Roy McDougal: “J2 are an open, trustworthy company, easy to work with.  They’re always willing to give us advice and talk through new developments. We look forward to working with them for the next five years.”



About J2 Retail Systems - www.j2retailsystems.com

J2 Retail Systems is a specialist manufacturer of PC-based touchscreens, LCD touchscreen monitors and point-of-sale hardware.  Now with over 100,000 units installed worldwide, its clients include thousands of leading brand retailers, hospitality businesses and leisure operators.

For the corporate clients, partners and resellers with whom it works, J2 offers business stability, technical excellence and close working relationships.  Its products represent innovation, exceptional reliability and one of the lowest costs of EPoS ownership available today. The company controls its design and manufacture, and constantly looks for ways to improve the quality of its user experience.  J2’s history has been one of pioneering and market ‘firsts’.  It recently launched the first EPoS to contain Solid State Storage drives as standard.

About Greggs - www.greggs.co.uk

Greggs is the UK’s leading bakery retailer with more than 1,570 shops nationwide and serving over six million customers a week in Britain.

Expert bakers for more than 70 years, Greggs specialise in daily fresh shop-made sandwiches on Greggs’ own-baked bread, and savouries baked off fresh in the shop ovens throughout the day, including the iconic Greggs sausage roll.   These lines are complemented by a wide range of muffins, cupcakes and other confectionery, and a wide range of take-home bread and rolls.

Greggs has ten regional bakeries around the UK, supplying fresh bakery food to its shops in each region.

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