“AURES equipment overall has proven to be reliable, flexible, modern and easy to maintain. Also, critically, we never hear AURES say they are out of stock or there is a long lead-time.”
Mike Le Conte, Group CEO
In today’s modern EPOS market, it is common for suppliers to operate within a particular niche, supplying specialist solutions to one sector or another.
CheckOut, however, does things a little differently. Instead of a particular market sector, it provides point of sale services to a particular geographical location – the Channel Islands.
Operating across the islands of Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney, Sark and some of their smaller cousins too, CheckOut provides end-to-end solutions for businesses of all colours and sizes.
In POS terms, that makes CheckOut something of a Jack-of-all-trades. Serving both the retail and hospitality sectors, CheckOut’s point of sale expertise is unusually broad, catering as it does for the specific needs of of such a wide range of clients.
Mike Le Conte, Group CEO of CheckOut and also managing director of its Guernsey wing, said: “Across the Channel Islands we have about 250 customers, ranging from cafes to restaurants, takeaways to hotels, sandwich shops, supermarkets, hairdressers, jewellery boutiques and clothes stores.
“CheckOut was formed initially as a cash register company over 25 years ago. With advances in technology, we now focus on providing business solutions across hospitality, retail and distribution. Our solutions are technology based and we also provide personal service expertise. We employ professionals with both IT and either hospitality or retail experience.”
“We are agents for the leading hardware and software vendors catering for the different types of business we serve.”
On the software side, CheckOut is the exclusive Channel Islands partner of Niche Software, distributing its MiniPOS for Retail platform to shops and stores across the islands. It supplies Access group / IBS POSLink to the larger hospitality sectors, and also the ICR Touch suite of applications for smaller businesses and take aways.
Beyond EPOS solutions, CheckOut also delivers platforms for integrated stock control, property management systems for hotels and B&Bs, plus CRM and marketing. Mike added: “Many of these services require the use of high end technology to provide marketing solutions such as loyalty cards or gift cards, management control tools like sales analysis and stock control, and also to assist in driving efficiency in the workplace through things like mobile, agile point of sale solutions, waiter paging and so on.”
In addition, CheckOut also provides support and maintenance services and added value extras such as wireless network installation and credit card machines.
AURES terminals
The final piece of the jigsaw in CheckOut’s comprehensive EPOS service is hardware. Having originally specialised in cash registers, as with software solutions, CheckOut has seen significant developments in POS equipment over 25 years. The terminals it supplies to customers today have to perform a wide range of tasks besides payment processing. They provide the processing power for the software platforms, and also the interface for users to operate.
CheckOut has had a long-standing partnership with AURES as its main hardware supplier. “CheckOut originally provided AURES J2 range terminals some 10 years ago due to their reliability,” said Mike. “We were attracted to AURES products due to their modern and advanced design.
Overall, we have over 500 AURES tills in operation across the Channel Islands.”
The current 600 series products used by CheckOut are noted for their reliability, their versatility and their powerful performance. All-in-one integrated POS terminals, they feature high brightness 15” backlit LCD screens and PCT touchscreens paired with the latest Intel desktop processors. They can be mounted in a variety of ways, and support a range of add-on peripherals, such as rear customer displays, biometrics, RFID scanners and so on.
“AURES equipment overall has proven to be reliable, flexible, modern and easy to maintain,” said Mike. “Also, critically, we never hear AURES say they are out of stock or there is a long lead-time.”
Mike added that AURES’s record on service and support was a key selling point, especially with the three-year warranty the company offers. “CheckOut’s philosophy is to provide the best investment for the customer,” he said. “Not only does it need to be price competitive but it is essential that the after sales service and support will allow the equipment to be well maintained and in use for many years to come.”
Another big plus Mike sees in working with AURES is the variety in the range, which means it can cater for different tastes and requirements different customers have. CheckOut also supplies AURES Nino terminals, for example. Another all-in-one product, the Nino’s ultra-compact design and lightweight yet robust construction makes it ideal for places like cafes, kiosks or pop-up stalls where space and mobility are important.
“For some of our customers the design of the unit is the key selling point,” explained Mike. “Some of the AURES tills are very modern and futuristic looking and this compliments the design of the fashion houses, telecom companies, contemporary bistros and restaurants. Other customers, such as pubs, are looking for more of a traditional-looking till, not too intrusive but reliable. Others again such as cafés are looking for small units to work in a limited space.
“Customers also wish to take on new features such as biometric readers or magnetic card swipes and these need to be readily available and easy to fit.”
About CheckOut CI
CheckOut CI is the leading provider of electronic point of sale solutions in the Channel Islands. With offices in Jersey and Guernsey, it supplies a range of innovative and technologically advanced hardware and software solutions for the retail, hospitality and distribution industries, backed up by unrivalled local support services.
The company delivers bespoke installations for companies of all sizes, covering shops, supermarkets, restaurants, hotels, pubs, cafes, takeaways and more. It is the exclusive Channel Islands distributor of some of the biggest EPOS software and hardware brands, including AURES. To find out more, please visit the company website, www.checkoutci.com.
