It's really annoying how picking up a couple of items at Big Bazaar and the likes in India, we have to be standing in a queue that never seems to end. The idea is called 'BillFast' and is aimed at reducing these long queues at supermarkets and large format retail stores. It would require mounting a Bar Code reader on the handle side of the supermarket trolley facing the basket space. This would be connected to a 5 line monochrome LCD display. Also, a retractable USB cable to connect to the billing desk.
How it works: Any person who wants to pick up less than 10 small items can pick this trolley, use the barcode scanner to scan the items and ]verify his items and total price on the display. For billing, there is a separate express billing counter where the USB would pulled from the trolley and connected to the billing counter to transfer the list for billing. The count of items and names would be displayed on the billing monitor and the items can be verified while packing.
Notes:
- This would be the first generation concept and eventually the entire billing could be brought on similar lines
- The number of items have been restricted to a convenient number to avoid errors in verification of the items scanned and the items actually present in the trolley.
