Newsagent signs £19m deal to speed up life at the till

Independent newsagent Martin McColl has signed an eight-year £19m deal with Torex to supply POS (point of sale) systems across its entire 1,300 store estate.

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The system will include full back-office functionality with integrated digital CCTV, to reduce fraud at the till and an electronic catalogue system to give access to a wider range of store merchandise. The contract is part of a store-wide rip and replace strategy and includes hardware and software support.

Martin McColl head of IT Neil Hodges told silicon.com the POS incorporates a home news delivery system so that customers can make newspaper orders and pay delivery bills at the till.

He said: "We put the platform in for future good business continuity. The existing system was ageing in terms of support agreements and functionality and we knew we were going to hit a brick wall with its ability to support the company's growth strategy.

"The benefits of the new system will be faster transaction speeds and the reduction of queues. The incorporated features in the system means that multiple terminals at the POS can be done away with."