About 40 small shops around the country currently have self-service. With the help of digital solutions, the customer can lock himself in and use the store, without employees being present. Some of them stay open 24 hours a day, others from 7am to 11pm. One of them is the shop on the island of Askrova outside Florø in Vestland. – It has become a completely new weekday for us. This makes it possible for me to keep the shop going, says shop manager Magne Svardahl. The store manager calls it a “digital store”. Because even if the customer is alone in the store, the store manager can follow up via the mobile phone. There, he has a full overview of every nook and cranny in the premises. It is machines of this type that allow customers to enter the store when the employees are not present. Photo: Anne Lognvik / news Getting more customers The scheme with self-lit shops started as a trial project under the government’s Merkur program in 2020. The first was the convenience store in Eksingedalen in Vaksdal municipality. Almost three years later, around 40 convenience stores across the country have gained self-service. Figures from Merkur show that the first eight pilot stores had a customer growth of 34 per cent, and increased turnover by 49 per cent after the first year of self-service. What the shops have in common is that they are located in small villages. Hege Marie Lavik runs the store in Eksingedalen in Vaksdal. They were the first in the country with a self-service convenience store. Photo: Linnea Skare Oskarsen / news – The small shops are the glue in the village, states Atle Stalheim. He is a Merkur consultant for Sogn og Fjordane and Sunnmøre and offers help and support to Merkur stores. The transition to self-service has been a success, believes Stadheim. – The customers are satisfied with better access and the shop owners are satisfied. It is a win-win situation. We see that digitizing the store has a good economic effect. The Merkur program is the Ministry of Local Government and Districts’ development and competence program for shops in rural Norway. Must ensure people in the district have access to daily necessities and good services linked to the store. Merchants from all over the country are offered training and follow-up by professional consultants. Source: merkur-programmet.no Get financial support Through the Merkur programme, convenience stores can get financial help to upgrade to self-service. – This would not have been possible for us if we had not received support. The arrangements have made it possible to update the store, says the store manager at Askrova. The convenience store is the only meeting point for the 90 permanent residents and holiday guests on the island of Askrova. Photo: Sander Eide Aase / news He has had self-immolation since last summer. The stores can also receive benefits for both cash machines and parking spaces. Svardahl’s shop has been passed down for generations. He himself has run the shop for the past 40 years. Without the new solution, he does not think it would have been possible. – The digital solutions have given me the freedom I need to do a little more of what I want. The positive experiences from Askrova have prompted several of the stores on the neighboring islands to follow suit. – People are probably a little skeptical at the start, but with us it has gone very well, states the store manager outside Florø.
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Self-service will save small convenience stores – news Vestland
