Warehouse Club PriceSmart Deploying Toshiba’s Commerce Platform in Latin America

PriceSmart is deploying Toshiba Global Commerce Solutions’ Elera Commerce Platform in its stores throughout Latin America.

The operator of membership warehouse clubs in Latin America and the Caribbean aims to use Toshiba’s cloud-enabled technology to transform its customer experience, the companies said in a Monday (Jan. 16) press release.

“We’ve selected the Elera platform to extend our comprehensive scope of services and offerings to our members,” PriceSmart Executive Vice President of Digital Experience and Chief Technology Officer Juan Ignacio Biehl said in the release.

PYMNTS research has found that 80% of consumers want to try alternative checkout options such as self-service, and that 41% of those who use traditional checkout lines do so because it is the only option available.

In addition, 68% of those who choose self-service checkout do so because of its speed, according to “Today’s Self-Service Shopping Journey: The New Retail Expectation,” a PYMNTS and Toshiba collaboration.

Several catalysts drive retailers of all persuasions to take the steps needed to bring their digital operation to the next level, Toshiba Global Commerce Solutions CEO Rance Poehler told PYMNTS’ Karen Webster in an interview posted in January 2022.

These catalysts include moves to upgrade self-checkout to be more efficient with better product and produce recognition, improved loss prevention technology and anything that can minimize human involvement, Poehler said at the time.

“Many of our largest customers are now saying, ‘How can we be more effective in competing? How can we be more efficient? How can we be more profitable? How can we digitally incline our business to connect with our customers who are demanding that?’”

By replacing its legacy point-of-sale (POS) system with the Elera Commerce Platform, PriceSmart becomes the first retailer in Latin America to offer this front-end experience, according to the press release.

The collaboration will enable PriceSmart to refresh its end-to-end solutions, deliver an engaging experience to customers and be prepared to add new functionalities and offerings as business and technology change, according to the press release.

“We are honored and humbled that PriceSmart selected Toshiba as its transformation partner to harness the power of our platform to reimagine their retail environment and create a greater connection with members,” Toshiba Global Commerce Solutions Senior Vice President and Head of Global Sales Bill Campbell said in the release.