As a branch office, bp Austria is part of the Hamburg-based bp Europa SE and currently operates 262 service stations in Austria. With the products and services of the bp and Castrol brands, millions of customers are supplied and mobilized every day.

For several years, bp and Opticon have been successfully working together on the topics of checkout scanners and inventory solutions. The use of Opticon Scanners originated at ARAL in Germany and has since been extended to other markets. For about two decades, bp has been purchasing checkout and inventory scanners from Opticon. The majority of the fuel stations have Opticon scanners in daily use.

The Situation
The activities at every bp branch are very varied and always a lot. With the high frequency of checkout processes, large quantities of articles and barcodes are processed. A fast, uncomplicated and above all technical implementation is elementary for the success of each station.

In this context, a solution was sought which could optimise workprocesses and resources equal measure. The challenge was to find a suitable barcode scanner that is compact and can also read 1D and 2D barcodes from a smartphone in order to meet the requirements of customer cards and discount coupons.

The Solution
The OPI-3601 Opticon scanner fulfils exactly these requirements and has been successfully used in the bp network for 8 years. The 2D imager barcode scanner is used both at the checkout to scan products and to record and settle discounts, vouchers or coupons directly from the smartphone. Another OPI-3601 scanner is used in the office for the inventory control at the station. The device is fast, reliable and allows for easy installation. The stand provided puts the scanner in auto-trigger mode. This leaves the employee with both hands free for any cashiering activities.

Download the case study here.

“With the introduction of the bp loyalty programme (customer card programme) at that time, a scanner that can read from the smartphone was necessary. Therefore, the corporate headquarters made an internal recommendation for the OPI-3601, which was then introduced at the Austrian stations. Since the OPH-1005 was already in use for ongoing inventory work, especially at the end of the year and at bistro stations, the changeover to the checkout scanner was very easy. The OPI-3601 is particularly interesting for our stations because of its compact design, ergonomic handling and its ability to read both 1D and 2D barcodes – even from the customer’s smartphone display.”

Helmut Knauer, Operating Support Specialist, bp Europa SE Zweigniederlassung bp Austria