Motorway convenience stores have their own rhythm.
One moment, the store is quiet. Next, several cars pull in, coffee orders start, customers stop for food or charging, and checkout becomes the difference between a quick stop and a slow one.
When OK built its new store concept for Denmark’s motorways, checkout became a central part of the customer experience. It had to support quick stops, longer breaks, food, charging, and a cleaner convenience experience.
“There had to be a sense of lightness to it. We put a lot of emphasis on the solution fitting the concept, and on it being easy to use.”
Klaus Bølle, IT Manager at OK Plus
The details matter here.
The setup combines ViKING POS, lightweight cloud self-checkout, mobile POS, SMS digital receipts, and integrated payment with Softpay. Together, they give OK more ways to keep checkout moving, with less visible hardware, fewer cables, and more freedom to place checkout where it works.
Watch how OK uses lightweight cloud self-checkout, mobile POS, and SMS Digital Receipts in its motorway store concept.
“We wanted to avoid a setup with a lot of cables, terminals, and extra equipment. With SMS receipts and integrated payment, we can keep the self-checkout area cleaner and simpler.”
A checkout setup built around ViKING POS
The new motorway stores have to serve different types of visits in the same space.
Some customers want coffee and five minutes. Others stop for food, charging, or a proper break. The buildings may differ from location to location, but OK wants the stores to feel recognizable, with the same lightness, assortment, and operational logic across the concept.
OK’s motorway store concept brings food, convenience and checkout together in one space.
The motorway stores also differ from many traditional OK Plus stores. They have more centralized control over pricing, assortment, and setup, which makes it easier to create a consistent, recognizable experience across locations.
That calls for more than one way through checkout.
ViKING POS remains the anchor at the counter. Lightweight cloud self-checkout gives customers another option when they can handle the purchase themselves. Mobile POS adds flexibility and gives the store another way to keep selling if parts of the fixed setup are under pressure.
Lightweight cloud self-checkout gives customers another way through checkout in OK’s motorway stores.
Together, the setup gives OK more ways to match checkout to the situation in the store. A quiet period, a sudden rush, a customer needing help at the counter, or a disruption in the fixed setup do not place the same demands on the store.
Different moments need different ways through checkout.
Customers did not need convincing
OK introduced self-checkout without pushing customers toward it. According to Klaus, they did not need to.
“Customers are using self-checkout to a surprisingly high degree. They do not need to be pushed toward it. They are ready for it, and they choose it themselves.”
Klaus Bølle, IT Manager at OK Plus
Customers are using self-checkout to a surprisingly high degree. They do not need to be pushed toward it. They are ready for it, and they choose it themselves.
That is a strong test of checkout technology. Not how it looks in a launch photo, but whether customers use it when the store is busy and the staffed tills are filling up.
And it is not only younger customers.
“When there is peak traffic, we can see customers go over and serve themselves. And it is not only the younger ones. We see customers of all ages using it.”
The lightweight cloud self-checkout flow has also been adjusted along the way. One example is basket editing, where customers can change quantities or remove items without starting over or asking for help.
Small change. Big difference when the store is busy.
More control over the POS
One of the most important changes for OK sits behind the counter.
With POS Designer, OK can work more directly with the ViKING POS interface that employees use every day. Layouts, buttons, and cashier flows can be adjusted when stores identify something that could work better.
ViKING POS remains the anchor at the counter, while POS Designer gives OK more control over the interface employees use every day.
Previously, smaller interface changes often had to be gathered and handled as a separate process. With POS Designer, OK can make more of those adjustments directly and on a more continuous basis.
“One thing that has been important for us is that we can work more directly with the till layout ourselves. It gives us more flexibility in daily operations and makes it easier to adjust buttons and functions when the stores need it.”
Klaus Bølle, IT Manager at OK Plus
That control does not mean changing the POS all the time. Klaus is clear about that. In a store, too much change creates confusion. Buttons move. Habits break. Employees lose time.
“You have to think before making changes. If you move buttons around all the time, the stores get confused. But having the option to adjust is important.”
That is the balance POS Designer gives: consistency for the people working at the till and more control for the people responsible for improving the setup.
“Now we can do more ourselves. It makes the work more fluid and easier to maintain.”
Better tools for the people running the stores
The new motorway stores brought in employees with experience from other chains and other systems.
Some employees came from other convenience and fuel retail environments. They had to learn a new store concept, new workflows, and a new POS setup all at once.
According to Klaus, the transition went well.
“Several employees came from other chains and had to learn a completely new system. Still, they picked it up very quickly.”
Klaus Bølle, IT Manager at OK Plus
For some of those employees, the setup also offered functions they had not been used to before. Several of those additions came directly from store requests and are now part of the daily setup.
Store employees notice the friction first. A button that should be easier to find. A flow that could be clearer. A task that takes one step too many when customers are waiting.
“The stores have been very good at giving input. They use the solution every day, so their feedback matters. And the feedback has been very positive.”
The work after launch
Retail technology is proven in the store, with customers waiting, employees switching between tasks, and the checkout flow under pressure.
That is why the work after launch matters.
For Klaus, the important part is what happens when the stores start using the setup every day.
“When we report something, it is taken seriously. Fiftytwo is constantly working on it, and we can feel that.”
He also points to self-checkout uptime as something that has improved.
“We get feedback from the stores, and it is positive feedback. Uptime on self-checkout has also improved.”
Klaus Bølle, IT Manager at OK Plus
For OK, checkout is more than the moment of payment. It affects how the counter operates, how customers use self-checkout, how employees move between tasks, and how the store handles customers arriving in waves from the motorway. When the setup works, the technology becomes part of the flow rather than something the store has to work around.
That is where the setup earns its place.
In the rushes, in the everyday adjustments, and in the moments where customers choose self-checkout without being asked.
“It has to be intuitive to use. And that is what we experience with both self-checkout and the POS.”
The checkout setup behind the counter
The new motorway store setup brings together the parts customers see and the parts they rarely think about, from the checkout interface to the hardware and payment flow.
Fiftytwo provides ViKING POS, lightweight cloud self-checkout software, mobile POS, and POS Designer. Delfi Technologies supplies the hardware setup, while Softpay provides the integrated payment solution.
OK in brief
OK is a Danish energy company owned by customers and dealers. The company operates a nationwide network of fuel stations, ultra-fast chargers, energy solutions, and convenience stores.
The new motorway stations are part of OK’s motorway concept, where fuel, charging, food, convenience, and checkout have to work together for customers on the move.
The collaboration between Fiftytwo and OK began in 2017, when ViKING POS was rolled out across OK’s convenience store network. The new motorway stores build on that foundation with lightweight cloud self-checkout, mobile POS, SMS receipts, and POS Designer.
