What is eWIC?

The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) provides federal grants to states for supplemental foods, health care referrals and nutrition education for low-income pregnant, breastfeeding, and non-breastfeeding postpartum women, infants, and children up to age five.

The new eWIC program replaces paper vouchers, allowing nutrition and food benefits to be processed like a debit card, integrated into the grocers point of sale.

Benefits include:

• More privacy
• Faster checkout
• Less errors
• Access funds faster

Introducing eWIC Integration

Auto-Star has completed the stringent certification process required to accept eWIC benefits, allowing independent grocers the ability to avoid the challenges of non-integrated stand-beside terminals provided by the state to process eWIC benefits.

The integration eliminates separate EBT transactions, allowing the benefits to be processed in the same way as other payment methods and providing a faster, more satisfactory checkout experience than stand-beside terminals. These terminals bring new challenges along with the problems of the old manual WIC process including:

• Additional hardware taking up space at checkout
• Additional hardware cost
• Error prone requirement to split transactions and duplicate item scanning
• Separate transactions resulting in slower checkout process and more cashier training

Increase Productivity and Profitability with eWIC Integration

Auto-Star’s point of sale eWIC integration streamlines the process to accept EBT transactions, increasing productivity and providing widespread benefits for both your customers and your bottom line. Profit boosting benefits include:

• Faster throughput at checkout allowing a higher volume of customers
• Potential for increased sales as benefits are easier for customers to use and less limiting
• Faster payments compared to WIC check cashing
• Easier cashier training
• Less errors and loss due to unsigned or expired checks
• Simplified management of approved products
• Seamless inventory management
• Expedited payments to vendors
• Reduced benefit fraud

Improve Customer Experience with the Benefits of eWIC

The improved productivity provided by integrating eWIC capabilities in your grocery retail store improves the customer experience, giving shoppers increased privacy and a faster, easier checkout experience—helping to retain benefit-receiving customers in your store. The ability to use their benefits like a debit card with all the household benefits housed on one card means there is less of a possibility for lost checks and unused benefits. Customers have the flexibility to use the benefits as needed in multiple shopping trips and eWIC ensures that pricing remains consistent for all customers.

If you are looking to upgrade your grocery POS system, but aren’t sure where to start, download our free Grocery POS Buyer’s Guide

Contact Auto-Star to get started with the Star-Plus Point of Sale eWIC integration.

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