Balanças Marques Case Study: Heavy Challenges – Frasco a Frasco

Balanças Marques (Portugal) – At Balanças Marques, we say “yes” to any challenge no matter the weight. For this reason, we did not hesitate when Frasco a Frasco invited us to create a practical and zero waste solution to for bulk weighing. And that’s how Zero Waste was born, a new functionality on ETPOS software for the range of BM5 retail scales.

Who’s this client?

Frasco a Frasco:

Frasco a Frasco is a biologic bulk grocery store focused on offering more sustainable products to the city of Braga – and to the whole country through the online store.

Inaugurated in 2021, it wants to contribute for the change in consumer habits and help fighting waste and other environmental problems.

In this grocery store, the main motto really is to take care of the planet. Privileging options that generate minimum waste, it provides items that respect the sustainability principles and in bulk products, preferably packaged in reusable jars brought by the customers themselves.

More than a business, Frasco a Frasco is a dream and a life mission for its founders, Mariana Baptista and Mário Correia.

What was the challenge?

When they imagined Frasco a Frasco, Mariana Baptista and Mário Correia decided that it would be an in-bulk business the minimum impact on the environment at all levels. They wanted that, in their grocery, the customers could bring their own containers to buy in bulk and, at the same time, assure them a reliable service and a simple and fast support, without the need to issue labels or tickets.

For that, they needed a weighinh solution that offered a simple process and a digital system to fulfill their concept of zero waste.

And that was the challenge they presented to Balanças Marques. Decided to invest on the local economy, they chose our company to develop a customized equipment, with all the Frasco a Frasco requirements and principles.

What was the solution we presented?

Facing the challenge presented by Frasco a Frasco, Balanças Marques developed a Zero Waste solution, a new functionality for the ETPOS software and BM5 commercial range.

Aiming to facilitate the weighing process in an in bulk business, this function of our BM5 scales allows to remove, in an easy and fast way, the tare, this is, the weight of the empty container, in a process that, as intended by the clients, does not use labels or any paper at all.

The process is simple. First, the operator weights the containers that the clients will use on their purchases and register the result on a tag with RFID technology. At the end, after the clients fill up the containers/bags with the wanted quantity, the operator just has to weigh again the containers already filled, associate them to the items, and then pass the tag on the RFID scanner, automatically discounting the value of the tare. This way, the clients only pay for the quantity of product that they are bringing home and can even receive the bill by email, in a quick and easy process.

Therefore, on Frasco a Frasco case, with a BM5 ARM scale, the grocery offers an efficient service at the in-bulk sale without any waste, since there’s no need to use disposable packaging, print labels to register the weight of the empty containers/bags or even issue tickets with the bill.

From the necessity and dream of our client, our Zero Waste solution was born, a functionality from ETPOS to the BM5 commercial scales that gives you the right weight with zero waste. One more Balanças Marques solution for more sustainable but equally reliable and efficient businesses, it comes to join an awarded weighing equipment and a certified billing software with a touch and intuitive interface that contributes for stocks management, cashier management, the business data analyses and much more.

If you have any doubts or need more information about this functionality of our scales, don’t hesitate to contact us.