Several supermarkets in Nairobi have been grappling with KSh 1 coin shortages, resulting in some supermarkets offering sweets as a substitute for change lower than KSh 5. Most of the shoppers have not been comfortable with the move. The Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) who are in charge of currency distribution and circulation have also taken a hand in the matter, asking shoppers to return coins that they leave back home into circulation.
The coin shortage is attributed to shoppers who leave such coins at home , seeing them as too cumbersome to carry around in their wallets compared to the value of the coins.
Supermarkets however have failed when it comes to conceiving solutions to the shortage. Sailesh Savani, CEO of Compulynx Limited, says that the situation is a result of policy failure and not a technology failure. Compulynx is a supplier of point of sale (POS) systems and supplies various large supermarkets in Nairobi, including Nakumatt and Ukwala Supermarkets.

"Technology can solve operational issues, but it will not devise policies for you. Technology will have to work within a given policy framework for an organisation. If your policy says that you are able to exchange that 1 shilling into a smart point , or a smart point into one shilling, technology will take care of it," says Sailesh.

Sailesh says that current POS can present smart card holders with an option to have one point for every shilling that the supermarket does not have. "From change of four shillings on the bill, and there will be an option to the operator and shopper to choose whether to convert the change into smart points, if yes, it will load the points. Our POS will not tell the retailer that for change worth four shillings give shopper sweets worth one shilling each ," says Sailesh.

Other policies that supermarkets can exploit to tackle the shortage include printing special codes on customer receipts and have the receipts redeemed in subsequent shopping.

It remains to be seen how long supermarkets will come up with such policies. Meanwhile shoppers will continue leaving with sweets they did not intend to purchase in the first place.