The use of mobile devices has long been commonplace in retail stores across the globe. A recent survey by AMR Research/Gartner concluded that mobile store technologies will cover 72% of all retail locations during this year. Most significantly, the report added that the average number of mobile devices per store will grow from 4 to 16. In the UK, very few of the leading 200 retailers do not use any form of mobile device in their stores.

The benefits of using such devices in store have become simply far too compelling for retailers not to invest. The efficiency improvements and costs savings always result in an extremely rapid Return on Investment (ROI). Coupled with the need to offer an improved customer shopping experience to stay head of the competition, the arguments for investing in mobile technology are quite overwhelming.

The purpose of this White Paper is to explore the main drivers for this explosion of mobile technology and to provide a summary outline of the primary benefits from the retailers’ perspective.

Background

In a fiercely competitive landscape, retailers have been long driven to make every penny count, in a never ending quest to reduce costs and increase margins. Whatever the store environment, the same challenge persists, namely to maintain and manage stock to the optimum level. Since the introduction of commercial bar coding in the 1970s, retail items have long carried a globally unique number to track each item at either consumer or traded unit level. The first deployment of item tracking came in the form of installing scanners to read bar codes at the Point of Sale. This produced immediate productivity and efficiency gains by dramatically speeding up the checkout process, substantially reducing errors and providing an accurate picture of inventory.

These same speed and accuracy benefits apply when bar code scanning is integrated within a mobile device. Quickly after the first wave of the introduction of POS scanners, the benefits of item tracking were translated to track goods-in movements, perpetual inventory and replenishment by installing mobile devices with built in bar code scanners.

Handheld barcode scanner mobile computers started to appear in the retail store environment as early as the 1970s. Most retailers in the UK are now on their second, third or even fourth generation of mobile devices. The Handheld barcode scanner mobile computer is regarded as a mission critical tool which occupies a place at the heart of most progressive retailers’ store systems’ strategy.

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Gruppo Maiorana, One of Italy’s Largest Food Distributors Chooses Datalogic Scanning’s PowerScan Readers to Outfit Cash & Carry Outlets

Overview

Gruppo Maiorana S.p.A. is the holding company of one of the strongest leaders in the food distribution market as well as one of the largest commercial real estate holders in central and southern Italy. Gruppo Maiorana’s extensive field experience, local market knowledge and professionalism are among the factors that have contributed most to its growth.

The operating companies of the group include Maiorana Maggiorino S.p.A., a commercial market service company handling food distribution and wholesale cash & carry outlets, and Emme Più S.r.l., a retail company that directly manages a chain of supermarkets and hypermarkets.

The Challenge

Although Gruppo Maiorana is a 35 year industry veteran, it has the characteristics of a modern company with new facilities dedicated to monitoring business management, marketing and information systems. With these facilities, Gruppo Maiorana’s ceD department (Centro Elaborazione Dati or Data Processing Center) is able to develop all IT projects internally. using the most competent, leading-edge hardware, this department led Gruppo Maiorana to become one of the first to install cordless bar code readers at its cash & carry outlet, Maiorana Maggiorino.

With the intention of equipping their stores with powerful tools to optimize business processes, Maiorana Maggiorino decided to invest in a new bar code scanning solution to upgrade its point-of-sale (POS) systems. since Maiorana Maggiorino carries over 30,000 different products, the hardware needed to be able to read diverse bar code symbologies (i.e. 1D linear and stacked codes) in all types of quality. The solution also needed to be cordless to provide the operator with the freedom to move, especially with two operators working: one to scan the customer’s items and the other to complete the transaction.

The Solution

After testing, Maiorana Maggiorino purchased Datalogic’s Powerscan PM8300-D readers with display screen to handle transactions at the Pos. “Datalogic scanning’s proven reliability and excellent reputation combined with the field testing of several other Auto ID technologies made us confident in selecting the Powerscan PM8300 readers,” said Fabio Mancini, Purchasing and ceD Manager, Gruppo Maiorana S.p.A.

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Apoteket Ensures ‘The Right Medicine for the Right Patient’ with Datalogic Scanning’s Gryphon™ Bar Code Readers

Overview

Apoteket is a non-profit pharmaceutical production and distribution center located in Stockholm, Sweden. The company produces both prescriptions and over-the-counter medications for local residents. It is Apoteket’s mission to provide patients with the correct medication, in the proper dosage, at the right time. Since Apoteket is state-owned, it also acts as a ‘communication hub’ between the government and nine million swedes to ensure that patients receive their medications without price variation throughout the country.

The Challenge

Apoteket has 28 production facilities that fill prescriptions for more than 150,000 patients residing in special care housing.

Since most of the patients are elderly, it is critical to deliver correct medications. “Failure to do so could be a matter of life and death,” says richard Hellström, technical Manager at Apoteket.

To eliminate the opportunity for errors at this critical point in production, Apoteket invested in a bar code system for prescription order verification. In this system, bar code scanners are used to read labels during production and packaging to verify that the selected medications are placed into the correct prescription package. the only problem was that the production operators struggled with the reading range and performance of Apoteket’s current scanning solution.

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IGA Grocer Uses Datalogic Scanning’s PreScan Queue-Buster to Facilitate the Execution of a Successful Online Shopping Program, “Need a Hand?”

Overview

IGA North Sydney is a supermarket located on the north side of the Sydney Harbor in Australia, the heart of Sydney’s second largest Central Business District (BBD) precinct. Founded in 1993, IGA North Sydney has grown to become one of the most successful stores in the IGA network. one of the keys to IGA North Sydney’s success is leveraging new technologies to differentiate their customer offering. It’s safe to say their strategy has worked as their growing customer base recently required a checkout expansion to quadruple customer capacity at the point-of-sale (POS).

The Challenge

Located in a prominent business district, IGA North Sydney wanted to reach an untapped market in the area: local business people who are short on time and prefer to do their shopping online. To support this market, IGA North Sydney decided to implement a customized software tool and create an online shopping program called “Need a Hand?” the 100% complementary service allows customers to avoid the tedious task of grocery shopping yet still access the store’s entire suite of products from the comfort of their home / office.
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The Datalogic Magellan 3300HSi high performance omni-directional barcode scanner is the latest imaging-based scanner from Datalogic. Accompanying the recently announced Magellan 3200VSi scanner, the Magellan 3300HSi scanner is the world’s first single plane in-counter barcode scanner to use imaging technology. The result is a bar code scanner that leverages the reading performance of laser barcode scanners with added benefits, including the ability to read two-dimensional (2-D) bar code symbologies.

The Magellan 3300HSi scanner uses new imaging technology and software developed by Datalogic to considerably improve the scanner’s first pass read rates on hard-to-read bar codes, such as truncated codes and GS1 DataBar codes. This yields a performance gain for the retailer’s point-of-sale system by increasing operational efficiency while ensuring faster and better customer service.

Imaging technology significantly enhances the reliability of the Magellan 3300HSi scanner by using a solid-state design. By eliminating the need for high-speed motors and laser diodes, the Magellan 3300HSi scanner has an improved mean-time-between-failure (MTBF) rate, which reflects in an improvement in the retailer’s Total Cost of Ownership (TCO).

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The Familiya supermarket chain was founded in 2000. Today Familiya is a large company that produces clothes, footwear and many other goods at reasonable prices. It has 39 stores in the Moscow region and Saint Petersburg with a total floor space of over 30,000 square meters. It also includes a distribution warehouse, purchasing department and business support services.

In the past, all warehousing operations, such as receiving, dispatch and inventory, were done manually. In an area of 7,500 square meters, many errors occurred and goods were lost. In order to avoid these errors, Datalogic partner recommended the Datalogic Pegaso PDA.

The numerous benefits provided by Pegaso were the deciding factors for this choice. This rugged PDA provides a large color and clear touch display (3.7 in) that helps users work more efficiently in various lighting conditions, it includes a large memory (128 MB) with extension possibility, an IP64 protection class and can be dropped from 1.5m to a concrete surface without breaking down. Furthermore, the Windows Mobile 6.0 operating system allows use of numerous standard development tools and the quick-attach handle assures comfortable device usage while reducing user fatigue during intensive scanning. Another additional benefit is obtained by the rechargeable Li-on battery pack, which allows Pegasoâ„¢ continuous operation for 12 hours, improving productivity.

Scan City’s partner Soft Merit, dealing with warehouse automation solutions at Familiya, has installed 10 Pegasos, supplying one third of Familiya’s distribution warehousing personnel with these devices. However, the automation process has not been completed yet. In the near future, 20 more Pegasoâ„¢ PDAs will be installed and Familiya is studying the possibility of using other Datalogic Mobile terminals in its stores.

Funtastic Traveling Shows is a company expected to live up to its name. This Portland, Oregon, company runs fairs across the Northwest using the Datalogic Skorpio Gun to help them slash theft, usher customers quickly aboard rides, and forecast future needs. Together, Funtastic and Datalogic are bringing the fun to fairgoers faster.

Putting on 80 events a year makes every moment precious to Funtastic. From time spent planning the fairs to speedily serving corndogs and reducing line waits, Funtastic makes every second count towards their efficiency and profitability.
Throughout their existence, fairs and carnivals have had a problem monitoring employees, vendors, and even fairgoers.

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ATM Launches a Part Tracking Project using PowerScanâ„¢ PBT7100 Readers to Optimize the Maintenance of Rolling Stock

Overview

The Milan transport company (ATM) is a corporation owned by the Municipality of Milan, Italy. ATM manages public transportation within the city and in 72 municipalities, which cover 2.6 million inhabitants with a fleet of 1,400 transportation vehicles such as subway trains, buses and trams.

To manage such a large and diverse fleet, active maintenance is fundamental. Without all the functioning vehicles in operation, ATM loses its ability to improve the quality of life for people living in the area. With this in mind, ATM decided to implement a system to optimize its spare parts inventory in order to maximize the efficiency of maintenance activities.

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Major Co-Op Wholesaler / Retail Group Reconfigured Cluttered POS Stations with Datalogic Magellan™ Scanners to Create the ‘Dream Checkout!’

Overview

Foodstuffs South Island Limited (Foodstuffs) is a major wholesaling and retailing FMCG group operating as a cooperative and established to provide high levels of service to member stores. Member stores fall under the following brands: PAK’nSAVE (barn-style supermarkets), New World (full-service supermarkets), Four Square (convenience stores), Henry’s (liquor stores) and On the Spot (dairy) stores.

Foodstuffs holds the dominant market position in the south Island grocery trade with approximately 58% of the market share, as measured by AC Nielsen. Foodstuffs is 100% New Zealand owned and operated with all profits and taxes remaining inside the country.

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Where your Datalogic needs to work multiple simultaneous shifts, having batteries always charged is a must.

To meet this need Datalogic is producing a new 4 Slot Dock recharging only option, able to recharge 4 devices and 4 spare batteries at the same time, for the Datalogic Elf.

This same accessory can also be equipped with an Ethernet communications option. The Ethernet 4 Slot Dock is aimed at providing remote synchronization of mobile computers in a fast and easy way, via standard TCP/IP, on a wired LAN.

For other applications, typically Wi-Fi, where a physical connection is not required, but there is a need to have the battery always charged, Datalogic is offering the the Multiple Battery Charger.

4 Slot Dock Features

• • Able to recharge up to 4 devices and 4 spare batteries
  • Power Supply already included in the box (only the regional power cord is required)
  • Available in the configuration “charger only” (94A151134) or with an Ethernet connection option (94A151132).
  • The Ethernet configuration allows addressing of 4 separate devices.
  • The Four Slot Ethernet Dock also allows daisychaining of up to 4 docks.

Multiple Battery Charger Features

• • Able to recharge standard and high capacity batteries
  • Small footprint
  • 4 slots
  • Power Supply already included in the box (only the regional power cord is required)

Available August, 6th 2010