Subscribe

Tag: retail

Five ways to maximise Black Friday sales

Posted on by Peter MacLeod

Black Friday has moved from a single day to an almost week-long event of retail sales and promotions. Consumers now expect physical and online stores to take part and the build-up can be almost as big as the event itself.

Alex Borg, Technical Operations Manager at leading fulfilment provider, Zendbox, has shared five ways that eCommerce stores can prepare for the Black Friday sales, and how getting organised is the key to success.

Sweep your website

“With billions spent every year around Black Friday, you don’t want to miss out on sales because of a technically poor website. Audit your entire site to check for any possible problems that increased Black Friday traffic could cause. Start with your site speed; a slow website can turn people off straight away. Things like cleaning up your media library and optimising images can help, but you may also need to consider a fast host to really make your site reliable.”

“Go through every page to make sure there are no broken pages or expired links; no one likes to see a 404 error message when browsing for Black Friday deals. Finally, go through your checkout process. Is it seamless? Could you add more payment methods? Is there a guest checkout and, crucially, is it mobile friendly? Cart abandonment for Black Friday sits at around 77%, so do everything you can to enhance this final step for the user.”

Optimise your content

“There’s no use having great products at bargain prices if customers can’t find them. Read through your current category copy and see if it can be improved to include more keywords around the specific product, or if it could be made shorter and clearer for a better user experience. Update any products with title tags and clear descriptions. Use bullet points if possible. This will make your content informative for your customer but also easier to crawl for search engines.”

“Do this ahead of time. Many people will research what they want to buy on Black Friday and possibly come back to check for a discount during the event itself. You want to get people into the funnel early on so they remember you when the time comes.”

Inventory analysis

“It goes without saying that having enough stock is rule number one for Black Friday. Complete a thorough analysis of everything you have in stock and analyse sales for the previous Black Friday to forecast this year’s sales. Using an automated system will remove the margin for error so now might be a good time to look at an inventory analysis tool if you don’t already have one.”

“You may have decided to run your marketing using a loss leader or a breakeven product. In which case, use sales predictions to decide which products would be most fit for purpose and then check if you have enough available; if not, you can reorder ahead of the Black Friday deadline.”

Customer Service

“Black Friday can be a very hectic time for eCommerce stores, but also for customers too. Many consumers stock up ahead of Christmas or have multiple orders from multiple retailers. Providing excellent customer service could help with initial sales but, more importantly, with repeat custom and loyalty. Troubleshoot any potential problems, such as out of stock products, faulty items or late deliveries and refresh staff training in these areas. Consider adding a chat function to your website, if possible, to provide an initial response to any queries.”

“Delivery is a critical area for all eCommerce businesses. In fact, 63% of consumers cite delivery speed as an important factor when shopping online. Work out how you will cope with the increased shipping demands so that customers aren’t left waiting too long. You might need to use temporary staff or outsource your fulfilment operations to keep buyers happy.”

Marketing

“Now isn’t the time to cut back on marketing. It can be easy to focus on the logistics of Black Friday, but marketing is just as important. Plan ahead for people who are browsing now and waiting for Black Friday discounts by installing a pop-up box on your site. Suggest that by leaving an email address, they’ll be the first to know when an item is reduced for Black Friday. Analyse the items people are searching for most, or what sold in large volumes last year, and create email marketing around this.”

“Lastly, don’t forget social media. Ramp up your marketing efforts in this area and even consider social selling. TikTok has seen exponential growth for sellers on the platform. Black Friday could be just the time to get your teeth into a TikTok Shop or Instagram storefront.”

 

AutoLoadBaler is a R(e)volution

Posted on by Keith McKinley

What to do with all the cardboard that accumulates in a supermarket every day? That’s an important question in the world of food retail. There are hundreds of cardboards of various sizes that arrive every day and must be disposed of. The immense amount of required work for this has been transformed into a simple process with the AutoLoadBaler, a r(e)volution of a baler from Strautmann Umwelttechnik.

The employees throw the cardboard into the collection cart. When it’s full, the collection cart is simply pushed into the press. The AutoLoadBaler empties the collection cart, and the baling chamber is filled automatically. After that the material is compressed with a pressing force of around 53 tonnes into a bale that can be sold directly.

After two to three days at the Rewe Wutke store, a bale weighing 400kg accrues. The bale is tied off with four wires. Even inexperienced people can strap the bale without any effort using the equipment supplied. Thanks to the convenient and safe bale ejection, the tied bale can simply be placed on a pallet for transport and transported away with a lift truck.

What sounds easy in theory also passes the practical test. At least that’s what Alexander Wutke, owner of the Rewe market Wutke in Bad Heilbrunn in Upper Bavaria, confirms: “The press is so important for us, and it makes work a lot easier.”

There are 22 employees in his store who ensure that the customer feels comfortable in the store and that they receive expert support if they have any questions or requests. They can now devote more time to this – their actual – task, since filling of the baler and time-consuming shredding and stacking of cardboard is no longer necessary. The cardboard no longer has to be re-sorted in the head office but can be handed over directly for recycling and thus fed back into the material cycle.

“We used to have to tear the boxes apart by hand, load them onto the roll containers and then throw everything into the press ourselves,” recalls store manager Michaela Markreiter. That took a lot of time and was quite exhausting. It was not uncommon for hands to be cut by razor-sharp edges.

In order to keep small cardboard boxes from falling out when they were collected, the ‘trolleys’ were wrapped in film. Often the collected cardboard also caused space problems, and everyone in food retail knows how valuable warehouse space is.

In the Bad Heilbrunn Rewe store, these efforts have been important; that’s why Wutke wanted to use the AutoLoadBaler right from the start: “I knew it would change our whole situation,” he recalls. The 36-year-old completed his training and various departments at Rewe and has found that conventional baler always requires a lot of extra work, which takes time and, of course, causes costs.

“We could hardly cope with the number of boxes that accumulate with the fruit and vegetable deliveries in the morning alone,” says Wutke. “With the AutoLoadBaler, we do not only increase the profitability of the operation, but also the satisfaction for our employees because a lot of stress is eliminated. Even a loss of staff can now be better dealt with, since some time-consuming work steps are no longer necessary.

“The AutoLoadBaler’s collection cart are easy-to-move – much better than the collection trolleys. While one collection cart is being emptied in the baler, two more are in use in the store, so there is no waiting.”

“The faster work is also reflected in the shop and that ultimately benefits the customer,” says Markreiter. All in all, she and her boss think things just look tidier in their 970 sq m supermarket and in the warehouse. A further smart detail is that the side walls of the collection cart can be used as advertising space, either for the market itself or for local companies.

The press itself is 3.05m high and requires only 4.5 sq m of floor space. Pushing the filled collection cart into the side of the baler is uncomplicated and effortless. The closed system ensures a high level of operator safety. There is a detailed briefing for the employees and once a year a service employee comes for maintenance.

“Up until now, everything has always been flawless,” says Wutke. He’s a fan of the AutoLoadBaler, his ‘baby’, as he says jokingly. “This baler is the best thing Rewe could have done for me. I can only recommend it.”

The AutoLoadBaler revolutionises the cardboard disposal process in all retail, logistics and manufacturing applications. Time-consuming filling work that previously had to be done manually is now done automatically. It is no longer the operator but the intelligent system that monitors and controls both the filling of the baler and the compaction.

Practical experience and studies show a saving in working time of up to three hours and 43.5 minutes per bale – this corresponds to an increase in productivity of over 800%. The automation results in even, stackable bales weighing more than 400kg, which can be marketed directly to the paper mills.

 

Consumers dissatisfied with sustainability of retail delivery

Posted on by David Priestman

Descartes Systems Group, a global leader in uniting logistics-intensive businesses in commerce, has released findings from its survey ‘Retailers: Sustainability is Not a Challenge, It’s an Opportunity’, which examined consumer sentiment of retailers’ sustainability practices around their delivery operations. The survey found that only 38% of consumers felt retailers were doing a good job of using sustainable delivery practices. Over 50%, however, indicated they were quite/very interested in environmentally friendly delivery methods, and 54% would be willing to accept longer lead times for an environmentally friendly delivery.

The study of over 8,000 consumers across nine European countries, Canada and the United States provides retailers and logistics organisations with critical insights into the importance of sustainability in consumer purchase and delivery decisions and how perspectives vary by age and geography.

“The mistake that many retailers are making is viewing home delivery sustainability as yet another challenge from the consumer instead of an opportunity to capture market share, reduce delivery costs and help the environment,” said Chris Jones, EVP, Industry and Services at Descartes. “The study shows that many consumers prefer to buy more from those retailers with superior sustainable delivery practices and to take eco-friendly delivery options that reduce environmental impact and delivery costs at the same time.”

The study analyses consumer sentiment around the sustainability of retailers’ delivery operations, how this is impacting purchasing decisions, how consumers evaluate retailer delivery sustainability efforts, which goods are most impacted by sustainable delivery performance and how consumers want to receive goods. In addition, it delves into the changes in purchasing and delivery decisions that consumers are willing to make to help the environment. Lastly, it provides insight into how the importance of sustainable delivery varies by geodemographic factors, the influence of geodemographics on buyer behaviour, the delivery decisions consumers are making, and consumer expectations of retailers’ sustainable delivery efforts for the future.

To learn more, CLICK HERE to read the report ‘Retailers: Sustainability is Not a Challenge, It’s an Opportunity’.

similar news

Sustainability in Retail Transportation Management

 

 

 

The two ‘C’s of retail returns – commerciality and convenience

Posted on by Keith McKinley

Retail is a constantly moving and evolving ecosystem, writes Matthew Jacques, Partnerships Director at ZigZag Global. Big events cause seismic ripples through this system and the recent re-introduction of paid returns is no exception. Key players, like Boohoo and Zara, have started charging customers and it seems like the rest of the industry will before long be tempted to follow suit.

Estimations vary over how much money retailers lose to returns each year. According to an April survey by shipping and mailing company Pitney Bowes, online returns cost retailers an average of 21% of order value. Given the other issues facing the industry like inflation, increasing wages, and fuel surcharges, this is a chunk of profit retailers need to recoup in order to survive. We have seen ASOS’ share price plunge by 15% with increased returns cited as one of the reasons. It highlights the necessity to get this process right and protect profit margins. The question for retailers is, how?

What is a convenient return?

It is vital to understand the difference between convenience for retailers and convenience for customers. Customers want choice over their returns options. This can come through a variety of different formats such as postal service, drop-off at a shop, drop-off at a locker, or, more recently, a collection from home service. Customers value retailers that can provide this multiplicity and embrace flexible demands.

For retailers, on the other hand, convenience can come in the form of information. Data can be used to optimise operations across the whole returns journey and is the catalyst for more efficient returns. Data can give retailers a better understanding of customer behaviour, meaning more focus can be put on areas of the business under the most pressure from returns.

Being Adaptable

The returns experience, like any experience for customers, has to be smooth, streamlined, and quick. If a retailer gets this process right they will drive higher levels of brand satisfaction and customer loyalty. If they get it wrong, research suggests it could have a significant impact on customer retention with 62% of UK shoppers saying they would not shop again with a retailer after a poor returns experience.

For retail to survive obstacles like mounting fuel surcharges, increased wages, and so on, the entire reverse logistics supply chain needs to work together as an ecosystem. When customers are under pressure, through inflation or the cost of living crisis, retailers’ sales are as well. Giving customers choice and presenting them with multiple options, whether that be through free returns, exchanges, or return to gift card, will satisfy customers and save the sale for the retailer.

A flexible rather than blanket approach to returns policies is how retailers can start striking this balance between being commercial and differentiating. Embracing this adaptability can provide greater convenience for all at various points of the year, especially in the lead-up to peak season sales. A tailored returns strategy can help retailers overcome current issues in the industry.

How to stay commercially competitive

We do expect to see more retailers starting to charge customers for online returns. But, to stay competitive it is crucial that retailers are completely transparent with their policies, clearly communicating and defining the returns options on websites.

If retailers are sensible with their buying, they’ll want to get high-selling items that have been returned into stock quickly to be resold. This can be done by offering a free returns window of 14 days then chargeable after this. It would keep stock items profitable and will keep popular items circulating whilst they’re still hot in the marketplace. It also prevents clothes from withering away in dusty wardrobes or being sent to the landfill.

What’s next?

Key retailers will, one by one, follow Zara’s lead in charging customers for returns. But,  we would expect to see this only under certain circumstances. As peak season approaches, retailers need to have set a clearly defined approach to their returns options and windows. There will always be certain players who take an opposite stance to the market and that doesn’t necessarily matter when it comes to keeping returns commercial. A clear and flexible returns policy will keep them commercially competitive whilst keeping the customer experience efficient and transparent.

 

Panasonic Smartlockers adopted in Europe

Posted on by David Priestman

With online food delivery revenues predicted to reach €43bn/£37bn in the European Union this year, chilled and frozen automated Panasonic Smartlockers – ideal for keeping food – look set to become a much more familiar site in European towns and cities.

Evidence can be found in the success of Panasonic chilled and frozen automated Smartlockers at Australian retail outlets, where food orders are stored safely in outside Smartlockers for collection even at the height of summer, when temperatures can reach up to 50°C.

The use of Smartlockers in the Southern Hemisphere has also improved choice for consumers and boosted margins for businesses. With online orders continuing to grow pre and post pandemic, Australian supermarket retailers have deployed Panasonic Smartlockers outside their stores and petrol stations for customer order collections, improving customer convenience and reducing the number of home deliveries the stores must make.

One popular supermarket chain recognised that customers preferred the speed and convenience of collecting their purchases from lockers rather than instore. After switching the grocery delivery to Panasonic Smartlockers, online orders for collection each week increased four-fold. Following a successful six-month pilot project, the retailer has increased its order for indoor and outdoor Smartlockers by 500% and they are currently being rolled out nationwide.

New generation Smartlocker

Panasonic Smartlocker is a modular designed system, offering a range of four different temperature lockers – ambient, chilled, freezer and heated. With the long, hot Australian summers, the chiller and freezer options were the ideal choice for the retailers. The indoor and outdoor versions are available in 6, 8, 10 or 12 door units managed by an inbuilt system using a central control screen. The system can be used standalone or connected to ecommerce and order management systems via the cloud.

For the users it means a fast, secure and contactless delivery solution, allowing goods to be collected and returned easily, efficiently and flexibly. With 24/7 access, the Panasonic Smartlocker allows customers to collect items at a time and location that suits them. Using Panasonic Vacuumed Insulated Panel (VIP) technology, which maintains the ideal temperature in the locker using less energy and CO2 emissions, customers can also be certain that foods will be kept safely in a temperature-controlled area.

For the operator, the Smartlockers save time, resources and operational expense. It means orders can be quickly loaded for collection without taking up valuable storage space in the stores. With monitoring capabilities and data encryption, operators can verify access to lockers, including pick-up and drop-off times. In addition, home delivery requirements are reduced, decreasing traffic congestion and carbon emissions.

The ability to track and analyse usage data from the Smartlockers has enabled the business to optimise staffing and usage based on customer behaviour. One retailer reported that on average, customer orders are ready to collect within 90 minutes. The goods remain in the lockers for 70 minutes before collection and customers take just 2 minutes to collect their goods and leave. They are also able to track important data, such as the size of orders, peak times for collection and then plan for effective staff resourcing.

Yasuhiro Oda, General Manager, at Panasonic Connect, said: “The Smartlockers are a game-changer for these supermarkets. They offer a convenient, cost effective and more eco-friendly solution to the online shopping boom. Retailers tell us that the temperature controlled capabilities of the Panasonic Smartlockers and their reliability make them stand out in the market.”

In addition, with restaurant to consumer deliveries already the largest market segment of online food deliveries in the EU, uses for the Panasonic Smartlockers look set to continue to expand. The heated Smartlockers are ideal for takeaway storage collection and with the growth of daily meal ingredient delivery services, chilled local community Smartlockers are perfect for collecting evening meal ingredients on the way home from work.

 

Improved fashion packaging for Oh Polly

Posted on by Keith McKinley

Oh Polly specialises in glamorous, celebrity-inspired fashion. Its brand focused mainly on party attire and swimwear – but when the pandemic hit, it was able to pivot to highlight its loungewear lines as nights out and holidays were no longer an option.

Loungewear saw astonishing growth during 2020 – the category grew by 143% comparing March to April. Consequently, Oh Polly faced stiff competition and so was keen to make sure its customer experience was flawless.

Whilst that was all going on, the Oh Polly team was also working on a new project – one that it hoped would improve retention rates and customer satisfaction: its packaging.

As a pure-play online retailer, Oh Polly’s packaging is a crucial part of its eCommerce strategy. Back in February 2020, it had its first meeting with the Smurfit Kappa team.

An aesthetic issue

Oh Polly was coming up against several issues with its current packaging. The first was that it had noticed that the print quality varied greatly – meaning that the boxes arrived showing different shades of its core brand pantone colour. It was keen to ensure that the packaging was uniform, as it showcases brand continuity.

Additionally, Oh Polly’s success is in part due to its brand appeal and customer retention. This is aided by the fact it boasts industry-leading Facebook and Instagram accounts and has seen great results using influencer and affiliate marketing.

Image is clearly a key facet of the Oh Polly customer experience, extending from first brand interaction to unboxing of millennial-pink packaging. Luckily, the Smurfit Kappa Experience Centre team’s expertise spans from sustainability to aesthetics, and they quickly set to work.

Smurfit Kappa’s high-quality flexographic printing equipment guarantees quality, with the assurance that the colour of the boxes would always be the one that the brand expected.

The Oh Polly team was also concerned about the packaging for its sub-brand, Bo+Tee. Designed to plumb into the ongoing fitness craze, Bo+Tee shared Oh Polly’s chic style, though with a different image.

The Bo+Tee packaging is striking, a bold black emblazoned with a holographic print. The Experience Centre team suggested using lithographic printing to deliver the sleek effect desired, maintaining the brand’s quality whilst allowing Bo+Tee to stand out.

Lithographic printing provides excellent image quality as well as great value for money, so was a clear choice for the striking Bo+Tee packaging.

Flexible and fast

That initial order was rather hurried: Back in March 2020, Oh Polly’s previous packaging supplier had required a six-week lead time to provide it with the boxes. With spiking demand due to the UK going into the first national lockdown, Oh Polly was in need of an urgent solution.

Once the request for immediate supply was delivered by Oh Polly, the Smurfit Kappa Experience Centre team made sure that the order was designed, colours and artwork approved and a full truck produced and supplied into Oh Polly’s warehouse within eight days of the request being acknowledged.

Subsequent orders were a little less rushed: they have a two-week lead time. This was a vast improvement on the previous six, and Smurfit Kappa’s flexibility allows room to react to unexpected events and pressures.

Of course, the fact that Smurfit Kappa can design and produce packaging all within the UK is also a key factor: it reduces shipping times hugely.

Labour cost and efficiency

There was another issue troubling the Oh Polly team: that its original packaging was arriving un-palletised, meaning that it had to have employees manually off-loading packaging from containers and transported across several warehouses in order to be utilised for packaging orders.

This was not only leading to damaged boxes during transit from Asia to Europe, but was hugely time-inefficient.

A simple but highly impactful solution put in place by Smurfit Kappa was to ensure all packaging is delivered safely on pallets, with strapping and topboard to ensure a quick and smooth delivery and unloading process.

Manually assembling boxes was also identified by Oh Polly and Smurfit Kappa as an area where further efficiencies could be gained.

The Smurfit Kappa Experience Centre team suggested that Oh Polly explores its machine systems product offering. Through the purchase and implantation of a box assembly machine, Oh Polly is able to significantly reduce assembly time. The Smurfit Kappa machine can assemble two different sizes of box without damaging or scuffing the paper – and can get through 24 boxes per minute.

In fact, the cost of labour for at least two employees to manually assemble the boxes would be recouped within just one year.

Joe Henderson, Oh Polly’s Head of Operations, was delighted with this suggestion: “Smurfit Kappa have saved us so much time and money with their expertise – we can’t thank the Experience Centre team enough.”

Sustainability

The convenience of shipping isn’t the only benefit of having a local packaging supplier. Reduced carbon emissions mean that Oh Polly is now more eco-friendly, just by changing suppliers.

Meanwhile, Smurfit Kappa’s Experience Centre team are sustainability experts and were keen to work on Oh Polly’s environmental impact further. All Smurfit Kappa UK production plants are FSC certified and as a vertically integrated manufacturer, it was able to provide full traceability of its packaging supply chain.

The materials used in the new packaging design are 100% recyclable – allowing customers to safely and conscientiously dispose of the boxes using kerbside recycling services.

Quality paper packaging

Because Smurfit Kappa manufactures the vast majority of the paper used to produce boxes, it is guaranteed to have stock – even when there’s a shortage. Brands won’t be waiting for their orders due to unforeseen world events.

It also means it can offer even more flexibility to clients and don’t require minimum order quantities.

Besides this, the pro-active and consumer centric approach from Smurfit Kappa, coupled with its scale, means that it is well placed to keep up with Oh Polly’s rapid growth and ambitious future plans.

Smurfit Kappa’s eCommerce Director, Hamed Ahmed, looks forward to working with Oh Polly further: “We have built a strong and transparent partnership over the last 18 months. The Experience Centre team look forward to supporting Oh Polly’s brands further as they grow and strive in this competitive market.”

RFID brings improved inventory management to retail

Posted on by David Priestman

The use of RFID offers a whole range of advantages, two of which clearly stand out: precision and speed. DENSO explains what this means for the retail sector.

From inventory control to increasing sales and reducing inventory costs, RFID has a positive impact on various aspects in retail. Even though RFID is not a new concept – a patent for the first RFID tag was developed as early as 1973 – a lot has changed, especially with the increased use of mobile computers, mobile data collection, and the implementation of digitalisation processes. Thanks to the development of less expensive RFID tags, the use of the technology has become more and more established, especially in retail.

DENSO WAVE EUROPE, member of the Toyota Group, offers innovative RFID readers and Cloud Based Solutions to enable retailers to work more efficiently. “With our RFID scanners and RFID solutions, employees in the retail sector can optimize and accelerate their processes,” says David Walker, Business Development Manager – RFID Solutions at DENSO WAVE EUROPE.

DENSO’s RFID readers are ideal for working along the entire supply chain. In addition, the RFID-based inventory management, which DENSO implements with their partner RFKeeper, offers clear advantages for the retail sector. How DENSO WAVE EUROPE and RFKeeper optimize the various processes in retail with RFID can be read here.

Less risk, more precision

“By combining our efficient RFID technology with RFKeeper’s Cloud Based and mobile applications, we digitalise our customers’ inventory management,” explains Walker. This is possible, as RFID-based solutions create a more accurate overview along the supply chain and minimize risks such as over/under stock, shrinkage but also process errors in the supply chain. “Furthermore, the customer experience can be improved with RFID,” says Walker.

“Imagine a customer looking for a specific product in a brick-and-mortar store because they discovered it while browsing online and was informed that the goods were available locally. But if the customer visits the store and the specific product is not in stock, meaning it was displayed incorrectly due to an error in the inventory, they will be very disappointed and may well go elsewhere to purchase a similar product. But with RFID, such a negative customer experience can be prevented,” explains the expert for mobile data collection and RFID.

The modular plug & play solution that DENSO offers with RFKeeper, improves inventory and sales efficiency in the store through circa 99 % accurate shipping confirmations, inventory counts, search options, and replenishment reports. This video shows how the RFID Inventory Management of DENSO and RFKeeper works.

“Moreover, the RFID Inventory Management offers in-store customer engagement solutions,” Walker continues. Retailers can increase their sales opportunities, for example, with smart fitting rooms, digital signage or self-checkouts. DENSO and RFKeeper’s RFID Inventory Management comes with user-friendly analytics dashboards and the ability to track every item in the supply chain. The management of daily processes is also one of the functions of the RFID-based system from DENSO and RFKeeper.

Innovative RFID scanners

DENSO says its SP1 UHF RFID Scanner is the perfect companion for the RFID Inventory Management with RFKeeper. Thanks to the newly developed Autopilot function, the RFID scanner now reads up to 1,000 tags per second and reduces inventory count by up to 50 percent compared to the use without the Autopilot function.

At the POS, another RFID scanner from DENSO can create advantages for retailers. With the UR20 RFID scanner, long queues at the cash register can be avoided. With the UR20, employees in retail can quickly and easily scan all of a customer’s products at once. Since the scanning range of the UR20 RFID scanner is around 80 centimetres, other goods are not accidentally scanned.

“This is how we support our retail clients in regards to digitalisation processes – with our data collection devices and the RFID-based solution with RFKeeper,” says Walker happily. More information about the RFID scanners and RFID solutions from DENSO WAVE EUROPE, part of the Toyota Group, and how they can optimise processes in retail can be found here.

For the European market, DENSO WAVE EUROPE is the contact point for all enquiries on RFID, QR Codes, mobile data collection, handheld terminals, and scanners. The durable and robust terminals and scanners manufactured by DENSO are to be found in storage, logistics, at the POS, in production, and field & sales automation applications.

Short and informative video clips about the terminals, scanners, and solutions from DENSO WAVE EUROPE can now be viewed on YouTube. The clips include the 20th anniversary of the QR Code, a company presentation, and introductions to the various devices for mobile data capture such as the BHT-1500, BHT-1400 and the GT20 scanner. For more information, click on this link.

 

FarEye joins Microsoft Cloud for Retail

Posted on by Keith McKinley

FarEye, a global SaaS platform transforming last mile, has been selected by Microsoft as an Amplification Partner in Microsoft Cloud for Retail. The collaboration empowers and transforms how retailers orchestrate, track, and optimise the movement of goods, enabling enterprises to lower logistics costs while meeting the needs of end consumers.

If retailers wish to remain competitive in an ever-evolving landscape, a strong logistics framework with keen attention to last-mile delivery solutions will be the key differentiating factor to help boost customer satisfaction.

“Microsoft is bringing together leaders across all sectors of the retail space to help retailers enhance their delivery solutions to ultimately result in a positive customer experience,” said Amit Bagga, Chief Revenue Officer at FarEye. “The collaboration signals strong industry recognition, and we’re looking forward to the power FarEye’s intelligent delivery management platform can provide to Microsoft’s retail ecosystem.”

With the combined capabilities of Microsoft Cloud for Retail and FarEye, retailers can attain:

  • Real-time dynamic routing
  • Improved operational control
  • Branded and consistent customer experience

“We believe FarEye’s delivery visibility tools and scalable, low-code, no-code platform will be a critical component in helping streamline the fulfilment process and digitise retailers’ customer service offerings,” said Shelley Bransten, Corporate Vice President, WW Retail & Consumer Goods Industries, Microsoft. “Adding FarEye to our line-up of integral retail partners enhances our capability to transform modern-day deliveries and customer experience.”

FarEye’s intelligent delivery management platform handles 100 million transactions per month among 45,000 drivers and 30,000 carriers traveling over 1 million miles per day. The company works with its enterprise customers across industries such as retail, manufacturing and more to provide a higher level of control over their logistics and offer a superior delivery experience to their end customers.

Supply chain crisis drives consumers to buy locally

Posted on by Keith McKinley

As the global supply chain crisis continues to disrupt the retail industry, consumers are being forced to change their shopping habits and buy local (within their own countries) for speed and availability, new global research from SOTI has found.

Consumers are feeling the effects of supply chain issues first-hand, with over half (57%) of global consumers (58% UK) saying they have recently experienced one or more items not being available, have had to purchase alternatives when preferred products were not available, or have had to go to different retailers to find items in stock. Worse still, over one third of shoppers (35% global/38% UK) said items they wanted to purchase have not been available at all.

Compounding these supply issues, more than a third (34% global/30% UK) said they feel delivery times have been slower than usual and more than half (53% global and UK) said that shipping/delivery time is the most frustrating aspect of ordering online.

Unwilling to compromise on speed and availability, consumers are now paying special attention to the purchasing journey. More than a third (36% global and UK) said that if delivery or pick up of an item takes longer than two days, they will look elsewhere. Meanwhile, with deliveries from outside their own country now taking longer to arrive, more than half of consumers (52% global/60% UK) have changed their habits, saying they are now less likely to order an item that requires shipping from overseas than they were a year ago.

As part of the From Clicks to Ships: Navigating the Global Supply Chain Crisis 2022 Report, SOTI surveyed 10,000 consumers across the UK, US, Canada, Mexico, Germany, Sweden, France and Australia to understand how consumers are responding to the supply chain crisis, as well as their expectations of brands and retailers to cope with it.

It’s clear from the findings that consumers are unwilling to give retailers any leeway. When asked about their expectations and intentions:

  • Over two-thirds (68% global and UK) agreed that they now expect to know where their order is throughout the delivery process at all times
  • More than half (61% global/60% UK) agree they are continuing to shop with brands that can deliver goods the fastest
  • More than half (52% global and UK) agree they would be more likely to shop from a retailer’s store if multiple return points were offered
  • Over one third (35% global and UK) agreed that knowing who a retailer’s delivery partner is has resulted in them not completing an order with that retailer

The onus is now on retailers to adapt to these behaviours and match up with consumer preferences.

“Brands and retailers are having to rethink how they approach customer relationships and go-to-market strategies in response to this state of flux,” explains Sarah Edge, Director of Sales, UK and Ireland at SOTI. “It’s imperative they have the right data at their fingertips to cater to these changing consumer preferences. The brands that have the flexibility that allows them to provide the best possible customer experience, no matter how or where customers shop, will be the most resilient.”

Looking to the future, when asked if they would consider using any of the following alternative delivery options in 2022, 63% (global and UK) said they would consider in-store delivery/collection (“click and collect”/buy online and pick up in-store) and half (50% global/46% UK) would consider delivery to a designated drop-off point.

Consumers are also open to even more significant changes in the way they receive their goods as technology advances. Almost half (46% global/45% UK) said they would consider either autonomous vehicles to deliver larger packages to their home or other convenient location, or delivery drones to deliver small packages (43% global/39% UK).

“Having the right mobile technology will help retailers to improve both their communications and customer experience across all their channels. Ensuring they have mobile-enabled operational intelligence, will give brands and retailers the ability to diagnose problems quickly and adapt fast to meet ever-changing consumer needs and preferences. The only certainty is uncertainty in this current retail environment. But, by ensuring their consumers have choice and flexibility, brands and retailers, as well as their logistics partners, can prepare themselves for all eventualities,” concludes Edge.

CLICK HERE to read the full report

Ribbon printer adds luxury to gifting

Posted on by Keith McKinley

Nothing expresses thoughtfulness more than a sublimely wrapped gift. And prestigious, luxury brands such as Christian Dior take the art of gifting very seriously, with branded ribbons and bows often providing the finishing touches. A good 20-30% of customers prefer to visit stores and concessions where complimentary giftwrapping is offered because it makes the gift appear so much more exclusive and special. And now, thanks to a solution developed by Bryanthings in conjunction with TSC Printronix Auto ID, luxury brands can stand out even more with beautiful, foiled, customised ribbons with which to gift-wrap presents.

As a specialist in designing and creating beautiful retail displays and experiences, Bryanthings teamed up with TSC Printronix Auto ID to develop a solution called Ribbon Printer. It allows brands, at point of sale (POS), to personalise in real-time each piece of ribbon with tailor-made messages before gift-wrapping the presents, making gifts even more special and memorable.

The solution combines a tablet for the retail customer interface with a hot foil ribbon stamping system with 600dpi print resolution. Everything can be customised, from the font, layout, colour and content of the message itself to the ribbon material, its pantone colour, its width and any cut-outs. The software was developed by Bryanthings and the printer used is TSC Printronix Auto ID’s high-performance desktop, the TX600.

An application on the tablet enables the retailer or concession to select, via a simple and intuitive user interface, their desired typography, the message they want written, the brand logo and their choice of ribbon and ink colour. The tablet is connected directly to the TX600, which prints at a very sharp 600dpi resolution on 30m media for gilding and 300m satin ribbons. An optional guillotine cutter can be specified to finish the cut of the ribbon.

Retailers can choose between a 10” or 15’’ screen tablet and the solution can work on- and offline. Tutorials are available to make it easier to get started. The complete system can be either be housed in a cabinet or placed on a counter top. Bryanthings has also developed a specific packaging solution that can be personalised in line with brand colour and image.

The luxurious Ribbon Printer solution has already been implemented in more than 1,000 stores around the world. Renowned brands like Louis Vuitton, Moet & Chandon, Tommy Hilfiger, Calvin Klein, Christian Dior and Yves Saint Laurent are all using Ribbon Printer to personalise their gift packaging, as are some leading florists and chocolatiers. The solution won a prestigious Popai, an award, much prized in POS application and luxury goods.

The three models in the TX Series of thermal transfer desktop printers can support a wide range of printing applications. Each one uses a generous 300m ribbon supply and an easy drop-in media loading of 5” rolls media to save both time and money. The TX Series 4” model is ideal for printing high volume 4×6 shipping labels as well as high-resolution product marking and graphic solutions applications.

Standard interfaces include USB 2.0, USB-A Host, 10/100Mbps Ethernet and Serial connectivity. Optional communication interfaces include Bluetooth, 802.11a/b/g/n Wi-Fi and Centronics Parallel. Printer options include a bright colour LCD display, label peel and present, and a guillotine cutter.

As with all TSC printers, the TX Series features the TSPL-EZÔ printer-control language, which is fully compatible with the most commonly used printer languages in the industry.

Subscribe

Get notified about New Episodes of our Podcast, New Magazine Issues and stay updated with our Weekly Newsletter.