December 2nd, 2010
As a Psion Teklogix top partner, Ryzex was part of the beta program for the new Omnii. I personally had a chance to manage our testing and feedback efforts for the device. I was impressed by a number of things. Battery life was excellent. I think we all realize that getting a “real” 8 hour shift out of a 2200 or 1950 battery is unlikely. Standardizing on a high capacity battery like the 5000 mAh model a good move. Our model had one of the Hi Visibility displays, and it was that feature that turned me on to a whole new reason to upgrade – visibility.
We beta tested the Omnii in our own warehouse, where we collect data with the same terminal-based, white text on black background kind of application that a lot of our clients are using. The Omnii could run this app with only a small fraction of the power in the cool OMAP3 processor. When I configured the device with TekTerm and handed it off to one of our warehouse staff I was thinking “This is nice, but we don’t NEED one of these for our warehouse.” Once she started using it though, she could not stop talking about how much easier it was to read everything and how much faster she could work with it.
The process for refining a good design leveraged Psion’s Ingenuity Working collaborative web environment. We were able and encouraged to post our thoughts on the beta device to forums that were read by the staff working on the device design. We noted a few things, most of them more about usability than being any sort of major design flaw. They were just the little things that you notice after spending years with handhelds – the difference between good and great. I love online collaboration as much as the next guy, but what I liked even more was seeing the final device.
The problems we’d noted had been taken seriously and fixed. The final plastics were really nice too. With the modular nature of the device, and all the testing, the plan is to provide a device that you can upgrade when technology changes rather than replacing the device. I’m looking forward to working with the Omnii for a long time.
Reviewed By:
Eric Kennedy
Director of Professional Services – Ryzex
Tags: Omni XT10, Omnii, Omnii Review, Psion, Psion Teklogix, Psion TX, Psion’s Ingenuity Working
Posted in Mobile Solutions, New Product Review | No Comments »
September 21st, 2010
The Bargain! Shop, a major Canadian-owned retail chain with over 250 stores, consistently meets its customer demands by offering brand-name products at the guaranteed lowest prices. That means it must constantly evaluate and change pricing in order to remain competitive.
With inventory changing weekly, The Bargain! Shop needed a flexible pricing strategy. Previously, store clerks consulted the service desk for prices, and then selected from pre-printed shelf labels. Those labels only included a price without a product description, which often confused customers about which items corresponded with which shelf prices.
Plus, the approach was inefficient for clerks, who had to spend time verifying pricing and checking inventory.
The retailer sought a better way to manage pricing and stock visibility by integrating management software with mobile computing and printing operations like Zebra mobile printers.
In-aisle printing with mobile technology enhanced pricing accuracy, ensuring customers would see and pay the correct prices. It also made re-pricing much faster than before—typically in just a few seconds per product—so marking down products for major sales decreased from four hours to two hours.
Click here to learn how the retailer:
- Reduced price marking costs by 25 to 40 percent.
- Freed clerks’ time to focus on store appearance and customer service.
For more information on in-aisle mark downs, go here.
Posted in Mobile Printing, mobile, retail | No Comments »
September 7th, 2010
Aberdeen Group has released a Research Brief that further explores its December 2009 findings that 56 percent of Best-in-Class retailers are integrating their store-level workforce management processes.
The Research Brief shows that retailers using an integrated store-level workforce strategy that includes scheduling, time and attendance, and other human resource management technologies are much better able to respond to pressure to control labor costs, improve workforce productivity, and provide the customer with a seamless in-store shopping experience. Eighty percent of the above 56 percent, for instance, have increased same-store sales and 46 percent have raised customer retention rates.
Self-service kiosks can help streamline such integration by offering a convenient and effective interface between employees, an automated workforce management system and managers. For example, we wrote about one retail chain that found that after rolling out employee-facing kiosks as part of its labor management update, store managers spend 75 percent less time scheduling employees, and they can ensure the optimum number of customer-facing associates are on the floor.
Read more about how the chain benefited by employing self-service for employees. See white papers and other resources about kiosks and kiosk printing here.
As you face changing consumer demands and the pressure to deliver customer-centric service, is your store moving towards integrated workforce management? Do you see a place for kiosks in your workforce management processes?
Posted in Kiosk, Retail Spending, Self Service, retail | No Comments »
August 31st, 2010
RFID Growth Spurt Leads to Tech Shortages.
We’ve been talking about the growth and ROI benefits of item-level RFID, particularly in retail.
Supply Chain Digest reports that WalMart’s new apparel tagging program has helped lead to a supply drop in RFID EPC Gen 2 inlays, and that mobile RFID readers are now also in short supply. Why so? Lots of investment in RFID initiatives, including WalMart’s recent order for 20,000 Motorola mobile RFID readers, combined with “supply constraints that have lasted for months in basic electrical components that have cause delivery problems in a wide number of high tech gear, including mobile devices.”
In fact, Supply Chain Digest says that analysts at a major financial investment firm are predicting 300 percent market growth in RFID asset management for 2011.
Do you expect to join that growth, and invest in RFID for asset management and inventory visibility in the next year?
Read the Supply Chain Digest article.
See more about RFID printing/encoding here, where you can find resources such as our white paper “Traceability in Retail—Reducing RFID Media Costs for Best Value.”
Posted in Food Traceability, Item Level Tagging, RFID, Retail Spending, retail, supply chain, tracking | No Comments »
August 24th, 2010
Previously, we’ve written about fundamental best practices that apply to designing and deploying any kiosk program, as well as tips that apply to specific retail kiosk applications. Following are things to consider when choosing hardware components for custom kiosks.
Zebra Kiosk Print Station
Housings
- Size: The kiosk should fit easily in the available space without blocking aisles or interfering with displays; compact interior components can help minimize housing size.
- Usage and environmental factors: Exposure to dust, moisture, and changes in light or temperature require suitable peripherals; for example, in dirty or high-usage environments, touchscreen input is preferable to a keyboard.
- Physical security: Locking cabinets and rugged construction can help secure the kiosk and its components.
Displays
Match the environment and application. For example:
- For outdoor kiosks, choose a display that can self-adjust to lighting conditions and remain readable in bright sunlight.
- For promotional applications, you may want high-end audio and video capabilities, while these would be overkill in a deli-ordering application.
- Ensure touchscreens are durable enough to withstand operation by untrained customers using keys or other surface-scratching objects to press the screen.
KR403 kiosk printer
Printers
In addition to ensuring printers can physically fit into the kiosk design, it’s important to ensure printers are reliable as they are a major variable in overall kiosk reliability.
- Print method: Thermal printers have few moving parts, and unlike laser and other printer types, direct thermal printers don’t require downtime to restock toner or ink.
- Jam-prevention features: Some printers will cut the printout so users won’t tear or pull on it as it’s printing.
- Remote management capabilities: To minimize downtime, choose printers that automatically send low-paper or paper-jam alerts and that allow support staff to remotely troubleshoot printers, change settings, or install software.
For more guidance in kiosk implementation, check out these white papers: Understanding Kiosk Requirements: Optimizing Design, Placement and Component Selection and Kiosks are Here—Are You Ready? What You Need to Get Started with Kiosks.
For more about kiosk printing, click here.
Posted in Kiosk, Retail Spending, Self Service, kiosk printer, retail | No Comments »
August 11th, 2010
Item-Level RFID ROI a Shoe-in for Florida Retailer
Giants like Wal-Mart aren’t the only retailers using item-level RFID to improve inventory accuracy and reduce inventory-related labor costs. An article in RFIDJournal.com explains how “Florida shoe retailer Peltz Shoes has saved approximately 1,500 man-hours in the past year by applying a passive RFID tag to every box containing a pair of shoes at each of its four stores.”
Just so happens the store is using RFID printers from Zebra Technologies to encode the RFID labels and print each with a price, description and bar code.
Check out the article.
What do you think—do you foresee your own stores implementing item-level RFID anytime soon? Do you think you could achieve the level of return on investment Peltz Shoes has?
For more about item-level tagging benefits, read this white paper. The paper also explores how “on-pitch” RFID printing and encoding technology can ensure data encoding accuracy while helping to improve ROI by reducing the cost of RFID label media by as much as 10 percent.
Discover more about RFID printing/encoding and Zebra RFID printer/encoders.
Posted in Item Level Tagging, RFID, Retail Spending, retail | No Comments »
August 9th, 2010
Posted in retail | No Comments »
