Mobile re-evaluation in the store: how technology helps retailers optimize costs

We talk a lot about the technological component of modern stores and write about software and hardware used in retail - from the device of cash registers to the unusual functions of the scales . Today we will consider another important element of the retail infrastructure - mobile printers for printing price tags and labels. And so that our story is not theoretical, but as practical as possible, we will study this technology by the example of TSC's developments.

What is revaluation of goods, and why is it difficult

Revaluation of goods, especially if it is massive, always violates the normal course of work of the store. The inconvenience arises both for buyers who find it difficult to figure out what price is currently relevant, and for employees on whose shoulders the task of replacing dozens, hundreds, or even thousands of price tags falls. If the store constantly holds various promotions and seasonal discounts are introduced, this stress becomes permanent.

However, revaluation of goods in the store can be carried out in various ways, two of which are precisely aimed at reducing inconvenience:

• manual revaluation of goods;
• mobile revaluation of goods;
• use of electronic price tag technology.

The third method in our country, as we wrote on the blog , has just begun to attract the attention of retailers. The main obstacle to the development of electronic price tags is the cost of introducing this technology. For example, equipping a large store with 20 thousand price tags at the moment will cost about $ 400 thousand.

Therefore, most retailers re-evaluate the old-fashioned way - manually, printing price tags on laser printers with their subsequent cutting, or using typesetting markers (etiquette guns).

The classic scheme for replacing price tags looks like this: store employees receive a list of goods for revaluation, print and cut out price tags, then look for the corresponding products on the shelves and replace the price tags. Of course, such a process leads to many errors.

This is where the time came to talk about the third method of revaluing goods - mobile revaluation. It reduces the number of errors arising as a result of the human factor, and the introduction of technology will cost the store much cheaper than equipping with electronic price tags.

Mobile reevaluation: how it works

Automate the revaluation process of goods is helped by special software and hardware systems that include specialized software (for example, Pilot has its own development - the OmniLink software package ), data collection and processing terminals, and mobile thermal printers .

With these tools, the revaluation process is greatly simplified. When a price update arrives or an employee sees that the cost of goods in the accounting program has changed and does not coincide with the actual price on the price tag, he approaches the necessary shelves and begins the scanning process. Software automatically finds a discrepancy in prices and sends a command to print a new price tag. And in order to make it convenient for the employee to work with the device, the mobile printer is placed on the shoulder or on the belt (using a belt or a clip clip).

As an example, consider the TSC Alpha-3R mobile printer . It can print price tags up to 3 inches wide on a label or thermal tape, has an IP54 protection class (in a case), withstands drops from a height of up to 1.5 meters and is able to work up to 12 hours without recharging.



Benefit of automating revaluation of goods per person: using a mobile printer, one store employee can reassess 100 units of goods in 6-10 minutes. For comparison: in case of manual revaluation for the same amount of goods, it will take at least 20-30 minutes. In some cases, total time savings can reach up to 80%.

As a result, the store can reduce the staff, and use existing employees more efficiently. They don’t need to spend time on non-core tasks such as cutting price tags out of paper - a mobile printer prints price tags of a given size both on a thermal board (for example, to be placed on a shelf in the price holder) and on self-adhesive labels for marking the product or its tag.

Thus, the influence of the “human factor” is seriously reduced, and the accuracy of revaluation increases. After all, it is the software that determines which price tags should be replaced in case of discrepancies, after which the TSD again automatically sends a command to the printer to print a new label to the printer. The employee can only scan the barcodes of goods and monitor the correctness of further labeling.

Another plus is that to start working with mobile printers, special training is not required, because such systems are quite simple.

Exceptions to the Rules

With all the advantages of mobile revaluation, this solution is not suitable for every business. For example, the introduction of technology may be too costly for convenience stores or small chains with one or two outlets.

In addition, it should be borne in mind that when introducing mobile revaluation technology, in most cases, you will have to finish the software and hardware complex and run it directly into practice. Although for most retailers this is more of a plus than a minus, because such improvements allow you to take into account all the features of the business.



Another important point: before the introduction of mobile revaluation technology, serious preparatory work is necessary, for example, to develop label templates for printing. Some manufacturers have already resolved this issue. For example, TSC, together with printers, supplies the BarTender UltraLite TSC Edition label design software .

How to choose printers

If the retailer, after analyzing the business processes of the store, chose the mobile revaluation, then it is time to go directly to the stage of choosing a mobile printer. Here are some of the characteristics that usually pay attention to:

• Print speed - as a rule, the maximum print speed of mobile printers does not exceed 4-5 inches per second;
  
  
• In the mode of operation from the battery should allow to work out at least one full working shift;
  
  
• The protected case providing resistance to falling at least from a height of one and a half meters;
  
  
• Dimensions and weight of the device : ranges from 200 grams in the most compact models to more than 1 kilogram in “four-inch” models;
  
  
• Ways to transfer data . Sometimes retailers acquire the most expensive equipment, "so that it is." In practice, this leads to the fact that the advanced functions of IT solutions are not used. In the case of mobile printers, for example, the Wi-Fi connection function may be unclaimed. If the store does not have wireless infrastructure, then the joint work of the TSD and the printer is organized, as a rule, via Bluetooth. The cost of Bluetooth printers is always lower. You can, of course, mention the wired connection, which is even more budgetary, but leave it outside the scope of the story - after all, a mobile solution should be mobile, and not limited to wires.
  
  
• The ability to emulate is necessary if the retailer does not want to be tied to a single manufacturer of mobile printers. For example, TSC printers provide automatic recognition and emulation of such popular label printer control languages ​​as ZPL, ZPL2, EPL, EPL2 already out of the box. If desired, you can configure their work even from under the Zebra driver.
  
  
• The presence of competent vendor support and basic certifications is also an additional plus. It’s convenient when in the public domain on the manufacturer’s official website you can download drivers, convenient control utilities, SDKs for different platforms with instructions and implementation examples, and if necessary, contact the vendor’s representative office.
  
  
• Manufacturer's Warranty Period. With the introduction of the revaluation process using mobile printers, these devices become an important and integral part of the retail network, and failure can lead to problems associated with stopping or at least slowing down important processes. To minimize the consequences of such cases, many retailers prefer to have more than one revaluation kit at each outlet, because this allows two and, if necessary, three employees to participate in the process simultaneously. Accordingly, the revaluation rate increases several times. In any case, it is important to be able to quickly repair equipment if such a need nevertheless arose. Therefore, be sure to pay attention to the manufacturer's warranty. Most of it is 1 year, but there are those

In addition, our experts also recommend not to ignore the following points that are directly related to the upcoming work with a mobile printer:

• The maximum print volume . Usually this parameter does not exceed 2000-2500 price tags per day (as a rule, the “average” refers to the price tags of the popular format 58 * 40mm). In the event that you need to print more, it is logical to think about buying several devices at once to redistribute the load.
  
  
• The maximum outer diameter of the roll . This parameter determines the capacity of the tray for consumables and the frequency of their replacement by the operator - as a rule, it ranges from 30 mm for compact models (with print widths up to 2 ") to almost 70 mm for older models with print widths up to 4". For revaluation purposes, models with a print width of 2 to 3 inches are almost always considered, since four-inch printers are quite heavy and large in size.
  
  
• The inner diameter of the roll . Not the most critical parameter for consumables, however, reducing its value, you can, in fact, increase the length of the winding labels or thermal paper. However, when it comes to labels, printing houses, as a rule, are limited to 19-25mm, while the winding of thermal paper can be on a 12mm sleeve.
  
  
• Minimum and maximum print width . In retail, printer models that support 2 and 3 inches wide media are most in demand. Some customers think in the future and understand that today their stores need to print labels up to two inches wide, and tomorrow it may be necessary to place more information on them, and then a wider medium will be in demand.
  
  
• Convenience of the mechanism for adjusting the width of the roll installed in the printer . For some models, this adjustment is conveniently implemented, while for some not so. It may be that, for each size, it is necessary to additionally purchase optional inserts of the required width, but somewhere, the manufacturer only provides for a fixed width of the paper roll. For example, in the TSC Alpha-3R we already mentioned, adjustment is carried out in the range from 25 to 80 mm by rotating the regulator using an ordinary coin - this is convenient. When using one size it may not be that important, but imagine if there are several sizes.
  
  
• "Omnivorous" printer in relation to the types of consumables . Not all printers support printing simultaneously on continuous media (thermal paper / cardboard) and on labels with a gap. Although suppliers often claim to have this functionality. The fact is that some of these printers were originally created as check printers, so printing on media other than continuous was not provided.

Implementation: what could go wrong

Despite the obvious advantages of using mobile printers to solve the problems of retailers, their implementation can also cause difficulties. For clarity - a case from the practice of "Pilot".

At the beginning of testing TSC printers, the chain of children's goods stores faced a problem: when sending files for printing, specific DOS fonts were used, and the printer printed characters, not text. Our specialists, involved in the analysis of the situation, discovered a problematic font, which initially was not in the printer system (which is logical, since it was not “native” to it).

Next, the correct font was selected and, with the help of a convenient utility, “poured” into the printer’s memory. Additionally, the encoding was changed in the device’s settings, and as a result, the network was able to efficiently use printers, switching to them from a more expensive solution - this allowed to significantly save the budget. At the same time, the customer did not need to change anything in his accounting system - neither the templates used, nor the fonts, nor the ZPL commands sent to the printer due to its well-implemented emulation.

Mobile Printers: Technology Perspectives

The main limiting factor in the penetration of mobile printer technology has always been a high price - a gadget, printer and control software package with the necessary licenses cost about $ 3,000. The payback period for projects to implement these devices was at least two to three years, which did not suit domestic retailers.

However, the cost of equipment gradually decreased, as a result of which at the moment there is equipment that pays off, on average, in six months. As a result of implementation, the efficiency of the process of printing price tags is always increased, which should potentially lead to increased profits and increased customer loyalty.

Whether this potential will be realized in each particular case depends on how to use the advantages that appeared as a result of automation. For example, such as the almost complete elimination of errors in price tags on a product, a two-threefold reduction in time and labor costs for staff revaluation, prompt reflection of stocks and promotional programs in product prices.

Friends, we understand that this publication does not cover all the technical details of revaluing products using mobile printers. Therefore, if you have any questions, ask them in the comments - we will try to answer. In addition, this will help us to identify your interest and on the basis of it to prepare one of the future posts.

In the meantime, we invite you to participate in the free webinar “Product inventory in the store and in the warehouse without problems: 10 secrets from“ Pilot ” , which our experts will hold on June 28 at 11:00. To do this, leave a request on the site . As part of the webinar, you will learn how to automate the revaluation of goods in the store, save on this process and competently choose mobile printers suitable for business tasks.