Chapter 1
A competitive landscape, shifting consumer priorities, surging e-commerce and heavy margin pressure is forcing retailers to look for new ways to thrive in brick-and-mortar stores.
Digital transformation is high on the agenda to offset these challenges, differentiate brands and protect the bottom line. Many retailers are looking for innovative solutions to meet a range of objectives that compete for priority and budget, including operational efficiency, enabling omnichannel, cost reduction, staff retention and delivering differentiated customer experiences.
Barcode scanning to capture data is a central element of retail operational workflows and employees may perform hundreds of scans a day, across a range of tasks. Traditional scanners require rigid, linear processes. And despite improvements in technology, retailers have only seen marginal process improvements, with some still being hampered by manual processes and disconnected workflows between the shop floor, back office and online channels.
The retail industry is changing and smart data capture is delivering the speed, accuracy and intelligence needed.