Providing Next-Gen Labeling To Help Retailers Tackle The New Retail Ecosystem | Ravi Panjwani
Ravi Panjwani
Prior to spring 2020, consumer shopping was already in a state of transformation – online sales were steadily growing and offerings such as buy online and pick-up in-store (BOPIS) were gaining solid interest. Then the pandemic hit, and nearly every category of retailer had to pivot in order to survive.
At Brother Mobile Solutions, we recognized that as apparel, grocery, convenience, foodservice, warehouses and other retail operations were attempting to navigate this shift, the ability to scale and innovate would bevital With mobile and industrial barcode printing and labeling products, highly mobile POS printers, and strong custom solutions capabilities, Brother Mobile Solutions doubled down on efforts to help retailers understand and capitalize on the technologies needed to meet new market conditions.
Helping grocers serve customers safely Demand for contactless or curbside pick-up skyrocketed as consumers looked for a safe and easy way to grocery shop or dine out without entering the store. To help solve this growing demand, grocery stores and restaurants turned to click & collect, or eGrocery software platforms designed specifically for in-store fulfillment. By joining forces with Brother Mobile Solutions, these platforms enable existing brick and mortar operations to receive, prioritize and process orders from an online eCommerce storefront – and fulfill either in the physical store or curbside.
Larger retailers began to recognize that their physical stores offered a competitive advantage since they are located close to the customers and can serve as natural distribution centers to their online operations. Labels are a key component to the in-store, or curbside fulfillment solutions. The ability to quickly print barcoded labels with date/promise time, in-store shopper ID, customer name, storage area, and other identifiers is critical to an effective click & collect system. Brother mobile printers support these solutions because they have the power, connectivity, speed and rugged features needed.
Defining new solutions support new ways to sell
As the point-of-sale changed, Brother continued to innovate with fast, new, easy-to-deploy labeling solutions to support the retailer. In the store aisle, back of store, and even the warehouse, retailers wanted printers and labelers to help smaller staffs work productively, and provide fast, accurate, professional real-time price labeling. Whether it was for apparel or new fresh food offerings. To solve the evolving needs Brother introduced QuickDeploy Labeling Kits – a quick, easy, affordable way to create customized price and markdown labels on demand. These stand-alone solutions allowed store associates to quickly print shelf-edge tags, markdown labels, fresh food labels and receipts for items – in the aisle, at the register, or virtually anywhere across the store.
We continued to support POS (point-of-sale) needs with pocket-sized, easy-to-pair mobile receipt printers designed to be comfortably carried around for a complete shift. That means they get their work done faster with a single printer. We’ve made it easier to serve the consumer when, where, and how they demand to be served.
Supporting change in the warehouse
In the burgeoning speed-of-light distribution center culture, getting inventory out the door faster, tracking it better, and minimizing the cost of doing it is what keeps an operation in the game. The greater your agility, the better your ability to anticipate and respond to the expectation for fast, frictionless transactions that has raised the bar for manufacturing and retail operations, transportation, logistics and most other industries.
One of the smartest places to start driving success in the warehouse is also one of the simplest. Barcode labels are among the lowest hanging fruit and the logical place to begin improving productivity. Because barcode labels play essential roles throughout virtually every aspect of the supply chain – something as simple as choosing the right mobile and stationary label printers can help strengthen an enterprise’s competitive edge. At BMS, we doubled down on our commitment to help warehouse operators:
- Improve supply chain visibility. Accurate labeling with barcodes is crucial to real-time tracking of pallets, packages and products on their journey from manufacturer to warehouse to customer, ensuring they get where they need to be when they need to be there. As just-in-time inventory increasingly moves from nice-to-have to must-have, visibility becomes an even higher priority. Cost-conscious supply chain partners do not want to receive an item until they absolutely need to have it.
- Support manufacturing processes. Warehouse workers can scan shipping labels to record incoming raw materials or inventory parts at the receiving dock, scan the materials and storage location once they’re moved to inventory, and, finally, scan the labels to pick raw materials or parts as needed to fulfill factory floor work orders.
- Reinforce quality assurance and reduce fulfillment errors. In today’s omni channel era, brick-and mortar stores as well as online retailers depend on fulfillment houses to send the correct products to their customers. Helping to ensure packages contain the correct items through clear, proper labeling can minimize the risk of misidentified items and support quality assurance procedures.
- Streamline warehouse operations. Customer expectations – such as same-day delivery, seamless returns, buy-online-pickup-in store and other facets key to a positive experience – continue to soar. Mobile printers and strategically located stationary printers can save valuable time and ensure accurate labeling at every key supply chain juncture.
At Brother Mobile Solutions, our team and our partners are committed to helping retailers deploy and fully capitalize on the technology needed to turn the point of service into the point of sale. With our extensive experience, proven track record and commitment to innovation, retailers trust us to deliver the right solutions, service and support to keep them agile and responsive as they rebuild and reboot.
