Retailers today are confronted with a number of urgent challenges, including inflationary pressures and rising customer demands. To remain competitive, the customer experience a business offers will be what sets it apart. And for retailers, investing in their employee experience can translate into an elevated experience for consumers.
That is the approach Foodstuffs South Island is investing in by using Zebra Technologies Corporation’s mobile computers, tablets and wearable scanners to achieve greater productivity, inventory visibility and accuracy, and improved shopping experience.
Operating since 1928, Foodstuffs South Island offers many kinds of shopping experiences, from grocery and convenience stores to large-scale supermarkets, wholesale, and specialty liquor stores. The company also owns recognisable retail chains Four Square, New World and PAK’nSAVE, as well as in-store private brands Pam and Pam’s Finest.
The solutions implemented by Foodstuffs South Island include Zebra’s TC51 and TC52 mobile computers, ET51 Android tablet, and RS5100 Bluetooth wearable scanner. The TC51 and TC52 mobile computers provide its retail associates with ready access to their inventory levels to reduce lost sales resulting from out-of-stock situations. By having such crucial information at their fingertips, it would also enable retail associates to spend more time engaging with shoppers to provide a better shopping experience. The ET51 Android tablet and RS5100 Bluetooth wearable scanner help streamline workflows and increase the scanning speed of its market online picking team, resulting in enhanced productivity from its retail backend.
“By digitalising our process, we give our retail associates ready access to key information of our inventory levels from the shop floor to avoid facing out-of-stock situations,” said Ian Colhoun, User Technology Manager from Foodstuffs South Island. “This also eliminates the hassle of leaving the shop floor to check our office computer for data to answer shoppers’ simple questions. Promptly responding to our shoppers’ questions with real-time information about available stock will vastly improve the overall shopping experience which is our utmost priority.”
According to Zebra’s 15th Annual Global Shopper Study, retail associates expressed out-of-stock complaints as their number one frustration (43% globally and 38% in APAC). Globally, a whopping 76% (64% in APAC) of shoppers leave without the items they intended to purchase with 49% (44% in APAC) blaming it on out-of-stocks.
“There has been a sharp rise in consumer expectations across Australia and New Zealand in recent years with shoppers expecting a seamless experience as they toggle between online and physical store shopping,” said Tom Christodoulou, Sales Vice President, ANZ, Zebra Technologies. “To ensure that retails can meet the high expectations of shoppers today, they will first need to empower their retail associates with the right technology to perform their duties.”
