Euro Shop Adopts Automatic Data Collection at the Point-of-Sale to Increase Efficiency, Profits and Customer Satisfaction
Overview
Euro Shop is a major general retailer in Belgium. Founded in 1958 to sell U.S. army surplus in the city of Roeselare, the company expanded into a much larger superstore with seven satellite stores. Euro Shop sells an assortment of goods including clothing, kitchenware, toys, consumer electronics and furniture.
The Challenge
“Before implementing an IT system, our employees had to calculate daily sales revenues manually, which was very time consuming. Periodic stock inventories were also manually tallied and purchases and supply orders were becoming increasingly laborious, as the employees had to inventory stock levels shelf-by-shelf,” said Kris Vanlerberghe, Purchasing Manager at Euro Shop.
“The individual shops communicated with the head office and the other stores by telephone or fax to exchange information on sales, out-of-stock situations or surpluses, which was quite expensive and inefficient. All data was then computerized by hand in our head office. It was quite a relief when we computerized the book-keeping processes,” Vanlerberghe added.
Euro Shop needed a partner to provide them with in-depth retail know-how and experience, real proximity and a high level of service. “MMPCS is a VAR partner dedicated to small and medium retail businesses such as Euro Shop,” explained Chris Vandaele, CEO of MMPCS. Very quickly, a solid relationship was established between the two partners.
The Solution
The first step for MMPCS and Euro Shop was to build a new network to connect all POS devices to the store’s central server, which also connects all stores to the head office. Once the network was established and successfully tested, all information was quickly downloaded into the shop’s central server and back office computer at headquarters.
MMPCS implemented EasyPOS, their proprietary POS software solution, designed for small and medium retailers, to manage check out, inventories and purchasing, such as bookkeeping and accounting interfaces.
When selecting a bar code reader for Euro Shop stores, “Our decision criteria was the scanning equipment’s capacity to communicate effectively with the new software to allow us to receive timely sale, inventory and profit information,” stated Vanlerberghe.
The challenge was to find a scanning solution truly adapted to Euro Shop’s needs, which included reading bar codes on all PLUs (Price Look Ups) they carry. Vanlerberghe had experienced satisfaction and fulfillment with Datalogic’s bar code readers in the past; thus, Datalogic was a candidate during operational tests from a variety of manufacturers.
Based upon scanning performance, the price-to-quality ratio and the service quality, Euro Shop selected bar code readers from Datalogic. It was quickly and clearly determined that Datalogic was the partner that they needed, as “Datalogic’s readers were the fastest and the most reliable of all the scanners tested,” stated Vanlerberghe.
Moreover, Datalogic is unmatched and has proven experience in the retail segment and offers a wide range of products. Datalogic is the leader in linear imaging bar code readers, the ideal solution where handheld readers undergo frequent shocks, drops and must be able to read damaged labels. No break-downs or failures were observed with Datalogic products, which is fundamental in retail environments where equipment “downtime” is synonymous with the loss of sales and thus, the loss of revenues.
Euro Shop selected Datalogic’s Magellan™ 2200VS vertical scanners in concert with the QuickScan™ QS6500 handheld readers. Reliable and user-friendly, these high-quality scanners facilitate cashiers’ tasks and speed up check out operations, thereby increasing customer service.
“We use the Magellan scanner for small articles placed on the check out belt and the QuickScan scanners to read bar codes on heavy or bulky items in the shopping cart. The QuickScan readers also enable our cashiers to read bar codes printed on PLUs,” Vanlerberghe stated.
“The scanners offer the best performance and most aggressive reading of even the most damaged and hard-to-read codes,” underlines Vanlerberghe. “The difference in scanning speed compared with other bar code readers was the first thing that our cashiers noticed,” he recalled.
The Results
After installing the scanners, the benefits have been quickly realized. Cashier productivity and efficiency has dramatically improved and queues have been reduced. With less waiting time for customers, we have improved our customer satisfaction. Furthermore, we have noted improvements in stock levels and better inventory management based upon reliable data transmission.
Combined with MMPCS’s EasyPOS software, Datalogic readers enabled Euro Shop to improve sales tracking and analysis. Now, all seven Euro Shop branches operate with a higher level of productivity. The new hardware and software solution has given Euro Shop benefits from a 100% reliable system, without any downtime, for a more efficient retail management.
All together, the new retail automation system provides Euro Shop with strong improvements in its processes, leading to lower costs and higher profits; a clear improvement from their manual processes.
Customer
Euro Shop
Industry
Retail
Sub-Industry
Mass Merchandise/Hypermarkets
Application
Point-of-Sale (POS)
Country
Belgium
Datalogic Products
Magellan™ 2200VS
QuickScan™ QS6500
Datalogic Partners
MMPCS
Eutronix
