RETAIL AND TECHNOLOGY NEWS

The introduction of new technologies is essential for efficiency in business today, but these technologies often impact the bottom line in ways that aren't expected. The retail industry's complete dependence on mobile devices is a prime example. Today's large chains have an average of 60 wireless devices per store, ranging from barcode scanners and portable printers to handheld computers and mobile POS systems, all of which are critical for daily operations.
 
While these devices have reaped big dividends in worker efficiency and mobility, they also require constant maintenance, which in turn requires businesses to spend huge amounts of money on service contracts. These contracts are certainly necessary to protect the investments that have been made in mobility, but many retailers don't have a handle on the underlying factors that drive the price. For example, when a device is sent to the depot, but a problem can't be identified, the device is returned No Trouble Found or "NTF". When this happens – which it often does – the retailer is responsible for paying the shipping each way, call desk fees, diagnostic fees and more. NTFs are viewed by most as an unavoidable price that must be paid for mobility, but what is the actual cause?
 
Small Batteries, Big Problems
More often than not, the cause is ultimately the battery. Mobile devices rely on battery power, but many retailers fail to connect the dots between unhealthy batteries, lost productivity and sky rocketing maintenance fees. When a device fails in the middle of a worker's shift, a significant amount of time and productivity is wasted going to get a new battery to swap in for the old one, but more often than not, the new battery doesn't last long either.
 
Batteries with diminished capacities will show that they are fully charged more quickly than a battery that is actually healthy. Logically the worker chooses the battery showing a full charge, but then the device continues to fail, wasting their time, until they send it into the depot. Due to the fact that service contracts typically either don't include batteries or woefully mismanage them, the device will be returned "NTF", when all along a new battery was the answer.
 
Transforming Batteries to a Managed Asset
One top five retailer decided to finally do something about the out of control maintenance costs that it was paying. This retailer realized that across its 2,000 stores, there was no system in place for disposing of batteries. This meant that the batteries stayed in service far longer than they should, driving work stoppages and service costs. They reached out to the market place for an innovative solution. The result was 500 auditors visiting every store equipped with cutting edge battery testing equipment. Every battery was tested and either left in service or replaced. All the bad batteries were recycled, and perhaps most impressively the whole chain was completed in a month, so the stores were running smoothly as they headed into peak.
 
The results were staggering. Over 130,000 batteries were tested, about 60% were replaced, and NTFs immediately dropped by 94%, service calls fell 64%, and ultimately the savings came out to $9M annually, far exceeding the cost of the program.
 
Mobile devices are a necessity to almost every worker in retail today, and they are only as good as the batteries that power them. Unhealthy batteries are a money draining problem that most retailers don't even realize they have. Most would be shocked to realize the underlying costs associated with batteries, but the potential for savings is huge. Field service coupled with reliable technology has proven to reap significant ROI, from a problem that has gone unnoticed too long.

When it comes to evaluating a company's innovative initiatives it is best to examine the source and not get caught up in the hype. At the Retail Executive Summit, Forrester Research's Sucharita Mulpuru encouraged the retail executives in attendance to consider the source, expect the goods, and know the history of "the next big thing."

The VP and principal analyst highlighted her "Understanding the Innovate or Die" session with examples of organizations and/or innovations that were hyped up by those with a vested financial interest in their success. When her talk turned to Amazon's drones for example Mulpuru quipped "the biggest challenge that the Amazon drone has is gravity," referring to the impracticality of unmanned aircraft delivering online purchases anytime soon.

Mulpuru ended her presentation with six digital topics she sees as the biggest themes in retail today:

Big data. Retail is a business sector that can gleam large swaths of data from the general population. Mulpuru acknowledged that the collection of big data is not new — retailers have been doing it for decades and some of the smartest have been acting on the info for years.

Same day delivery. Mulpuru points to investors as the evangelists. Only companies with huge revenue streams can afford to invest in the service at this point — Amazon and eBay for example. The high costs of the service make it difficult to provide at low cost and still remain profitable.

Digital wallets. There are case studies for success — Starbucks and Dunkin Donuts —and customer interest in strong. Biggest challenge is that CIOs have a lot of other things on their plate right now with security in POS and EMV mandate.

Content driving commerce. The idea of supporting a commerce experience by leveraging editorial content is a case of diminishing returns according to Mulpuru. The only way to successfully generate revenue through content is with advertising.

Wearables. The numbers and statistics show a modest opportunity. The market it young and uncertain but industries such as hospitality are showing promise, due to the limited time use and specific purpose — i.e., the Disney Band.

Omnichannel. When there is demand there are results. Despite the overwhelming success of cross-channel initiatives there are still challenges. Endless aisle, in-store pickup, shop from store, inventory visibility, mobile POS all take time and significant investment to do right — if you are going to do it, it must be done right.