Using E-commerce technologies, online retailers have got the breathe to feature a wide range of products in their store. From normal to digital in various sizes and shapes. Now, their focus is to tweak the shipping methods and make selling better. The first question strikes the mind is how many e-shopaholics actually want instant delivery or same day delivery for ordered products? The answer is right away... Source: http://elitedaily_.com/news/business/elite-daily-millennial-consumer-survey-2015/ As per the survey conducted by Elite Daily, Gen Y forms a largest chunk of working group who have a huge buying power. Once they find the brand appealing, they get heavily connected with that brand of products. It’s also been noted, Gen Y i.e. Millennials who are the young e-shopaholics desire straight away shipping of the products they have ordered. They are impatient for their order to get shipped in a specific time period. Rest of the e-shopaholics like to wait to get the products delivered to them. If online retailers make amendments in the shipping strategies targeting only the Y generation then the rest may quit shopping from the retail e-stores and switch to better online shopping options. If online retailers make amendments in the shipping strategies targeting only the Y generation then the rest may quit shopping from the retail e-stores and switch to better online shopping options. Reason 1. Shipping companies impose high charges for instant or same day delivery compared to other shipping options. 2. The product line cuts down from 1000+ to 500 for same day delivery. 3. Swift shipping strategies limit the servicing location. Same day delivery kind of shipping strategies works well with online grocery or food ordering because grocery or food are not ordered outside the city. It’s within the reach. Just imagine! if the food or grocery are ordered outside the city, in what condition it will reach us and at what time? Gigantic online stores have come up with pilot programs which impose a raised shipping cost on an hour or same day delivery options. This shipping method is on the testing basis still, if we look at the results, the sales are like a drop in a bucket. From the customer's viewpoint, Yes! It’s a compelling strategy but for how long? The amount that online shopaholics spend on such shipping methods is pretty high compared to the other shipping methods. And, the charges vary from store to store. A few stores levy subscription charges on a yearly basis, others levy depending upon the size and colour of the ordered product. Being a crazy online shopper, which shipping strategy will consumers prefer? Old e-shopaholics would vote against same day delivery option and would prefer 2-3 days or week shipping strategies because the former shipping strategy will only fill the pockets of shipping companies and retailers. Plus, they won’t get the requisite products on the list they are looking for. What about the consumers who love to shop outside the country? Actually, the enjoyment of online shopping is when we shop from outside the country. Online stores give us 1000s of options to make our purchase easy from single e-store which we don’t find in a physical retail storefronts. A few products are such we don’t get anywhere in the physical storefronts, we have to order it online.This may take time, approx a week or 2-3 days for the products to reach us. For Example: Smartphone is a lifestyle nowadays and frankly speaking, we keep on looking for the latest smartphones, be it Android or iPhone. The devices launched by Google and Xiaomi are mostly found online. Henceforth, there is no option left for the Google and Xiaomi aficionados to place the order online and wait to get it shipped. Can same day delivery be opted for such situation? No… Let’s take a look at the same day delivery strategy from retailer’s perspective Including such shipping strategies in the e-store adds a golden feather on the retailer’s hat but do you think this will remain for a longer time period? No… Why? Time Limitation The same day shipping strategy is stringent and quick. If the ordered items are bit late to reach the customers then retailers; 1. May lose the customer’s trust and not be approached for future orders. 2. Have to do free merchandise shipping which may result into a huge loss. Here, time and location walk hand in hand. The online retailers can pack the order at the customer’s doorstep on the same day on a condition that the customer is residing in the nearby area. Here’s a perfect example which describes the above phrase Prime Now is a pilot program introduced by Amazon limited to few cities of US. Before making any purchase using this program the users have to type their zip codes to check whether the insta service is serving their city or not. The local shipping service providers do the delivery of products in an hour or two for free in the selected cities after the customers pay a yearly subscription of $7.99. Check the website to know more on how this service works: primenow.amazon.com Product Line Online retailers who adopt such strategies are cemented to a specific product line. All types of products cannot be shipped in a day’s time. It depends on the product’s durability. This affects retailers in a metaphorical way. Though they earn a good amount of profit by adopting this ultra fast shipping strategy, they outreach their customers from a variety of products resulting in a futuristic loss. Supply Chain becomes tight With the same day delivery strategy, retailers get busy organizing the order and processing them to ship. The chain gets superfast and rumpus. Such situation gets irksome and increases the chances of mistakes and conflicts, still retailers and shipping companies manage to streamline the process. Retailers have to stay connected with more than one local shipping companies to make their buzzy task easy and smooth. Furthermore, retailers who don’t procure inventory have to coordinate with their dropshippers to pick and pack the merchandise at the billing address without wasting a single minute here and there. Apart from all the negative points which same day delivery holds, there is one positive point that brings grin on the faces of online retailers: Inventory Management It is a rescuing strategy from the viewpoint of holding a huge stock in the warehouse. Retailers get relief from stocking the products for days and increasing the unnecessary expenditure. An important point to note is, retailers have to be on their toes to automate the stock level swiftly and omit the discomfort of stock outs for trending products. Retailers can easily do it by using the best Inventory Management Software tailored according to their needs. Closing Alas! Same day delivery which satisfies a group of customers by fulfilling their demand of What They want, they want it straight away has a tiny scope and may get efface in near future. The competition between the demand and supply has no end and so we may come across better shipping options in the coming days.
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Before the invention of Barcode Scanner, the retailers had hard times in tracking their inventory. Keeping a count on each and every item, it's availability and sold out status, really blow their heads off with pressure. Weekly, bi-weekly or monthly depending upon the size of business, the owners had to close down the stores to count the products manually. In 70’s, this mundane task got a break and the beep technology rolled into the giant stores to make the process of inventory easy and nimble. It's like Beep! The product got scanned for bill... Beep! The printed list of available and out of stock products is in… Gradually, with the advent of technology, the codes got enhanced and the beep technology (termed as Barcode Scanner) popped into small scaled retail business as well. Today we have different types and forms of Barcode Scanners, each wrapped with unique specifications helping retailers to speed up the process of inventory and relieving them from the excessive and overburden stock management. Types of Barcode Scanners:
Laser Barcode Scanners are found mostly in retail and grocery stores where these beep sounds come from wireless barcode scanner or Bluetooth barcode scanner device. It can read the barcode in low lighting from the distance of 3.5 feet. This technology has three different configurations: Rastering, moving beam and omnidirectional.
Linear Imager Barcode Scanners are better useful in reading damaged or poorly printed codes or barcodes under plastic film or covering. Even, they are found in affordable prices compared to Laser Barcode Scanners. These scanners can read the codes from near distance up to 2 feet. Ideally for retailers to make the entire inventory process seamless; from selling merchandise to processing the order and from shipping to automating the stock level.
2D Barcode Scanner has a unique feature of capturing the barcode and reading the data at faster speed than any other type of scanner. It has a flexibility to scan and read the data using smartphones and later decode the same to the retailer. These types of Scanners come in various form: Wireless Barcode Scanners(Handheld or say Bluetooth Barcode Scanners), USB barcode Scanners, Pocket-Sized Barcode Scanners and Wired Barcode Scanners. Let's take a look at some important aspects of Barcode Scanners Barcode Scanners are usually used in busy stores where the selling and purchases are made in huge scale. To keep a track of inventory, rack after rack or shelf after shelf is next to impossible and the cost to manage the stock manually can exceed the expenditure. The stores use barcode scanner during point-of sale for a quick checkout and accurate product scan. How does it help retailers to overcome the stock issues and reduce cost? 1. Accuracy We human beings are prone to make mistakes. And, this technology eliminates the human errors and give retailers accurate results of stock updates, daily sales and other reports in nanoseconds. It is swift, reliable and minimizes the costly errors of making calculation and counting mistakes to none. 2. Customer Satisfaction It hastens the checkout process which gives a customer relief from standing in queue resulting in frequent store visit and shop and increase in revenue. 3. Reorder the Stock Stock out causes a loss of valuable customer and sales which can be addressed with barcode scanning technology. Once the product is scanned for bill, the stock gets updated in real-time and in case of low stock, notification is sent to the retailer immediately via communication mediums. This helps retailers to take decisions on time and improve sales. 4. Minimize Labour Cost Barcode Scanners are easy to use and understand. It hardly takes a time to master the skill of reading barcodes using barcode scanners. Furthermore, employees don't have to get acquainted with the entire procedure of pricing and stocking. This reduces the hours of employee training and cost to train them. 5. Inventory Control Using this technology, retailers get real-time updates of stock as in which products are in stock and which are out-of-stock. This reduces the overflow of stock in the warehouse and eliminates unnecessary expense on ordering extra inventory. 6. Quality Control Barcode scanning technology even speaks! It informs the retailer which quality tests are required to check the quality of products and in case if the test fails where to report the cause. 7. Better Decision Making As it is useful in faster data collection, it helps retailer in taking better decisions to boost the sales and improve customer satisfaction. Barcode Scanning technology gives entire information of a customer's purchase and is not limited to billing and inventory only. The next time when the customer walks into the store, the store representative can guide the customer with the purchases and what combination of products will help in saving more money. This sort of deal with the customer can act as a tactful source of store advertisement. You have probably got an idea of types and forms of barcode scanners and how retailers can overcome stock issues and cost control. One more interesting tidbit about barcode scanner is, How retailers can scan better Barcodes? The Helpful Tips! 1. Maintain your distance Not too far, not too close. Make sure you are at a distance from where barcode scanner can read the codes easily and accurately. 2. Rogue Barcodes One barcode for one product, not every time! You may find more than one barcode labelled on single product. Be careful in scanning the right one. 3. Stick to a single barcode type Most of the barcode scanners may not support specific barcode symbology. Try to be adhesive with one type and forget the rest. This not only speeds up the scanning process but will help you to discard rogue barcodes if there are any in different formats. 4. Choose the right barcode label You may come across with different barcode symbology labelled on the packs, be sure that they are real barcodes and not duplicate. Though, real barcodes are expensive but they are certified which can help you to reduce the cost in future. 5. Long distance scanning Not all types of scanners are focused to scan from a distance. If you read barcodes from a distance of more than 2 feet than this may lead to poor barcode reading and you may be misguided with product content too. 6. Light Conditions Some barcode scanners need proper light to read the barcodes effectively. So, be careful when you plugin the barcode scanner device. Some scanners may not be conducive to certain lighting conditions and the read won't be that accurate. In Closing: This was a quick tour for retailers to know everything about Barcode Scanners. Today, many inventory management systems supports barcode scanning technology. Orderhive, the smartest inventory management software works flawlessly with barcode technology. Retailers can use barcode scanner while scanning received inventory, searching products and processing orders. |
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