Create Transparency in Shipping and Receiving, Proof of Delivery with Mobile Barcode Scanning

| Retail

scanning barcodes

Using mobile barcode scanning, retailers can track shipping and receiving activities across the organization in real time. This allows retailers to capture inventory the moment it arrives from the source and continually track items through every internal shipping and receiving touchpoint. Retailers can even extend tracking to the customer by allowing them to automatically place orders with consumer apps that offer mobile data capture capabilities.

Mobile barcode scanning apps also offer the chance to transform shipping and receiving inside the enterprise. With an easy-to-use, convenient mobile app, logistics employees can review and track shipments across the organization. Workers can quickly scan items to update the status of a shipment or delivery.

On the receiving side, employees can authenticate incoming shipments and instantly report damaged or missing items. Overall streamlining of shipping and receiving functions results in lower spending on managing these processes.

Retailers can further enhance the value mobile data capture brings to their shipping and receiving operations by applying it to proof of delivery. Delivery drivers can use a smartphone or tablet to efficiently scan products for proof of delivery and signature capture. This reduces time and cost associated with obtaining proof of delivery, while also reducing errors.

Instant notification of deliveries enhances customer service and inventory tracking. Drivers and contractors can obtain the ability to track deliveries from any smartphone or tablet. The built-in navigation, geotagging and communication capabilities of mobile devices further extend the value of mobile proof of delivery. Drivers no longer need to carry two separate devices.

All of this enhanced ability to track shipments and deliveries is crucial for success in the modern retail enterprise. Products now move seamlessly from initial source to centralized warehouses to regional distribution facilities. From there, they may pass through a brick-and-mortar store or online purchase pickup location, or be directly delivered to the end customer.

Further complicating matters is the fact modern consumers use mobile devices for on-demand communication, navigation and information. The ongoing, mobile-driven shift in consumer lifestyle has prompted retail to evolve from a push into a pull model.

As a result, retailers need to quickly locate and deliver desired products to the consumers who want to purchase them. This could involve next-day delivery of an out-of-stock item to a store, same-day delivery of an online purchase to a customer home, or rapid rerouting of merchandise during unexpected shifts in weather.

Learn more about this seamless retail logistics model in our new white paper.

Every retail enterprise can benefit from efficient, accurate and timely management of shipping and receiving processes. Mobile barcode scanning is an ideal solution for realizing this benefit.