3 Ways to Scale-up Click and Collect Quickly with Smartphone Scanning

| Retail

3 Ways to Scale-up Click and Collect Quickly with Smartphone Scanning

In these unprecedented times, retailers have been put under immense pressure.

One particular challenge has been a huge spike in e-commerce and online orders for click and collect, home delivery, and curbside pickup.

Scandit’s smartphone scanning software can make this process contactless while speeding up  order fulfillment and efficiency. Moreover, rolling out smartphones to replace hardware scanners significantly reduces the TCO (total cost of ownership) by two-thirds.

Below we explore three ways smartphone scanning can help retailers to serve their customers more efficiently and safely:

  1. Preparing the orders in-store
  2. Click and Collect, Curbside Pick-up or Buy Online Pick-up In-store
  3. Contactless proof of delivery

Rise in Click and Collect for retailers

The changes brought about by the COVID-19 crisis have been far reaching. Right now, many retailers are recruiting thousands of temporary workers to deal with the surge in ‘buy online pick up in-store’ (BOPIS) orders.

But getting new employees quickly up to speed, while maintaining a socially-distanced way of serving customers, is no easy task.

Additionally, stores have needed to urgently adapt their processes to ensure the safety of staff and customers. This includes order picking, and locating click and collect orders for delivery and collection.

Smartphone scanning offers an easy-to-implement, contactless and cost-effective solution to do this at scale and rapidly.

Going from the order to getting the product ready for delivery or collection

High order intake means there is a need to make it easy for employees to identify the right order for the right person. This is true whether it’s for customer collection or going to a driver for delivery.

This is achieved by scanning the barcode on the order. While many businesses also require proof of delivery either during a curbside pickup or when delivering to a home.

Three examples where smartphone scanning can help

Scandit’s software solution can be used on any camera-equipped smart device, transforming it into an enterprise-grade barcode scanner.

With Scandit MatrixScan, you can also add speed to operational processes by scanning multiple barcodes at once.

MatrixScan also uses augmented reality to superimpose relevant information on the device screen on top of the scanned product. This information, such as stock levels, can be pulled from different backend systems.

The product information can be used to give your employees valuable visual indicators and help them complete tasks faster. For example, highlighting the right order on a shelf.

1. Selecting the right product in-store

Online shopping requires fast fulfillment. This typically involves workers picking items for customers in stores or large warehouses.

When the order comes in, the aim is to retrieve the correct items quickly.

Our in-store picking solution:

  • Use a camera-equipped smart device to scan the product barcodes on the shelf.
  • Quickly identify the correct product and cross it off the order list.
  • You can also scan multiple items in a single sequence using Scandit MatrixScan to work even faster. With MatrixScan, when hovering over stock items, the AR-overlay instantly highlights the correct items on the screen.
  • Select the correct product and confirm.

Using a scan-enabled smartphone app allows you to quickly add capacity to handle peaks in e-commerce fulfillment operations. You can equip new and temporary workers with familiar, everyday smartphones that help them pick orders quickly and efficiently.

2. Click and Collect or Buy Online Pick-up In-store – BOPIS

Reduce time-consuming searches. With Click and Collect, the challenge is to retrieve the correct order from a range of products put aside for collection or delivery.

Our solution using scanning-enabled smartphones:

  • Scan the barcode on the customer receipt (it can also come via the backend systems).
  • Scan the barcodes on the products for customer collection.
  • Use Scandit’s AR overlay to highlight the correct product on the phone’s display.

You can equip every employee with tools to retrieve the right order in a safe and fast way.

3. Contactless proof of delivery/pick-up

Social distancing is one of the principal preventative measures in mitigating the spread of the COVID-19 virus. Traditionally, proof of delivery or pick-up workflows require recipients to touch the employee’s device to sign. This puts both customers and employees at risk of infection.

Scandit has developed a new contactless proof of delivery web app enabling customers to continue to sign and confirm receipt using their own devices.

Our contactless solution:

  • The customer scans a QR code provided by the retailer using the camera on their own device.
  • A web application, with proof of delivery functionality, is opened on the customer’s phone – no download is needed.
  • They sign for the delivery on their own smart device screen – no need to touch the employee’s device.

For a virtual demonstration of these three solutions see our recorded webinar, Scale-up BOPIS Quickly and Safely.

WATCH

Enterprise-grade scanning performance on smartphones

Scandit delivers enterprise-grade barcode scanning performance on almost any camera-equipped smart device. Barcodes can be scanned from any angle, with speed and accuracy, in even the most challenging conditions.

Retailers that are using the barcode scanning software

Many retailers are already using Scandit’s solutions to offer BOPIS or curbside delivery services. Here are two examples worth highlighting.

Instacart

Instacart is a US grocery delivery service covering over 15,000 stores. Customer orders are handpicked and delivered by a dedicated community of more than 50,000 personal shoppers.

Instacart shoppers download the Instacart Shopper app onto their personal mobile device to accept, pick and deliver customer orders.

Today, Instacart has over 50,000 active devices running the app, which is powered by the Scandit Barcode Scanner SDK. Read more here.

Farmdrop

Farmdrop is a UK-based online grocery marketplace that connects consumers with local small-to-mid-sized farmers and producers. On average, Farmdrop processes around 5,000 products per day, separated into eight different van deliveries with eight different drivers.

Farmdrop developed a mobile app to allow drivers to scan the barcodes of items and crates as they were loaded into and out of vans.

This ensured that the correct orders were loaded into the van and then delivered to the intended customers. The app also features automated proof of delivery (PoD) workflows for drivers.

“Using smartphones for barcode scanning offers a much lower cost than using a dedicated hardware platform from a third-party vendor,” said Sven Poppelmann, CTO of Farmdrop. “Dedicated scanning hardware has a higher capital expenditure and requires ongoing customer support.”

Read the full case study here.


What retailers need in the ‘new normal’

In the new normal, and beyond, retailers and their customers need systems that are safe, reliable, and easy to implement.

Retailers can easily integrate Scandit’s scanning software into mobile apps on smart devices to enable existing or new employees to fulfill orders, without the need for a dedicated hardware scanner.

Scandit can help customers buy online and pick up in-store, with contactless processes to collect and confirm orders have been received.  A seamless BOPIS operation enables your customers to get the items they need from you quickly and more safely.

Go here, to find out more about how Scandit can help deal with the changes brought about by the current situation.

Or contact us to find the best solution for you.