5 Signs Your Retail Business Needs Mobile Barcode Scanning

| Products & Solutions , Retail

scanning boxes

Mobile data capture technology is taking the world of retail by storm, empowering employees and customers alike by making convenient, high-performance barcode scanning available on ordinary smart devices. Smartphones, tablets and wearables equipped with mobile data capture software make retail scanning faster and easier, boosting staff productivity and customer satisfaction. However, despite its many advantages, mobile barcode scanning is a significant investment for any retailer. That’s why it’s critical to ensure this technology will deliver meaningful results for your stores before buying in.

At Scandit, we are passionate about enhancing retail through cutting-edge mobile data capture technology. Our mobile barcode scanning solutions deliver rapid innovation and performance to your enterprise, mitigating costs and increasing the efficiency of your business operations. Above all else, we aim to provide retailers all of the tools and support they need to thrive in this continually evolving industry. So today, we’ll be discussing five telltale signs that your business needs to upgrade to mobile barcode scanning.

1. You have trouble passing items through your POS terminals.

Not every retailer deals in small and easily portable products. If your inventory includes heavy or bulky items, you already understand how tough it can be to process them using conventional POS terminals. In the age of e-commerce and effortless ordering, customers expect fast, seamless shopping experiences in brick-and-mortar stores—which is why it’s essential to optimize this cumbersome process. Not only does mobile scanning foster superior shopping interactions for customers, but it’ll also give employees a welcome reprieve from wrestling large products into proper scanning positions, boosting their productivity and job satisfaction.

Looking for a real-world example of how mobile barcode scanning solved this issue for a retailer? Then look no further than The Container Store, a leading provider of large storage and organizational items. Considering the weight and dimensions of these products, it was inconvenient to pass them through the retailer’s traditional POS terminals. By leveraging the power of the Scandit Barcode Scanner SDK, The Container Store transformed normal smartphones into enterprise-grade mobile scanners. This enabled customers to quickly scan and order desired products through the retailer’s mobile shopping app, eliminating the hassle of passing them through the terminal entirely. Check here for the full story.

2. Your in-store shopping experience isn’t engaging.

Retailers should always be on the lookout for new ways to engage with customers and foster brand loyalty. Strategically nurturing these relationships will keep consumers coming back to your stores instead of hopping over to competitors. And while entertaining social media platforms, blogs and other online channels are a great place to start, it’s imperative to ensure that your in-store shopping interactions are just as engaging and rewarding.

One of the most compelling aspects of brick-and-mortar stores is that they provide unique customer engagement opportunities for your business. For example, many retailers are developing mobile shopping apps that allow customers to scan product barcodes in-store to receive discounts, coupons or loyalty rewards points. If your brand isn’t leveraging this technology to engage and reward customers, then it’s time to get started.

Scandit’s retail solutions make it easy to build mobile data capture apps that make shopping more convenient and fun for customers. You can utilize these apps to “gamify” the experience offered by your brick-and-mortar stores, incentivizing customers to come in and scan specific items for exciting rewards. Together, we can drive foot traffic to your stores and bolster customer engagement through barcode scanning, optimizing sales and loyalty in the process.

3. You’re pressed for space or staff.

One of the biggest problems with traditional POS terminals is that they burn through store resources like wildfire. Whether it’s floor space, paper, employee hours or chunks of your maintenance budget, these scanning systems are highly inefficient compared to mobile alternatives.

With mobile barcode scanning, your stores can do away with checkout lines and long payment processes altogether, using mobile self-scanning to simplify and hasten buying experiences. Reducing your reliance on POS terminals will also grant your team additional floor space and allow you to allocate staff into different roles that further your enterprise, reducing in-store staff levels and boosting your bottom line.

4. You’re struggling to reduce TCO for your scanning equipment.

Dedicated checkout hardware and equipment have relatively long lifespans, but they’re also incredibly expensive to repair and replace when things inevitably go wrong. Conventional mobile scanners suffer from a similar problem, which is why more and more retailers are turning to smart device scanners. Smart devices deliver the same barcode scanning performance as traditional scanners and reduce total cost of ownership (TCO) by up to 500%.

Not only are these retail solutions less expensive to acquire and maintain than traditional scanners, but they also require next to no training. Most employees and customers already use smartphone apps in their daily lives, removing the technical barriers from implementing them into your retail environments.

5. Your in-store sales figures are flat or down year-over-year.

According to a recent survey, 74% of consumers have favorable or very favorable opinions toward in-store shopping. So why are your sales flat? Consumers expect retailers to augment their in-store shopping experience with digital features such as product reviews, and instant coupons and discounts. Mobile barcode scanning makes it possible for consumers in the store to get access to the kinds of information that helps them decide to buy immediately and not wait to buy online, perhaps from a competing retailer.

Enable Retail Success With Scandit

If your business shows one or more of the symptoms we discussed above, then be sure to contact Scandit today. We’ll put you in touch with one of our Scandit Solutions Consultants to discuss your unique retail goals and how we can help you meet them. Whether you’re looking into cost-effective mobile checkout solutions or developing your own mobile shopping app, Scandit has all the resources and expertise you’ll need. Improving retail business operations through simplicity and affordability is our specialty, so let’s get the conversation started.

Also, feel free to reach out to us if you’d like to learn more about smart device scanning, mobile checkout or any of the other solutions we’ve discussed above. We would be more than happy to offer any additional counsel to help you understand and capitalize on these exciting retail opportunities.