8/4/2019 SBP - Editorial - Retail - 04-09-2011

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According tor e s e a r c h ,a r ound 2 5per cent of all fresh pro-duce goes to

waste, primarily at the retailoutlet where it exceeds its bestbuy date and is discarded. JimBracken, chief executive offi-cer of GS1 Ireland, hopes thissobering statisticwill givefoodproducers and retail outletsonemorereasontothink aboutimproving visibility in theirsupplychain.

‘‘GS1 has been assessingpeople’s attitudes to buyingshort shelf life products if theywere discounted,’’ said Brack-en. ‘‘We know that shoppersbuying fresh food automati-cally go for the longest expirydate so it makes sense to dosomethingabout it.’’

A s t a nda r ds body t ha tworkswith disparateindustries

to improve supply chain effi-ciency,GS1 has developed theDataBar barcode that carriesmore data in the same spaceas traditionalb arcodes.

‘‘It could be used for provid-ing an automatic mechanismfor marking the price down,’’said Bracken.

‘‘If it’s four days or less, forexample, you could have 30per cent discount; if it’s undertwo days, it could be 50 percent. It’s one way of gettingproducts sold rather than let-ting them go to waste.’’

The GS1 DataBar has awide variety of applicationsand is attracting interest frommajor international retailersaround the world. It’s one ex-ample of the many ways thatGS1 utilises modern technol-ogy. Another is around foodtraceability.

The 2008 pork dioxin crisisin Ireland highlighted what

happensin theabsenceof trackand trace systems. A 100 percent product recall was in-itiated for a 10 per cent con-t a m i n a t i o n r a t e a t a nenormous cost to the meat in-dustry andtax payers.

‘‘Most companies would beexposed to significant costs inthe event of a product recall,but it’s not just the money, it’sthe rep utational damage,’’saidBracken. ‘‘You put i n bettertrack and trace solutions for anumber of reasons: forcompli-ance, to protect your bottomline, and also to protect yourbrand.’’

Despitethehighcostofa re-call,it’sstilla hardsell,accord-i n g t o B r a c k e n . ‘ ‘ T h etechnology is here, but per-suading people to adopt it anddothings ina differentway isachallenge.You have to win overheartsand minds,’’ he said.

This is a familiar scenariofor any project where technol-ogy isinvolved.Itinevitablybe-comes a change managementexercise where the culture of anorganisation hasto be mod-ified. ‘‘Old habits die hard,’’said Bracken. ‘‘People persistwith the same way of doingthings because they haven’tcarried out a full evaluationthat would help them realisethat there is a better way thatwould deliver real savings.’’

The irony is that better tra-ceability means better productvisibility and therefore greater

efficiency. It’s actually goodfor business, said Bracken. ‘‘If you run your supply chainbased on available technology,driven by open standards,youcanactually putin muchbetteroperational systems that willdeliver the traceability,’’ hesaid.

A recentstudyby theAberd-een Group found that compa-n i e s t h a t h a v e t h e m o s tvisibility into their supplychains also have the lowestout - of - s t oc ks , t he l owe s tlanded costs and the highest

on-time shipment rates. Stan-dards-based, technology-en-abled processes provide thedata needed to reduce out-of-stocks by 30 per cent and re-duce ‘‘safety’’ stocks by up to27 percent.

But it’s another hard sell inthe presentclimate,where cashis short and it’s hard to raisemoney for new investments.‘‘But sometimes you need toinvest to become more effi-cient,’’ said Bracken. ‘‘Organi-sations that have done it havealreadyrealised the benefits.’’

RETAIL: PUTTINGTECHNOLOGYTOWORK

GS1 is a global standards body intent onimproving supply chain efficiency ^ and thebenefits are too big to ignore, argues the chief executive of the Irish office

BESTBUSINESS

Better visibility meansbetter business too

Retail organisationscomprising one ortwo outlets have re-latively straightfor-

ward requirements when itcomes to stock control and

managing inventory levels.Once they grow in size to thepoint where they have multipleoutlets across several towns orcities ^ and maybe a centralwarehouse of their own ^ they

see a rapid rise in the costs as-sociated with making sure theright amount of merchandiseis in the right place at the opti-mumtime.

‘‘It’sall aboutstock control,’’

said Morgan Browne, chief ex-ecutive of Intelligent Informa-tion Systems (IIS). ‘‘Retailersneed to be able to track theirsales and feed back the infor-mation in real time to ensurethey have the right level of stock in their central ware-house.Then they have to en-sure the right replenishmentstock is shipped to the rightoutletsin time.Theydon’t want

to keep stock tied-up in inven-tory.’’

IISis aresellerforSAPBusi-ness One software, which is astripped down version of themarket-leading SAP Enter-pr i s e R e s our c e P l a nni ng(ERP) softwareaimedat smal-ler organisations than SAP’straditional market. IIS sellsacross arangeof industries,in-cluding the retail sector where,Browne says,the company haseightcu stomersin Ireland.

‘‘Our target market is com-panies whose annual turnoverranges between e10 millionand e100 million,’’ he said.‘‘Our retail customers include

Sound Store,a major electricalretailer with six outlets acrossthe Munster region, and PulseAccessories,which operates ac ha i n of ne a r l y 3 0 s t or e sthroughout the country. Thekey thing Business One pro-vides these customers is visibi-lityacross their business.’’

Business One comes with agreat degree of generic tem-plates and modules which fit

well on to many standard busi-ness procedures.Less customi-s a t i on i s r e q u i r e d w h i c hreduces the initial cost of in-stallation, which is not to saythat there is no need to tailorthe software to each individualcustomer’s requirements. It israre that onesize will fitall.

‘‘Stock replenishment pro-cedures will be different forevery customer,’’ said Browne.‘‘Product life cycles are differ-ent. For example, new modelsof plasma screen televisionscome out every six months, sothe retailer has to be able to at-tachthehistoryofanold modelto the newone.’’

A retailer with multiple out-lets and a central warehousewill also need to plan deliveryschedules and stock replenish-ments at each outlet accordingto their particular locationsand the differing shelf life of each product.

‘‘Also, sales people maymove from store to store regu-larly and the company needsto keep track of who is selling

what to calculate commis-sions,’’said Browne, ‘‘and theyhave to calculate rebate mar-gins on each product depend-ing on the volumes sold. All of these need to be customised.’’

Despite the difficult tradingenvironment for all retailers atpresent, Browne insists thatBusiness One software re-mains a sound investment forretail multiples seeking to re-duce costs. ‘‘Retailers need toget a better handle on theirstock,’’ he said, ‘‘especially attimes such as these when con-trol of costs is vital.Th ey needefficient ITsystems to take thepressure off.’’

Manage multiple outlets with the right technology

For even the smallestretailer, the days of fumbling for cop-pers in greasy tills

are coming toa close. More of-tenthannot,paymentsarenowreceived by swiping a cardthrough a chip and pin term-inal to add a few more electro-nic bits to an online, accessiblebankaccount.

Along withthe ever-increas-ing automation of payments,there are a variety of software

systems that can help retailersof all sizes streamline their vi-tal administration and man-agement functions. Aimedsquarely at the smaller retaileris the popular Big Red Bookaccounting software, whichprovides allof the standard ac-count management functionsthat any business needs at acost-effective price.

For the retail market, BigRed Book has teamed up witha specialist company calledRetail Integration to providewhat managing director MarcO’Dwyercalled ‘‘afullturnkeyEPOS [electronic pointof sale]solution integrated with a fullback office accounts system’’tohandle manyof thespecialistfunctions a retailer needs.

‘‘Our relationship with Re-tail Integration involves usdoing the sales and marketingwhile it concentrates on thesystems integration,’’ O’Dwyer

said. ‘‘Our product starts atabout e5,500 and includes theEPOS system with a touchscreen terminal, cash till, bar-code scanner and receipt prin-ter, along with integration tothe backoffice software.’’

As well as providing stan-dard ledger and profit and lossfunctions, the integrated retailsystem allows outlets to man-age loyalty-card schemes andpromotions while giving com-plete oversight of all financialtransactions to the shop man-ager. Customers for the inte-g r a t e d s y s t e m i n I r e l a ndincludeIrish Items,a storespe-cialising in school uniforms,and Deveney’s off-licences.

Key benefits of the system

include the ability to managestock effectively, providing re-ports on the demand levels foreach product so that they canbe replenished ina timelyman-ner. ‘‘Our customers have thefunctionality to enable them tomanage their cash correctlyand to manage their stock bet-ter,’’ said O’Dwyer. ‘‘That isvery important in the currentharsh environment.’’

Another benefit, especiallyfor the smaller retailer, is theability to pre-programme mar-keting promotions to start at atime when the shop managermay be away. ‘‘The system canproduce barcodes automati-cally and email promotion or-ders to the relevant suppliers,’’said O’Dwyer. ‘‘It helps to freeup the manager’s time whileretaining full control.’’

It may not be the most op-portune timefor retailersto in-vest in big-ticket software

purchases, but O’Dwyer saidthat there were opportunitiesas well as drawbacks for inno-vative entrepreneurs. ‘‘A lot of businesses are closing, butmany more are setting up aswell,’’ he said. ‘‘Rents are low-

er, and in today’s market it ispossible for retail start-ups to

get very good deals on rent‘holidays’ until they get estab-lished.’’

Although Big Red Book hasembracedthe cloudcomputingmodel with its Big Red Cloudoffering, allowing customersto pay for the software on per-use basis, O’Dwyer said thatthismodelwas notparticularlyappositefor the retail market ^especially for customers whopreferred the integration withthe point of sales and stock-controlsystems.

Nor are the company’s pro-ducts exclusively used by smal-ler retailers. ‘‘We are cu rrentlyquoting for a system with a re-tailer that hasten outlets,’’saidO’Dwyer. Furthermore, theBig Red Book accounts soft-ware is also in use with over100 Musgrave stores, albeit notas part of the alliance with Re-tail Integration.

‘‘Larger retail operations

tend to have theirown systemsin which they have invested,’’saidO’Dwyer.‘‘Butthey arety-pically too expensive for smal-ler retailers.They have a lot of additional annual costs whichoursystemdoes nothave.’’

Integrated accounts

help to balance booksBig Red Book gives retailersthe functionality they need tosurvive and thrive in hard times

Marc O’Dwyer

Jim Bracken, chief executive officer of GS1 Ireland

Commercial Profile: Captiva

Captiva deal atasty one forEatcity.ie

Eatcity.ie,part of the well-es-tablished POSbusinessCap-tiva POS, is celebrating itssecond year in business.Captiva POS is the marketleader in the hospitalitybusi-ness in Ireland. Eatcity.ie’sclients now include EddieRockets,Piz za HutDelivery,Diep at Home Bombay Pan-try,Kanumand nowMaoAtHome.

Through a long consulta-tionprocess,Maohaschosento go with Captiva POS forits new Mao At Home con-cept.The first store has justopened on Baggot St in Du-blin. EatCity.ie is fully inte-grated with the Captiva Pos

system.T his allows Mao AtHome customers to orderonline and have their orderprint directly into Mao’skitchens.

Captiva POS clients cannow change menus and up-date prices on their term-i n a l s , t h i s w i l l t h e nautomatically update allEatCity.ie prices. This is ahuge time and cost savingbenefit. EatCity.ie also pro-vides a white label site, thisallowsstorestoenableonlineordering on their currentweb site with very little inter-ruption.

Thehome deliverymarketis still experiencing growthand now having EatCity.ie

integrated with Captiva Posis seen as a crucial part of opening a newstore.

Customers canorder foodonline from Eatcity.ie, re-ceiving a text message withdelivery time details. A keyfeature for restaurants andtakeaway owners is directprinting into kitchens viatheir POS system of all or-ders, allowing the kitchen tomanage orders effectivelyand efficiently. Owner-man-agers can run product andsales reports at the touch of a button.

The integrated CaptivaPOS system also has a vou-cher code for special offers

ie, spend e20 and get a e5discount. The unique vou-cher code is set up on theCaptiva POS system andmakesredemption simple.

Clients are drawing in anew market from the onlinecommunity,one that was noteasily accessible withoutEatcity.ie.

Eatcity.ie is a user-friendlysite and generates businessfor clients in an ever chan-ging technologicalarena.

  For more information,contact Captiva POS on0 1 - 2 9 66 1 6 6 o r e - m a i l   sales@captiva.ie;www.eatcity.ie;www.captiva.ie

Eddie Carty and Mark Allen, directors of CaptivaPOS and EatCity.ie

Commercial Profile: Sony Professional

A‘digital’sign of the timesDigital signage offers threedistinct benefits over otherforms of promotion. Firstly,it works at the point of deci-sion making ^ in the store.Secondly, it entertains, pro-vidinga muchmoreengagingplatform for influencing. Fi-nally, content canbe updatedquickly and cost-effectively,allowing for the delivery of tailored,up-to-datemessagesto target audiences. It is asimple, yet effective, mix of technology and advertisinginthe right place.In theretailenvironment, this translatesinto sales ^ around 30 percent more sales.

The uptake of digital sig-nagecanbe largelyattributed

to two factors; firstly, theprice of LCD/plasma dis-play technology has fallensignificantly over recentyears to a level that accom-modates even small budgets.Secondly, in-store promotioncan be directly measured, soeffectiveness and value canbe quantified.

Sony Professional hasbeen atthe forefrontof devel-opments in the digital sig-nage market and today hasan unrivalled suite of bothsoftware and hardware digi-tals ignage solutions.

In response to the prolif-eration of televisions used inthe digital signage market,Sony Professional has cre-ated the BRAVIA Profes-sional Display range withscreen sizes ranging from32’’to 65’’.The new BRAVIAProfessional Display rangedraws on Sony’s experience

inthe television marketto of-fer similar high-quality pro-ducts to the digital signage

market.According to Eamonn

Halligan, Sony Professional’sdistribution manager for Ire-landand UK,‘‘The BRAVIAProfessional Display notonlydelivers excellent bespokeimages to the target viewer,but alsoopens up an array of options to the operator, en-suring it can access and dis-play content from a numberof sources, in line with userpreference.’’

In addition to significantdevelopmentsto its hardwareoffering, Sony Professionalhas also recently announcedsome significant announce-ments to its software range.Included among these an-nouncements is the launchof the VSP-BZ10 HD DigitalSignage Player, ensuring acomprehensive solutionto vi-

sual digital engagement. TheVSP-BZ10 is proving popu-lar, reliable and environmen-

tally-friendly.Consuming only 8W, the

VSP-BZ10 is able to provideFull HD video and imageplayback with interrupt cap-ability useful for on-the-flymessaging. It supports verti-cal and horizontal scrollingtext, as well as conversion of Flash and Powerpoint files,and allows for USB or Net-work distribution.The VSP-BZ10 comes with SignagePlayer Management Soft-ware and is c apable of mana-ging up to ten units of VSP-BZ10 players.

 For further information onSony’s digital signage  solutions, please visit website pro.sony.eu/digitalsignage

Sony digital signage installation at one of the Vue Cinema venues

m8THE SUNDAY  BUSINESS POST

SEPTEMBER 4 2011