Nedfox and Garden Centers Select Datalogic’s Handheld Readers to Work Harmoniously with the Retail Management System, ‘POS4ALL’
Overview
Since the late nineties, there’s been no avoiding them; the ever increasing number of garden centers supplying consumers with everything for in and around the garden. In the Netherlands, the most well-known chains include: Intratuin (53 locations), Groenrijk (45 locations), Europatuin (5 locations) and Life and Garden (16 locations).
With each garden center averaging 15,000-30,000 ft², customers can find a complete assortment of tens of thousands of products for any and all gardening needs.
The Challenge
At the garden centers, products are purchased, delivered and paid for precisely when needed and in exact quantities; therefore, the flow of products is expected to run smoothly from headquarters to the individual stores. To ensure proper logistical control of thousands of gardening products, automation and data collection began to play an important role to ensure the right products get to the right store in the right amount of time.
For the past 10 years, the automation and data collection of most garden centers has been led exclusively by retail automation specialist, Nedfox. Nedfox is responsible for the implementation of both the hardware and the software at the point-of-sale (POS), where they also provide their exclusive retail management system, “POS4ALL.” This system controls nearly every aspect of business from product orders placed at headquarters to inventory tracking and customer purchases at the individual stores.
At the headquarter site of many garden centers, agreements with suppliers are made via the POS4ALL. The suppliers of the products provide current data to the system through bar codes, encoded with product descriptions and prices. With the help of the standard interface “Greenleaf,” headquarters can process all the of the product information and inputs it into the packet. Price calculations are then developed and actions started before the product information is released to the garden center locations.
At the individual store locations, POS4ALL is used to keep track of local inventory, including labeling products and purchases made at the check out. It is at the cash registers where the simplicity of the system is most noticeable.
The Solution
Busy garden centers profit from quick sales transactions and a continuous flow of goods past the cash registers. Datalogic’s Heron™ Desk, Gryphon™ Desk, and Gryphon™ Mobile handheld readers are located at check out stations, where they read bar codes on products and then store the data in the register system. Nedfox, a Datalogic partner, played a large part in the final decision to use these particular bar code readers.
“In garden centers, we need robust, stable readers that keep working in a demanding environment,” explains Jacqueline Roubos from Nedfox’s Marketing and Commerce Division. “Our previous experience with other readers was not very successful as they did not meet our requirements. Disruptions and broken parts were quite common.”
With Datalogic’s Heron Desk, Gryphon Desk and Mobile handheld products, Nedfox found sturdy, robust readers that were perfect for the dynamic environment of a garden center.
“It often happens that bar codes are severely damaged and difficult to read,” Roubos continues, “However, both the Heron and Gryphon readers have a strong scan quality that can easily scan even difficult-to-read bar codes.”
For Nedfox, the fact that these readers came with a 5-year guarantee provides strong evidence of their quality. As a further advantage, PS2 cables can be used to connect the Datalogic bar code readers to the keyboard of the POS4ALL register system. To ensure the garden centers are up and running quickly, Nedfox programs all the bar code readers before delivering them to the store locations; the readers do the rest.
Every time a product is scanned correctly at the register, a green light on the handheld reader illuminates. Datalogic’s patented ‘Green Spot’ technology is a unique feature of Datalogic handheld readers and is extremely helpful in the noisy environment of a garden center.
The Results
POS4ALL appears to be the future of the total inventory flow control in the garden centers. Since its introduction, the popular software application is not only implemented in garden centers, but also in more retail markets such as photo shops.
DIY business Europatuin Retail Manager, Ronald Kuiters, speaks very highly of the POS4ALL concept from Nedfox: “I know of no other product that can do as much as POS4ALL can. The packet has a huge amount of functionality and is continually developing.”
Europatuin has also benefited from the collaboration and the advice from Nedfox in using Datalogic’s bar code readers. “The support from Nedfox is very good; the team knows what it is all about and is always thinking with you,” Kuiters stated.
Nedfox has been extremely pleased being partners with Datalogic. According to Roubos, “Since we’ve coupled the Datalogic readers on our POS4ALL package, there have been significantly fewer disruptions and, thanks to the good scan quality of the reader, items are scanned more quickly. This makes for a noticeably faster checkout and flow through the cash registers.”
Customers
IntraTuin
GroenRijk
EuropaTuin
Life and Garden
Industry
Retail
Sub-Industry
Specialty Retail
Application
Point-of-Sale (POS)
Country
The Netherlands
Datalogic Product
Gryphon™ Desk
Gryphon™ Mobile
Heron™ Desk
Datalogic Partner
Nedfox
