shelf management can benefit from a barcode scanner for smartphone and tablets

Enhance shelf management with Barcode scanning for smartphones

The key to boosting sales for small retail business owners is a well-functioning shelf management, which is about the efficient management of existing shelf space. In order to make shelf management work, retailers need to put in place strategies based on data-driven decisions. It often relies on employees going through aisles and scanning product barcodes with dedicated devices. This process can generate unwanted pain points that barcode scanning for smartphones can help levitate.

In order to present this solution, we are going to elaborate on three key questions:

  1. What troubles does shelf management face?
  2. What are the main benefits of using mobile barcode scanning for shelf management?
  3. How can Anyline’s barcode scanning be integrated?

What makes barcode scanning for smartphones better than dedicated laser scanners

Needless to say that there are multiple benefits to barcode scanners for shelf management. However, technology is advancing quickly and retail business owners cannot afford to replace their barcode scanner for the newest or top-notch barcode scanner multiple times per year. This is where barcode scanners, that can be implemented into a mobile application or a website, step in.

In order to be able to do shelf management in a proper way, retail shop owners already use handheld laser scanners. However, the better way to do it is by using barcode scanners that you can integrate into an existing software or web-based application and make use of all their advantages.

Making use of a display

Keeping track of every product there is in a retail store is already hard enough. So of course there’s a need for a technology that allows your employees to properly visualize where’s what and where it should be and not only how much there is left of it. Furthermore, using a barcode scanner application on a smart device, which usually has a big screen, allows your employees to get further information on a product.

More options to interact with the shelf

Due to barcode scanning, your employees don’t have to be limited to price tags on the shelf anymore, which sometimes can be misleading or wrong. Thanks to barcode scanning, they can simply scan a product’s barcode with their smartphone or tablet, which then shines up on their screen. This allows the employees to then directly request the missing product from the shelf, so that it can be restocked as quickly and smoothly as possible.

Flexible to fit each user

Depending on how you want to use the barcode scanner, you could integrate it into a web-based application, or implement it into a workforce mobile application which would work even without connection to the Internet.

Bring your own device (BYOB)

With mobile barcode scanners, the necessity for retail owners to spend money on hardware that can only be used for one single purpose gets eliminated. Instead of hardware they can therefore invest in a mobile application that can be used by their employees on their very own smart devices. Trends like these therefore reduce costs, since multiple functions can be done with one single smart device. Moreover, due to the fact that employees already know their way around their smart device, the possibility for errors due to misuse of the device get eliminated.

In addition to bringing more features and more options, both for store managers and employees, barcode scanners using mobile devices camera perform as well as laser scanners, if not better:

Accuracy and Speed

Since barcode scanners are evolving quickly and getting faster and more accurate by the minute, it is hard for retail owners to afford the newest barcode technology. In order to be able to keep up with the continuously advancing technology, retail owners should go for mobile barcode scanners instead of hardware devices. That way, instead of always purchasing a new device, they could simply update their software.