I previously posted an overview of the Honeywell Scanning & Mobility white paper, Retail 2D, while promising more detail on several of its key concepts, including implementation of the mobile 2D barcodes that are central to its customer-centric strategies. Retail 2D introduced the concept of the New Connected Shopper, a consumer who is employing mobile devices in ever-greater numbers and in increasingly sophisticated ways to maximize their shopping experiences. The 2D barcode serves as a critical connection between the new shopper and successful retailers.
Enzo Capobianco, a Honeywell Marketing Manager and author of Retail 2D, suggest three areas which the forward-thinking retailer should consider:
- Assign mobile devices to store associates to help them better engage and interact with customers by accessing – in real-time – valuable information such as product specifications and features, inventory availability, and current promotions. I particularly like Honeywell’s new Dolphin 70e Black in this role. Their customers are armed with mobile devices, so why not your store associates?
- Create opportunities for interaction. Examples include using targeted distribution of 2D mobile coupons to attract customers into your store and arranging in-store 2D coupons for customers to scan and capture while shopping. Invite customers to announce their presence in the store by “scanning in” with their smartphones at the entrance, and reward them for it by offering 2D coupons and other promotions customized especially for them. Imagine the interaction opportunities created by simply knowing who is in your store!
- Provide mobile point-of-sale options to streamline the checkout process. Again, 2D barcodes can play a critical role at this juncture. Enhance these options by facilitating customer storage of loyalty cards on their smartphones via 2D barcodes. The main point is to enable a more personal, engaging and fluid customer experience than is possible within the traditional strategy of requiring customers to queue up like livestock in checkout lines.
I’ve already mentioned the new Dolphin 70e Black, but Honeywell Scanning & Mobility is a trusted source for a comprehensive selection of scanning and mobile-computing solutions of which the Dolphin Black is just a small, though remarkable part – solutions that are specifically designed to aid retailers in capturing and utilizing customer data, including shopping behavior, to better align product and service offerings to the customer’s expectations.
Bottom line: Savy retailers leverage the New Connected Shopper’s reliance on mobile devices to enhance the shopping experience, and mobile 2D barcodes play an integral to that strategy.
If you’re interested in finding out more on implementing mobile bar-coding technology into your retail store, please contact us at info@L-Tron.com or call us at (800) 830-9523.