Case study: Telstra - NSW
Background
Telstra is a brand that needs no introduction! Australia’s largest telecoms company has a network of stores nationwide, selling phones, tablets and accessories, and providing communication systems set up and technical advice.
With the Armidale store being built, an opportunity arose to rethink how the in-store pricing was managed. Implementing electronic shelf labels into this modern tech store was a no brainer for Chris Ash, Director of Service Delivery & IT.
Reasons for implementation
The Armidale store was modern, forward-thinking - a tech heaven; all except for paper price tickets. Implementing electronic shelf labels completed the store aesthetically, and of course functionally as well.
There were issues with price inaccuracy, paper tickets being labelled incorrectly or products missing a price at all. “My pet hate was seeing missing price tickets from the accessories wall” laughed Chris, “this is no longer a problem”.
Managing paper tickets was also a cumbersome job that the staff (natural tech lovers) were not akin to. “It was taking a long time to change out prices (9 hours) and this meant we were slow to implement offers and missing out on opportunities because of it,” explained Chris.
Solution
Size medium 3 colour screens (red/black/white), complete with near field communication (NFC) technology were installed throughout the store. These are displayed on the counter top using label stands, and products hanging on the wall via adjustable peg hooks.
A custom integration was developed with their POS system, connecting it to FutureShelfs price management system, so that updates in pricing, promotions and product information run between the two.
A barcode scanner is used in-store to bind and unbind products to labels.
Outcomes
“Using digital price tags (electronic shelf labels) has helped to standardise pricing across stores, remove anomalies and tidy the data” stated Chris.
“They streamline in-store processes - we’re rolling out pricing more than 10 times faster than before, with a job that could take up to 9 hours, now being completed in 45 minutes, including updating our POS (the labels themselves taking only minutes to update).”
“Improved customer perception was important too. The store sells a lot of technology, to have old paper price tickets when selling state of the art modern technology (tablets, phones etc..), was not good for the stores image. Customers now feel like they are walking into a technologically advanced retailer,” says Chris happily.
“From a staff perspective they love it! They hated updating pricing and dealing with paper tickets, now they actually want to get involved with ticketing and merchandising, which is the biggest endorsement! They’re more focused on customers and delivering exceptional service,” continued Chris.
“Lastly we’ve seen a huge reduction in pricing errors, which was affecting margins.”
FutureShelf has fast become Telstra’s go-to provider for digital price labels, with 4 stores now installed, and 4 more to be completed in the next month.