JUST OFF THE WIRE

DENISE ZIMMERMAN

Wireless technology, used frequently in store operations such as direct-store delivery and shelf price auditing, is being deployed more broadly now to better manage customer-service demands.

Retailers are using wireless-paging systems, for example, to give shoppers greater access to staff who can deliver personal attention.

One major chain has installed customer kiosks with house phones that link up with portable communications systems worn by store staff.

"Ideally, each department head is wearing one of these [wireless units] and so we've got the seven most knowledgeable people in the store able to communicate with the customers to answer any question they may have," said one retail-operations executive who requested anonymity.

The battery-powered units are worn on the belt and are connected to earpieces and small microphones that are clipped to the shirt.

He said shoppers who pick up a kiosk phone mistakenly assume they are being connected with an off-site, third-party service provider, rather than an on-duty store employee. "Then they turn around and the employee is right there and they're shocked -- someone came to help them."

The Charlotte division of Harris Teeter, Matthews, N.C.; Fred Meyer Inc., Portland, Ore., and H.E. Butt Grocery Co., San Antonio, are among the other companies using wireless communications systems to help store-level staff better respond to customer needs.

Other shopper-oriented applications for wireless technology include:

Wireless point-of-sale systems Although wireless networking for the POS is not widely used today, retailers such as Harding's Friendly Markets, Plainwell, Mich., and Kroger Co., Cincinnati, are interested in testing the concept.

The ability to move a point-of-sale terminal from the store out into the parking lot would enhance customer service and versatility during a tent sale or grand-opening celebration, for example, retailers told SN.

Wireless scanners Shoppers carrying portable scanners at a store operated by Finast, Maple Heights, Ohio, are recording their own purchases and checking out more quickly than if they had to wait in line at a conventional checkout lane.

The chain is the only U.S. operator making the wireless units available to shoppers, but other retailers have watched progress closely. The Nashville division of Kroger reportedly will launch a similar service during the first quarter of next year.

The wireless scanners can also be used for customer price verification purposes.

While many companies are using such systems to better service the customer, wireless technology's role in store operations remains important.

Retailers such as Smart & Final, Vernon, Calif., Byrd Food Stores, Burlington, N.C., and G&W Foods, Willow Springs, Mo., have long relied upon wireless systems for shelf-price auditing.

Rebecca Thomason, director of management information systems at 19-store G&W Foods, said wireless systems have been particularly valuable for in-aisle price verification in the chain's larger stores.

Smart & Final pairs wireless devices for price auditing with portable wireless printers so price changes can be made instantly as needed.

At Byrd Food Stores, which has been using wireless systems for price auditing, direct-store delivery and for recording returns on damaged product, more sophisticated applications are under investigation.

"We hope to do computer-assisted ordering and plan to use the wireless units to do store orders," said Robert Hartless, vice president, management information systems.

Currently, Byrd's devices are "dumb" terminals that work in a stand-alone environment, but integrating them with in-store processors would be a key first step of implementing CAO.

Harding's Friendly Markets is also looking to smarten-up wireless devices for store ordering, said Curt DeVries, director of management information systems.

He said a one-store test of computer-assisted ordering may get under way at Harding's early next year.

DeVries said the company is also interested in wireless networking that would support a remote point-of-sale terminal "so we can take a POS terminal out for a sidewalk sale without having to worry about whether it's connected.

"The capability is coming, but the speed is still too slow, at least from what I've seen so far," he added.

Retailers told SN wireless technology -- especially communications systems -- drives efficiency in store operations, enhances customer-service levels and even strengthens relationships among various store departments.

"The store managers feel it's helped involve all the departments with what's going on in the whole store," one retailer told SN. "The meat department, for example, is notorious for being somewhat removed from the store because they're meat cutters -- theoretically, a different breed than clerks."

However, meat-department staff are kept in the loop through portable communications units. "It does involve them with what's going on in the store, helping them to help each other help customers.

"Just the fact that we have the systems in the stores sends a strong message to our employees that we are committed to what we say we want to do: to take care of the customer."