Foodstuffs NZ harnesses Zebra for sleek workflows

Foodstuffs South Island is using Zebra’s mobile computers, tablets and wearable scanners to achieve greater productivity, inventory visibility and accuracy, and improved shopping experience.

Operating since 1928, Foodstuffs NZ offers many kinds of shopping experiences, from grocery and convenience stores to large-scale supermarkets, wholesale, and specialty liquor stores. 

The retail grocery co-operative that is based in New Zealand also owns retail chains Four Square, New World and PAK’nSAVE, as well as in-store private brands Pam and Pam’s Finest.

The solution that Foodstuffs NZ implements includes Zebra’s TC51 and TC52 mobile computers, ET51 Android tablet, and RS5100 Bluetooth wearable scanner. 

The TC51 and TC52 mobile computers provide its retail associates with ready access to their inventory levels to reduce lost sales resulting from out-of-stock situations. 

By having such crucial information at their fingertips, it would also enable retail associates to spend more time engaging with shoppers to provide a better shopping experience. 

The ET51 Android tablet and RS5100 Bluetooth wearable scanner help streamline workflows and increase the scanning speed of its market online picking team, resulting in enhanced productivity from its retail backend.

“By digitalising our process, we give our retail associates ready access to key information of our inventory levels from the shop floor to avoid facing out-of-stock situations,” said Ian Colhoun, user technology manager at Foodstuffs NZ. 

“This also eliminates the hassle of leaving the shop floor to check our office computer for data to answer shoppers’ simple questions,” said Colhoun. “Promptly responding to our shoppers’ questions with real-time information about available stock will vastly improve the overall shopping experience which is our utmost priority.”

According to Zebra’s 15th Annual Global Shopper Study, retail associates expressed out-of-stock complaints as their number one frustration (43% globally and 38% in the Asia-Pacific region). 

Globally, 76% of shoppers (64% in APAC)  leave without the items they intended to purchase with 49% (44% in APAC) blaming it on out-of-stocks.

“In recent years, we are observing a trend of renewed consumer expectations across the region as more shoppers seek a seamless omnichannel shopping experience,” said Christanto Suryadarma, Southeast Asia Sales VP at Zebra Technologies APAC. 

“With retailers pressured to keep up with rising shopper expectations, empowering retail associates with the right technology tools to effectively perform their duties will be crucial in responding to shopper needs and deliver on-demand effectively,” he said.