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Let Customers Buy Where They Want

Optimizing store operations has led to an unintended consequence. There are many areas left without quick access to checkout terminals. In a typical big-box store, customers may walk as much as two to five minutes to reach the nearest checkout terminal. The lack of checkout terminals in areas of the store called POS deserts has a negative impact on the customer experience.  (Note: POS deserts are areas at least 50 feet away from the nearest checkout terminal.)

Research shows that most top retailers in the United States have at least 25% of store floor space in POS deserts. Providing POS capability to these POS deserts could enhance the customer experience significantly without raising costs significantly. Rather than adding more POS terminals, it is much less expensive to add mobile carts with portable power to a POS strategy that will reduce the need for POS deserts. Sales associates can be where the customers are, serving them with excellence thanks to the versatility of these mobile POS carts.

A point of sales (POS) system is at the hub of every retail business and typically the largest single technical investment. Mobile point-of-sale (mPOS) technologies are transforming the brick-and-mortar retail, hospitality and events industries. While mobile POS (mPOS) has gained popularity with tech and fashion retailers, others consider a hybrid mobile POS solution offer as many benefits. Transactions and processes once tethered to traditional, fixed cash registers at the front of a store are being shipped to showroom floors, product aisles, and outdoor venues.

Improving the productivity and safety of your warehouse through ergonomics

While OSHA requires the training and means for employees to maintain ergonomic safety, the controversy surrounding OSHA's development of ergonomics standards and guidelines unveiled in 2002, gave ergonomics a bad name.

Poorly understood, warehouses sometimes define ergonomics as a black hole into which they pour money. Good ergonomics, however, can prevent injuries in the first place, and can facilitate return to work after an injury. The point of ergonomics in the warehouse is to minimize bending and reaching. Doing so reduces the risk of back injuries, while improving pick rates.

In 2013, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the U.S. warehousing and storage industry reported a total recordable rate of 5.2 injuries per 100 full-time workers. Serious injuries - those involving days away from work, job restriction or transfer - occurred at a rate of 3.7 injuries per 100 workers. Musculoskeletal injuries occurred twice as frequently in the warehousing and storage industry as in general private industry. Additionally, in 2012, injuries in exposure categories such as falls, slips and trips and overexertion (including overexertion in lifting or lowering) were higher in the warehousing and storage industry than in general private industry. Incidences of strains, sprains and tears in the warehousing and storage industry were 80 per 10,000 full time workers.