MARKET WATCH
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At-Shelf Sensors Reduce Out of Stocks: Study
A test of the effects of at-shelf sensors on the out-of-stock (OOS) problem is yielding positive results.
Four Giant Eagle supermarkets in the Columbus, Ohio marketplace tested the sensors from Powershelf, provider of retail technology solutions. Results were released at FMI's Midwinter Conference in late January. Some key points are:
- OOS in the test stores with Alerts to in-store personnel have seen a 50% reduction in frequency of OOSs and also in the percent of time products were unavailable.
- OOS in the test stores were replenished in in one-third of the time versus their baseline prior to receiving alerts in store and also compared to the Control Stores. For example, yogurt SKUs have been replenished in 3 hours on average when alerted to OOS versus the previous 9-13 hours in the past.
The Out-of-Stock Inventory Management test is led by a joint task force consisting of Giant Eagle, the Food Marketing Institute (FMI), the University of Maryland, Ernst & Young, dozens of leading manufacturers, and Powershelf. The program was conducted from November 2015 through January 2016
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Unlike previous industry studies which emphasized the distribution chain, the test focused on the individual store level, where industry studies have shown nearly three-quarters of all out-of-stocks occur.
Only 22% of Retailers Are EMV-Card Ready at Checkout: Report
A startling report from Boston Research Partners says only 22 percent of retailers are equipped to process the new Europay, MasterCard and Visa (EMV) cards at the checkout lanes of their stores.
The BRP report, Payment/Data Security in an Omni-channel World, said 38 percent of retailers indicate that payment/data security is a top priority, and 53 percent of them say they plan to deploy and activate chip-enabled terminals within 12 months.
The EMV cards have an embedded chip, which is a small metal square on the front of the card that adds a higher level of security to the transaction when used in chip-enabled terminals. The report comes at a time when threats posed by data security breaches continue concern retailers.
“Hackers and fraudsters are becoming increasingly sophisticated, requiring retailers to reanalyze and revamp their current security protocols in order to adequately protect the interests of themselves and their customers,” said Perry Kramer, vice president and practice lead, Boston Retail Partners, a consulting firm. “The good news is that retailers realize the magnitude of payment risks and continue to focus resources to lock-down payment and data security across all touchpoints.”
Ryan Grogman, vice president, Boston Retail Partners, said the use of EMV-compliant payment solutions weakens the incentive for thieves to steal credit card information by requiring that the physical card be present at the transaction, “(But) EMV adoption in and of itself does not do anything to actually reduce the risk of a breach,” he said. “The most effective approach for securing payment card transactions is a multi-tiered approach which includes implementing end-to-end encryption (E2EE) and tokenization in addition to support for EMV.”
The report provides insight into BRP’s 2016 POS/Customer Engagement Survey and highlights the payment security objectives and challenges facing leading retailers today. Specifically, the report addresses topics such as: EMV compliance progress, alternative payment type adoption, payment card processing architecture approaches and the increased shift to online fraud.
GS1 US Expands Advisory Services Program
The GS1 Advisory Services program has been expanded to provide customized technical and business expertise to address industry’s unique GS1 Standards implementation challenges.
Companies with an interest in tailored support for integrating standards into their operations receive customized business assessments, training, and educational materials from GS1 US. Its standards are the most widely used information standards in the world and uniquely identify products, services and locations worldwide to support global supply chain visibility and efficiency.
The expanded program includes, but is not limited to, GS1 Standards implementation and education support in the following areas:
- Data quality solutions in support of the GS1 US National Data Quality Program
- Electronic Product Code (EPC) enabled radio frequency identification (RFID)
- Product images and attributes
- Unique device identification (UDI) and Drug Supply Chain Security Act (DSCSA) in the healthcare industry
- Supply chain visibility and traceability
- Global Data Synchronization Network™ (GDSN®) implementation and Major Release 3 transition
- Nutritional labeling in the foodservice and retail grocery industries.
A complete list of capabilities is available at www.gs1us.org/advisoryservices.
Beauty Shoppers Prefer Tech to People for Help in Stores
Forty-five percent of beauty consumers prefer to search for product information in-store on their mobile device rather than ask for assistance from a sales associate, says new research from Mintel. What’s more, two in five (39 percent) consumers are interested in using, or have used, a store-provided tablet to research beauty products available.
This demand for digital comes as 16 percent of consumers decide to shop where sales associates will leave them alone until sought out for help. Many consumers are quickly becoming dependent on digital assistance in nearly all aspects of the beauty retailing experience, with more than one third (36 percent) agreeing that they would be interested in using in-store tablets or their own mobile device to pay for beauty products.
Mintel research also reveals that smartphones are the preferred device used to purchase cosmetics (22 percent), the only category surveyed in which consumers were most likely to shop via smartphone. Meanwhile, 58 percent of beauty consumers are interested in mobile apps that provide product offers to redeem in-store
News America Marketing Partners with Linkable Networks
A partnership between News America Marketing and Linkable Networks aims to deliver card-based savings opportunities to millions of price-sensitive consumers across the country via SmartSource Magazine and SmartSource.com.
By harnessing the promotional power of the SmartSource brand name, specialty retailers and brands will now be able to access upwards of 70 million households to offer savings that can easily be redeemed in stores using Linkable Network’s payment card-based savings technology.
“News America Marketing’s objective in this partnership with Linkable Networks is to expand the value of SmartSource beyond CPGs to allow consumers to access more incentives and save money on a variety of additional retail categories, products and services,” said Marty Garofalo, CEO, News America Marketing. “Additionally, specialty retailers and brands will gain access to a whole new audience through the FSI, a favorite consumer source of savings for decades and one that remains relevant to today’s millennial shopper.”
Through Linkable’s Card Linked Offers, consumers simply link promotions to any payment card to get savings without using either promotion codes or coupons. By linking these offers directly to their payments cards, consumers are credited after the purchase is made. The process is exceptionally secure as the offers are valid for only single-time use, feature anti-stacking technology and retailers have the ability to control redemption levels. Additionally, the entire path to purchase is traceable, with comprehensive site-to-store attribution.
“Expanding the influence and overall reach of the FSI through card-linked-offers provides specialty retailers, department stores and other merchants with a powerful new way to grow sales,” said Jeff Jensen, EVP and General Manger, Linkable Networks. “This partnership creates a terrific opportunity for retailers to reach the digitally-minded consumer, particularly millennials, and engage them through a platform with proven success. And with the addition of Linkable’s Shopper Attribution Platform, we can turn the reach of the FSI into a performance-based ad network for retailers.”
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