Because I am primarily a visual learner, I’m helped most by those written descriptions that allow me to envision in concrete images the various stages of the processes they describe, and I had just that experience while reading Zebra Technologies’ white paper, Wireless Printing Delivers Efficiency and Cost Savings in Retail, as it described how wireless printers are used to expedite the processing of returns. Those resulting mental images further reinforced a key lesson of that paper: That it is often far more efficient to bring the printer to the work than it is to bring the work to the printer.
Retail enterprises have traditionally processed returns at a dedicated front-of-store counter to which customers deliver return items and from which clerks move those items back into display inventory or to warehouse areas for further processing. But that return-desk model assumes small, easily transportable merchandise and a limited flow of customers. What of large items, such palletized appliances, or occasions when the physical capacity of that dedicated return counter is insufficient, such as during a post Christmas return rush?
In instances of over-sized merchandise, a clerk equipped with a mobile wireless printer and mobile computer can process the customer’s return as the forklift removes a palletized appliance from the customer’s vehicle – even in the parking lot. Zebra’s customer case study, The RoomPlace Moves to Faster, More Stable Label Printing with ZebraLink Enterprise Connector, reminded me of another retail category for which it just makes sense to bring the printer to the work rather than the work to the printer, especially when it is being returned after the sale: Furniture! Information on the condition in which the furniture item was returned, as well as other critical data, is readily encoded into a label affixed to the item at the point of return.
As for the example of accommodating a post-Christmas return rush, temporary return stations can be set up spontaneously whenever and wherever customer traffic demands. In either case, the return process is transformed into that which is most convenient for the customer. Yes, mental images are often the most lasting of memories, and your customer’s mental image of a positive, efficient return experience can make all the difference in predicting whether she or he will become a repeat customer of your retail enterprise.