Ingredients |
Processing |
Packaging |
Market Trends |
Regulatory |
Interview |
Food Safety |
Instrumentation |
WIRELESS SCANNERS – CASE STUDY: Tracking Product Stocks
BY INTERMEC
How can beverage manufacturers reach end-consumers in bars, restaurants and other refreshment outlets? Read more about how scanners are being used to accurately replenish retail stocks.
1 November 2006
Email This | 
Printer Friendly
As the producer of San Pellegrino and Belté beverages, the San Pellegrino Group also owns well-established brand names like S Bernardo, Nestlè Vera, Levissima, San Pellegrino, Pejo, Recoaro, Acqua Panna and Claudia. Recently, it decided to increase activity in its external-sales channel. Its new aim was to grow sales through a visibility that enhances products and encourages customers to buy, not only for immediate consumption, but also to take away.
Challenge
The Italian bottler promotes its own water and drinks through a tailor-made sales network, but also displays products in a cold-drinks cabinet provided on a free-loan basis. It needed a tool to help with replenishment planning, and the storing of other details of interest to monitor consumption and sales in different areas. Solution
During each visit, usually made on a monthly round, the area promoter scans all the information required to restock the cold-drinks cabinet, using the Intermec SF51 scanner. (The instrument is light in weight, and can be clipped to a belt. It is reportedly easy to configure, ensuring that visits to clients are fast, and that data is collected accurately without input or transcription errors.)
First, the promoter checks that the cold-drinks cabinet actually holds a supply of San Pellegrino drinks. Secondly, the promoter confi rms that the stock is well structured and refl ects corporate guidelines, enabling it to match the typical demand for a given area. Using the scanner, the promoter can fulfi l a number of functions with just one scanning operation: Check the status of the cabinet, submit restock orders, and record data for any monthly-sales analysis required by the head offi ce. At the same time, the act of scanning a particular drinks cabinet and its contents acts as proof that the actual visit was made.
Results
This procedure provides information about the sales outlet but also controls whether the cold-drinks cabinet is being used in line with the terms of the free loan.
“Before embarking on this new course”, says an operations manager, “two basic choices were essential. Firstly, setting up a special network, with the specifi c task of promoting products to the end-consumer through the bar channel; and, secondly, the decision to monitor the displays and consumption using a practical and functional scanner, like the SF51. It allows the cold-drinks cabinet to be traced.”
Challenge
The Italian bottler promotes its own water and drinks through a tailor-made sales network, but also displays products in a cold-drinks cabinet provided on a free-loan basis. It needed a tool to help with replenishment planning, and the storing of other details of interest to monitor consumption and sales in different areas. Solution
During each visit, usually made on a monthly round, the area promoter scans all the information required to restock the cold-drinks cabinet, using the Intermec SF51 scanner. (The instrument is light in weight, and can be clipped to a belt. It is reportedly easy to configure, ensuring that visits to clients are fast, and that data is collected accurately without input or transcription errors.)
First, the promoter checks that the cold-drinks cabinet actually holds a supply of San Pellegrino drinks. Secondly, the promoter confi rms that the stock is well structured and refl ects corporate guidelines, enabling it to match the typical demand for a given area. Using the scanner, the promoter can fulfi l a number of functions with just one scanning operation: Check the status of the cabinet, submit restock orders, and record data for any monthly-sales analysis required by the head offi ce. At the same time, the act of scanning a particular drinks cabinet and its contents acts as proof that the actual visit was made.
Results
This procedure provides information about the sales outlet but also controls whether the cold-drinks cabinet is being used in line with the terms of the free loan.
“Before embarking on this new course”, says an operations manager, “two basic choices were essential. Firstly, setting up a special network, with the specifi c task of promoting products to the end-consumer through the bar channel; and, secondly, the decision to monitor the displays and consumption using a practical and functional scanner, like the SF51. It allows the cold-drinks cabinet to be traced.”
| More Information |
| www.intermec.com |
Del.icio.us | 
Facebook |
