Handheld Scanner Upgrade Improves Employee Productivity

By upgrading its wireless handhelds, Belk, Inc. enhanced its data security and cut scanner response times.

By now, almost every midsize and large retailer recognizes the benefits of wireless networks and wireless mobile scanners. Belk, Inc., the nation's largest privately owned department store company, with nearly 300 stores in the U. S. southeast, southwest, and mid-Atlantic regions, has relied on wireless handhelds for years to ensure its store associates have access to up-to-date inventory information and merchandise prices.

Belk is a full-line merchandiser specializing in apparel and home goods, including fine china and housewares. Its customers frequently ask store associates about the availability of specific merchandise, such as a particular piece of china or a home décor item. Associates use wireless handhelds to check their own and other stores' inventories and, if necessary, request the desired items be transferred to the customer's local store. To streamline these types of transactions, Belk deployed SofTechnics GeM 2020, a suite of mobile applications that enables a variety of wireless mobile inventory and pricing management functions. Shortly thereafter, the retailer recognized an upgrade of its handheld scanners was in order.