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Potential of Retail Business by (auto trimming) Way of Wireless Technology

By Musa Aykac

 In today’s commercial world, there are some businesses that can be very unpredictable and one among these is the retail apparel industry. Vendors need to know their customers very closely and make available the kind of clothing that complements the current fashion trend. Failure to follow this comes as a severe blow not only to the brand image, but it could also have a severe impact on the profitability of that business. Its future viability is also affected to a great extent, where excess inventory would be required to be sold at the scrap value. Except in this unpredictable world of fashion, you will perhaps not find any other business where innovation and creativity and so closely intertwined.

Operational challenges

Departmental stores constantly need to revamp their structures, and need to move within the premises several times in a year. It is a very costly exercise and time consuming activity to re-architect their IT networking after every move. Sometimes departmental stores organize promotional bazaars at prime locations, rendering it difficult for sales staff to conduct routine customer transactions. This could lead to discrepancies in the actual transactions taken place and the receipts generated. The sales staff needs to get real time information on stock availability. There emerged the need to develop a system that could allow the staff to record inventory while moving, instead of having to come back to the central computer system to feed data.

Business process restructuring through wireless technology

Different methods including installing GPS and ISDN to ascertain access to a single data repository containing records of retail sales or inventory in warehouse including in-transit goods movement have been experimented, but each of these proposals failed either on cost factor or ineffectiveness.

One viable solution that came to light was the introduction of wireless technology at warehouses and retail sites. These retail stores would be fully equipped with laptops and wireless PDAs for sales operators, thereby allowing staff to move comfortably within the store premises and between stores also. Thus a delivery instrument centralized for every application was believed crucial for an overall solution. Different technologies have been tested and evaluated for this purpose.

The wireless technology adopted for the purpose optimizes inventory management processes. This new wireless model results in a more competent model for tracking inventory at warehouses and the front sales staff who have online access to the most updated knowledge from any PC in a securely manner.

Benefits of a centralized delivery model

With the installation of centralized application delivery system and management on specific servers, as also providing virtualized access of application on PDAs, it is easier to handle counter relocations of departmental stores and periodic season sales from central bazaars without the need to reinstall sales point terminals and other similar equipment. This saves a lot of time and money too. Productivity of retail staff increases and so also at warehouses that use real time inventory tracking.

Suppliers of Intranet Software and Project Management Software

Manchester Airport’s Plans For Passenger Focussed Development
By Thomas Pretty

 Manchester airport has long been known for its belief in innovative schemes and planning. For instance, recently an iris scanning security system was put in place across the site so the thousands of workers for shops, restaurants and car hire firms only have access to specific regions of the site and not the most sensitive areas. However, recently Manchester Airport has announced that they are planning a revamp of Terminal 1, this revamp is set to cost around thirty five million pounds and subsequently will be a major investment. The reason this investment is particularly special is due to the fact that instead of simply listening to an architect, the Manchester Airport team are heeding the advice of expert psychologists.

Fundamentally the biggest change will be an enlargement of shopping areas and retail space, although the room for services such as car hire is also likely to be increased. The plans however have been made after the release of an expansive study into passenger behaviour. The study took place in Manchester airport and picked up on mental activities and body language to gain an idea of the emotional state and mindset of passengers. The study also included information on the effects of sleeping on planes and even in the terminal. With these results it is hoped that a more passenger friendly terminal will be a possibility.

What not be news to regular travellers is that those arriving at the site were in the mindset that they wanted to get the security and passport checking over and done with as soon as possible. The result has been that the landside space, the part of the airport prior to security control is being reduced in favour of a better security service, cuing system and airside shops and restaurants. The focus upon retail space however is twofold; while the airport chiefs may wish to improve the passenger experience, the fact that shops, restaurants and car hire services have to pay higher rents to be located in the airside part of the airport is probably also a strong incentive to change the layout of the terminal.

The design of this retail space, whatever the objectives has been careful designed to match the needs of passengers. For instance, the space has been split into four areas; the first area has been designed to cater for travellers immediate needs and subsequently contains items such as drinks, newspapers and toiletries. After this zone is the largest airside retail space in the UK, selling duty free cigarettes, alcohol and cosmetics, to match the needs of passengers. The third sector contains many shops owned by large high street brands that will give passengers the chance to grab electrical and clothing items and finally, the passenger will reach the fourth sector, an area dedicated to relaxation filled with restaurants and bars.

As Manchester Airport makes so much added revenue from retail spaces and car hire services it is unsurprising that they are increasing the percentage of terminal floor space dedicated to these activities. While these plans may cost thirty five million pounds what is doubtless is that the MAG (Manchester Airport Group) will recoup this expenditure in time through shop rent. While executives may be quick to spout that the plans are solely focussed towards the needs of passengers, they have also been cleverly designed to extract the greatest revenue from travellers.

Air Travel expert Thomas Pretty studies how car hire Manchester Airport services and retail space are likely to be important in the site’s future development.

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Saturday, November 22nd, 2008 at 8:55 am and is filed under retail. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.