Symbol, Agilysys Team Up For Shopping Solution

Last month, the two companiesinstalled Symbol's Portable Shopping System in a Bloom supermarket in Charlotte, N.C., on behalf of Food Lion, a division of global food retailer DelHaize. The solution allows customers to wirelessly scan and bag their purchases as they shop, eliminating the need to unload and reload the shopping cart when they check out.

ANATOMY OF A SOLUTION

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>> COMPANY: Agilysys Retail Solutions Group, Cleveland >> FOCUS: Wireless solutions for the grocery retail vertical market >> PROBLEM & SOLUTION: Supermarket giant Food Lion wanted a wireless shopping experience for a new chain of upscale supermarkets. Agilysys and Symbol Technologies developed a solution in which shoppers carry handheld devices to scan prices as they shop, improving the checkout process.>> PRODUCTS & SERVICES USED:** Symbol Technologies’ Portable Shopping System >> LESSONS LEARNED:
• Wireless technology can change the implementation of loyalty programs by helping retailers learn what customers buy while they shop.**

When they enter the store, customers scan their Bloom's loyalty card to unlock a handheld device from a kiosk. Next, they scan items they wish to purchaseand immediately bag them in their shopping cart. The scanner keeps a running total of prices, and when shoppers are ready to check out, an end-of-trip bar code with the total price of the items scanned is downloaded from the scanner at a register.

In addition, the handheld devices are part of a wireless network that tracks where shoppers are in the store and can advise them of nearby sale items or products that complement goods already scanned.

"One of the value items that makes this so compelling is the ability to do in-lane, in-aisle marketing at the point of decision vs. the point of transaction," said Verlin Youd, vice president of retail systems at Symbol, Holtsville, N.Y. "Grocery shopping is more competitive than it has ever been before, and one of the key differentiators is the customer experience. This [solution] can affect customer experience through technology."

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Last year Symbol assisted Quincy, Mass.-based solution provider Cuesol in installing a shopping system based on handheld, wireless computers at several Stop and Shop food stores in the Boston area, and earlier this year, the vendor independently installed a solution similar to that used in the Bloom stores in about 100 Albertsons' stores in Texas. However, the Bloom installation was the first project of this sort in which Symbol worked closely with a partner throughout the process, Youd said.

"We went through [Albertsons'] ourselves to go through the challenges to develop best practices with which to engage with partners. Now it's our strategy to work with business partners in just about every implementation," Youd said.

Wireless retail solutions such as the Food Lion project are a key focus of Agilysys Retail Solutions Group, which evolved from Agilysys' October 2003 acquisition of Kyrus, a single-tier provider of POS solutions for retail customers.

The unit was already engaged in a back-office solution for Food Lion and pitched Symbol's Portable Shopping System as a means of improving the customer experience, said Paul Civils, vice president of Agilysys Retail Solutions Group. Food Lion is testing the solution at its concept Bloom store, which was specifically designed to take advantage of wireless technologies and is targeted at a higher-end clientele, he said.

Food Lion executives could not be reached for comment.

"[The Food Lion executives] want to know what it takes to offer services to a customer to be swayed to that store vs. a discount or lower-price store. One concept that came up was Symbol's personal shopper," Civils said. "This a huge deal for a company like Food Lion. Food Lion has been a very general supermarket chain, focused on price. They go into demographics that compete with the likes of Wal-Mart. With their Bloom store, they're trying to move into a different socioeconomic area."

The grocery chain plans to pilot the solution at other stores this year to see whether it may be applied to a broader audience, Civils said.

"The work was equal parts customer, Agilysys and Symbol. That's the only way to be successful. There's a significant amount of work to understand the retailer's goals and metrics of measurements and then to apply skills of each partner to reach those objectives," Youd said.