Small Step, Big Win: Streamline Your Retail Price Labeling

Right now, retailers are tasked with meeting complex and multifaceted challenges in the post-pandemic landscape. This “Small Steps” series from Brother focuses on small but powerful ways you can meet common challenges with simple adjustments to your day-to-day procedures.

Small Steps to Solve for Labor Shortages in 2022.

Whether we point to the Great Resignation, the highly competitive job market, or the increased omnichannel demands associated with COVID, one thing is clear: the retail industry is facing a challenging labor shortage. As such, employee shortages are top of mind for retailers across the country. A recent retail industry outlook survey by Deloitte¹ showed that 70% of retail executives say that labor shortages will slow retail growth in 2022.

Surprisingly, 57% of the executives surveyed by Deloitte² reported that they had no plans to invest in automated material handling. Given the acute challenges retailers are facing in today’s market, integrating more automation is a necessary tactic in remaining competitive and managing labor shortages.

To solve for labor shortages and stretched-thin workers, look to the most common processes in your retail environment. A common process like ticketing, returns and markdown labeling – a routine, day-to-day task—provides the perfect opportunity to uncover dramatic time savings and employee efficiencies throughout your store.

Implementing a compact, easy to use mobile label printing solution and bringing it to the floor where you need it helps lighten the workload of your employees, improve the experience of your customers, and helps dial in your inventory.

Do more work with less labor

On-demand price labeling allows for labels to be printed or updated quickly, right from the floor and in the aisles. This means that your associates don’t have to leave the floor to manage a print job. Automation allows your employees to create new labels as needed while still keeping an eye on the storefront or interacting with your customers.

Leverage up-to-the-minute pricing 

In today’s retail environments, employees often find themselves marking down sale items by hand. Automation allows your staff to rapidly print professional looking labels as-needed, which generates an easier-to-read label. This helps to reduce confusion and questions from customers, leading to a more enjoyable customer experience. And having up-to-date labels means that your inventory will be accurate and up-to-date—a necessity considering currently strained supply chains.

Streamline your systems

To streamline your workflow, choose a mobile printer that integrates quickly and simply with existing retail systems. And integrated systems that you can easily train new employees on will also lessen the burden of high employee turnover. The right printer will have drop-in emulation compatibility to help automate implementation tasks. Plus, zero-cost implementation support means your store can enjoy the benefits of a cohesive, compatible system infrastructure.

Prevent expensive downtime 

In the fast-paced world of retail, you can’t afford downtime from technological errors or printer jams. The latest on-demand label printers feature reliable NFC pairing with Wi-Fi® and Bluetooth® technology to ensure printers connect to your devices—and stay connected. Plus, easy-to-use hardware and highly reliable operations allows your team to keep moving through the day without any technology hassles and frustration.

Simple solutions. Big results.

Finding ways to improve your business and operations doesn’t have to be a huge undertaking. Identifying small steps towards automation – like on-demand label printing – can have far-reaching benefits and implications for your business and staff.