A799 Collection Hits High Fashion
Challenge
When a high-fashion designer and retailer, best known for its designer handbags and accessories decided to replace its receipt printing laser printers, they needed a thermal receipt printer that was capable of doing justice to their famous designer image. The challenge was finding a thermal printer capable of printing the company logo to their satisfaction.
Scenario
The switch from laser to thermal printing in any environment involves not only a financial decision but also operational considerations. A combined need to reduce printing costs, as well as the desire to reduce printer downtime and increase workspace, drove this high-end retailer to seek an alternate solution to their current laser printer setup. Thermal printers require no toner and have a footprint of up to three times smaller than that of a desktop laser printer.
Once the retailer made the decision to convert to thermal receipt printing technology, the next step was to decide which manufacturer could provide the best solution for their particular application. The overriding factor in their final decision would be the printer’s capability of accurately reproducing the designer’s logo on the receipt. Although simple in design, the thin lines of text and levels of grayscale in the logo required precision manipulation of the logo artwork and customized support to ensure the level of print quality would meet the designer’s standards
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How POS Receipts Build Sales And Loyalty
The coupon revival continues, and the source of those most often redeemed might surprise you.
According to the Annual Topline U.S. CPG Coupon Facts Report for Year-end 2010, released by NCH Marketing Services, Inc., marketers distributed 332 billion coupons for consumer packaged goods last year, marking the largest singleyear distribution of coupons ever recorded in the United States. Those coupons redeemed totalled $3.7 billion in savings for consumers. Fueled by frugal recession-weary shoppers, coupon usage has climbed from 63.6% in 2007 to 78.3% in 2010, according to NCH.
Most of those coupons distributed — a full 90% — came in the form of free-standing inserts, according to Inmar, the company that handles the bulk of coupon processing in the U.S. But retail marketers take note — that’s not where the leading growth in redeemed coupons lies.
Checkout coupon redemption rates grew 39% in 2010, faster than freestanding insert coupons, digital promotions, shelf-pad, and in-ad coupon offers. Indeed, coupons printed on receipts enjoy a redemption rate that’s three times higher than that of direct mail and newspaper circular-based receipts. Bob Carter, president of promotion services for Inmar, says the data his company is gathering tells us that consumers are still looking for deals, but appear to be less motivated to seek out and redeem out-of-store offers.
The ability to leverage receipts to communicate brand awareness, promotions, coupon offers, and other forms of customer engagement is not new. Consumers’ enthusiastic return to interest in that messaging certainly is.
The consumers who are most enthusiastic about coupon redemption might surprise you as well. Assumption might lead you to believe that the lowest income households are the heaviest coupon users, when in fact it’s your best customers who seek them out and cash them in. Coupon usage in 2010 was dominated by households with incomes greater than $70,000, with 38% of what Inmar labels “super heavy” users and 41% of “enthusiasts” coming from that demographic. Households with income of more than $100,000 drove coupon growth in 2009.
Finally, lest you think the coupon craze has come and gone, the latest figures show coupon redemption was up 4% in the second quarter of 2011 compared with the same period in 2010.
As in-store couponing goes, nothing beats the receipt. Modern, powerful software tools allow endless and easy customization of designs and parameters on receipts, such as targeted offers to customers who meet specifi c purchase thresholds. Chain-store retailers can even create store-specifi c messaging and offers, enabling location based messaging that’s custom-fi t for the demographics of their consumers.
The writing is on the wall — if you’re not promoting special offers on your register tape, you’re missing a powerful opportunity to delight customers and drive repeat traffic.
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CognitiveTPG Introduces the DLXi Desktop Thermal Label Printer
Same Rugged Reliability Now with Industry-Standard Interfaces
CognitiveTPG today announced the availability of its newest member of the desktop label printer line – the DLXi. The DLXi combines the legendary reliability of the Advantage LX and Blaster printer lines with the latest communication interfaces and performance. The DLXi is designed to operate in challenging environments while providing a seamless migration to the latest technology.
The DLXi carries on the tradition of metal frame construction and a metal print mechanism for the utmost in reliability backed with a 2-year warranty. However, it is the communication connector combinations that set this unit apart. The 4-inch print width model offers the most communication interfaces offered on a desktop printer platform (Serial, Parallel, Ethernet, USB-B and USB-A host).
CognitiveTPG CRx Printer Improves Efficiency of Pharmacy Workflow
Challenge
J & D Pharmacy has been in business for more than 30 years. As an independently owned pharmacy, J & D Pharmacy owner Don Grove understands the pressure to provide superior customer service, added value and combat increasing competition. Fortunately Mr. Grove is a technology adopter, not afraid to try anything that will improve business and customer satisfaction overall.
Scenario
When J & D Pharmacy set out to replace its Pharmacy Management software they were also looking for ways to improve workflow in the pharmacy operation. J & D Pharmacy chose Computer-Rx because it was the most user friendly Windows-based software system and because they offered excellent support.
This level of support went beyond technical support. Computer-Rx recommended that J & D Pharmacy replace its Lexmark laser printers with the CognitiveTPG CRx printer for printing the prescription labels. It was not difficult to convince Mr. Grove that the CRx thermal label printer was the best solution for his operation.
Solution
“When you are printing over 10,000 prescription labels a month it is important to optimize the workflow to save time. We saw the CRx printer as a perfect fit for a stand alone solution in our pharmacy operation,” said Jennifer Jelinek, Director of Pharmacy Operations at J & D Pharmacy.
While workflow is important, the driving force behind making this technology upgrade was the cost savings both in terms of the cost of the barcode labels and the cost from the downtime.
“We found that the printers paid for themselves within a month and the technicians were spending more time filling prescriptions than fixing a laser printer jam,” said Don Grove, J & D Pharmacy owner.
Advantage DLX Label Printers Certified with Point of Success Restaurant POS Software
CognitiveTPG announces that its Advantage DLX thermal barcode label printers are now certified to work with Point of Success software for any type of restaurant or food service establishment.
“Many of our pizzeria and take-out restaurant customers were replacing their Cognitive Blaster printers. We wanted to be sure they could continue to use a similar high-quality CognitiveTPG printer, so we made the development investment to certify Point of Success for use with the Advantage DLX printer. The certification went smoothly and we received all the support we needed,” said Jeff Ward, CEO of Inborne Technology Corporation, developers of Point of Success.
CognitiveTPG Printer & Labels Help Skiers Race Through the Rental Process at Copper Mountain
Challenge
Copper Mountain Resort needed a system to effectively manage its rental equipment inventory between five store locations and to expedite the rental process for its skiers and boarders.
Scenario
Copper Mountain Resort was using an inefficient system to track and manage its inventory of ski rental equipment between each of the five different rental locations. According to Gary Deetz, Warehouse Supervisor, the self made system was faulty and labor intensive. Basically they combined 3 pieces of construction paper to determine store location, shelf location, and product information – the color paper represented the store location.
They needed a system to effectively manage its rental equipment inventory between five stores and to expedite the rental process for its customers. The system had to operate as a stand alone because of limited workspace to include a computer. They also needed to print serialized labels and be able to easily enter the variable information on the spot for the replacement labels. Finally they needed a label that would adhere to the ski, pole, boot, or snowboard without falling off due to the wide array of environments from freezing cold to 70 degrees and very wet conditions.
Solution
CognitiveTPG worked directly with Gary Deetz and his team to find a customized labeling solution to meet the ski resort rental facilities’ requirements. The C Series printer (4” Cxi) was the printer of choice because of its durable construction, LCD user interface menu, and its ability to attach a keyboard/scanner peripheral for a stand alone solution.
