Top Ten Reasons Retailers Upgrade to Area-Imagers

Traditional laser scanners read linear bar codes at the point-of-sale—a technology that greatly simplified checkout. But today’s highly developed area-imaging scanners enable greater capability and flexibility, putting far more productivity into the hands of retail employees and allowing for revenue-generating mobile marketing initiatives.

With these advantages, it’s no wonder VDC’s 2013 Report forecasts area-imaging scanners sales to grow at a rate of 13.4% for the next three years, compared to the expected 7.3% decline for laser-based scanners over the time period. Imaging technology is firmly established as a cost-effective, durable, technologically capable alternative to laser-based systems. Plus, imagers are capable of supporting retailer’s mobile marketing programs, capturing mobile coupons right off customers’ smartphone screens or automatically collecting their information from ID cards for loyalty program auto-enrollment.

1. Enable Revenue Generating Mobile Marketing Programs

The Internet and mobile broadband service have created new shopping channels for consumers, and new competition for brick and mortar retailers. At the same, a slow growth economy is limiting expansion of disposable income. Innovative retailers are fighting fire with fire, improving their e-commerce presence and adopting the consumer’s mobile phone as a new marketing medium. Promotions sent via SMS text message or via loyalty apps increase shopping visits, generating both immediate incremental revenue and improving long-term share of wallet. The most commonly used technology to electronically identify loyal shoppers and redeem mobile coupons are 2D barcodes rendered on mobile phone screens. And that requires a high performance, area-imaging barcode scanner at the point-of-sale.

2. Automate Loyalty Program Enrollment

Mobile marketing drives incremental foot traffic, but repeat customers must be enrolled in your loyalty program before opting into a mobile marketing program. The best place to enroll shoppers is at the point-of-sale, where you are assured a personal opportunity to engage and enroll the shopper. Area-imaging scanners drastically reduce the time to enroll shoppers into your loyalty program—with a simple scan of their North American driver’s license—while reducing or eliminating key entry errors. Honeywell scanners with EasyDL instantly scan the 2D barcode found on driver’s licenses, and parses the data for immediate entry into your electronic loyalty enrollment form.

3. Easy, Instant Age Verification

Reduce the potential for human error and fraud by instantly validating age against government issued 2D drivers licenses. Many retailers selling age restricted products like alcoholic beverages, tobacco products, and lottery tickets, require their checkout clerks to verify shopper age and/or identity at the point of sale. In the case of pseudoephedrine-based medicines and firearms, government regulations require the collection of customer name and address. Honeywell area-imaging technology provides the simplest, fastest way to comply with internal and government mandates—using best-in-class 2D scanners with EasyDL data parsing software to scan 2D barcodes on the back of North American driver’s licenses, military ID cards or CAC cards. The customer’s age, license expiration date, and other information can then be transmitted to your POS system for automatic validation. Retailers can even automatically create a manifest entry, to record the act of compliance for audit or litigation purposes.

4. Supplements In-Counter Bioptic Scanners

While imaging-enabled bioptics are capable of scanning barcodes rendered on mobile phone screens, retailers are concerned about handing phones to checkout clerks and assuming responsibility for accidental damage that could occur during the hand-off. A supplemental 2D handheld or presentation customer-facing scanner adds value, scanning mobile phone screen-based barcodes without the phone leaving the shopper’s hand. In addition, a supplemental handheld scanner improves checkout accuracy, scanning large under-the-cart items, while eliminating the potential for injury when lifting heavy items out of the cart.

5. Scan Any Barcode Off Nearly Any Surface

Imagers decode barcodes from pictures. Imagers are not as dependent upon reflected light as compared to laser scanners. Imagers can therefore scan barcodes off paper, mobile phone screens and other surfaces. And they can decode any barcode: traditional or matrixed, including “QR Codes” rendered on mobile phone screens that identify shoppers or promotions at the point-of-sale.

6. Hybid Laser/Imager Bioptics Optimize Pass-Through Scan Performance

While all-imager bioptic scanners can read codes off mobile phone screens, they don’t deliver the pass-through linear barcode scan performance that legacy all-laser or Honeywell hybrid laser/imager bioptics provide. And associate-facing bioptic scanners don’t ergonomically allow shoppers to self-scan promotional or loyalty barcodes off their mobile phone screens. Honeywell’s 2700 hybrid laser/imager bioptic scanner/scale optimizes scanning; the 2700’s laser scan lines provides the large scan volume or “sweet spot” that yields the pass-through performance your checkout clerks expect. Yet the 2700’s embedded imager improves scan performance on curved surfaces, damaged barcodes and poorly printed barcodes, providing an overall higher first time barcode read rate that minimizes average checkout times. And in the self-checkout lane, the hybrid bioptic scans both linear UPC/EPC product codes and mobile phone barcodes.

7. Ease of Use

Area-imaging scanners are capable of omni-directional reading—making it easy to scan a barcode regardless of angle or orientation. Coupled with advanced scan engines with industry leading motion tolerance, and innovative industrial designs that focus on ergonomics, Honeywell area-imaging scanners are easy to use, both for the store associate scanning product codes and the customer scanning mobile coupons or digital wallets at the point-of-sale.

8. Capturing Document Images

Area-imaging scanners can capture images of a wide range of documents for easy, economical storage, instant access and improved workflows—a cost saving use case adopted by many leading retailers. For example, a leading retail pharmacy uses Honeywell’s 4850dDR to capture digital images of paper prescriptions during the prescription intake process.

9. Lower the Total Cost of Ownership

Designed with no moving parts and built in world-class manufacturing plants, Honeywell area-imaging scanners set the benchmark in terms of reliability. Honeywell area imager return rates are measured in tenths of one percentage point.

10. Improve the Customer Experience

Whether it comes to faster linear scanning performance, scanning promotional codes or digital wallets code off mobile phone screens, faster age verification or faster loyalty program enrollment, area imagers improve the shopping experience by shrinking checkout lines, reducing checkout times and enabling mobile marketing programs that shoppers cherish. And that sets you apart from your competition.

For more assistance finding the right 2D imager for your business, contact us at Barcodes Inc.