Datalogic has announced its continued collaboration with The Co-operative Food, one of the largest food retailers in the UK. The Co-operative Food chose Datalogic's Elf Mobile Computer for speeding up daily operations, thereby increasing productivity of its SMART (Store Merchandising and Replenishment Transformation) system. The Co-operative Food invested £6.5 million (approximately €7.6m), in over 6,500 state-of-the-art Elf Mobile Computers and associated Wireless LAN infrastructure for more than 2,800 stores in the UK.
The Co-operative Food implemented the SMART system to allow the company to increase its focus on store based ordering. This system handles a huge amount of data being collected daily in real time. To make this process faster and more efficient, after a series of demanding pilot tests, The Co-operative Food chose to deploy the Elf mobile computer to replace their estate of legacy handheld terminals. The Elf mobile computer features the latest Windows Embedded Handheld 6.5 OS, numeric keypads, bright and easy to read color touch screen and high speed bar code laser scanner. The project was delivered and managed by Datalogic partner BT Expedite.
The Elf mobile computer is used intensively throughout the course of the working day to support a complex array of varying applications. It manages price markdowns and reduced to clear items as well as waste and various inventory-based applications. At peak times, the Elf mobile computer can be used for queue busting, while a "supervisor on hand" function allows store managers to authorize the sale of age-restricted items such as tobacco and alcohol.
"The new Elf handheld device, along with the improved Wi-Fi infrastructure and central replenishment system, are helping transform the way our store staff work, and the feedback we have received from our store teams has been extremely positive. These new systems are not only helping our stores run much more efficiently by speeding up the processing of a number different tasks, they are also freeing up more time to enable our food store colleagues to concentrate on our customers' needs" acknowledged Steve Bond, Head of IT Retail Solutions, The Co-operative Food.
Colin Pike, UK Regional Director for Datalogic ADC, commented: "We are very pleased that The Co-operative Food chose once more Datalogic as a key supplier for this project. We look forward to continue our long-established relationship with both The Co-operative Food and BT in the future."
The Chairman and CEO of the Datalogic Group, Romano Volta, remarked "We are very proud and happy to know that the most important retailers all over the world continue to partner with Datalogic for developing their businesses. This confirms our market leadership on an international level. We are committed to providing products and solutions that suit retailers' needs today, with special attention to anticipating future trends. Thanks to Datalogic's ELF PDA, The Co-operative Food has the chance to use one of the best mobile computers on the market today in terms of design and ergonomics, with the highest technology in a compact and user-friendly form factor."
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