The on-demand system means reduced goods can be checked out as quickly and easily as regularly priced items. All the necessary details – including the original and revised price – are contained in a barcode label. The standalone system is based on one of Sato's most successful portable retail label printers, the HT200e.
Products to be marked down are first scanned, after which the operator keys in the old and new prices, using unambiguous step-by-step prompts.The new barcode label is then automatically produced at the touch of a button. Labels can be printed in a continuous run or in "dispense mode", where the next label is only dispensed when the previous one has been removed. The distinctive barcode label is then placed over the barcode on the sale item.
Checkout staff no longer have to scrape, peel or scratch off the price mark-down label to expose the original barcode. The system also saves having to override the standard checkout procedure and manually key in new price information.
The system is already in use in 600 Somerfield stores and is being rolled out to the 600 Kwik Save outlets.
