Molton Brown improves stock accuracy with Datalogic Memor

Datalogic, the global automatic data capture and industrial automation solutions provider, has announced that its Memor mobile computer is being used by luxury fragrance brand Molton Brown to improve stock accuracy and visibility across its network of 58 independent stores located in the UK, Ireland and USA and at selected concessions housed within 15 to 20 high-end department stores.

Challenges surrounding the frequency and accuracy of stock takes conducted by a third party were the driving force behind Molton Brown's search for a solution. "The consensus from the business was that the third-party audits of our stock were not as accurate as they needed to be and as they were only conducted annually, resulted in poor visibility of stock levels for a long period of time," comments Bhavesh Patel, Technical Application Leader at Molton Brown.

Initial discussions around a solution began with Datalogic partner, Mobile Data Collection (MDC), who talked to Molton Brown about its stock taking software and showed the company some of the handheld mobiles computers they could use to capture data in store.

After further evaluation and discussions with MDC, Molton Brown selected the Memor X3 mobile computer to run the stock taking application. "It was really important to us that we futureproofed our investment, particularly when it came to mobile computers," says Patel. "We didn't want to select a device that would suit our requirements at the time but then find that we needed to upgrade them in a few years' to gain additional functionality. The Datalogic Memor device met these requirements and would provide our staff with a durable device that wasn't too bulky and comfortable to use for scanning during stock take periods."

To ensure that Molton Brown was able to conduct its first stock take with the new solution by the required deadline, experts Mobile Data Collection expedited the software deployment, writing bespoke software from scratch that met Molton Brown's exact requirements in just two weeks.

"We were thrilled with the extremely quick and professional service that Mobile Data Collection provided to ensure that the 143 devices and 72 cradles, were rolled out and ready for our first stock take," comments Patel. "The Memor devices performed very well and received very positive feedback from our store teams. The hardware and software complement each other perfectly and integration has been very good, so much so that we are in the process of implementing a POS upgrade that will enable the devices to be used as part of the returns process. The whole project has been a great success and we hope to continue our partnership with MDC in the future."

"Maintaining an accurate stock record and having top level visibility of stock availability can pose enormous challenges for retailers, particularly those that have a vast number of SKUs for similar product lines. We are delighted that Molton Brown has selected Datalogic's Memor X3 along with MDC's software to help them address this challenge and are happy to hear that the initial results have been positive," comments Jamie Dickinson, retail sales director, UK&I at Datalogic.