In both retail and hospitality, it is important for customer communications concerning prices and promotions to be accurate and up to date.  However, it can be difficult to manage all of the communications especially when there are multiple stores or locations involved, and those locations may be in different time zones, countries, or continents.  However, using ECS⁵, the blended communication solution from ECS Global, in conjunction with Zebra Technologies mobile devices, managing customer communications is made much easier.

Businesses and their customers each benefit from accurate customer communications regarding prices, promotions, in-store sales, special events, and more. For national retailers and hospitality providers, making a simple change in pricing over multiple locations can be a difficult undertaking.  If your business has locations in different countries, managing customer communications is even more complex, especially if there are multiple languages involved.

Mobile devices such as the Zebra XSLATE R12 can be used
anywhere in your store with ECS5

Making a change to pricing or promotions for retail and hospitality businesses working under traditional customer communication models can become terribly inefficient.  In these environments, the change comes from a corporate office and the employees who work in the back office in each individual location must then work with the employees on the shop floor to ensure that the shelf labels and other promotional materials are updated to reflect the changes.  With the update going through multiple levels of employees before reaching the customers on the floor, there is a high risk of inefficiency.  This is even more of a challenge for businesses that use a blend of digital signage and promotional displays, as well as paper-based shelf labels and promotional materials.

Efficient Blending of Paper and Digital Communications

Customer communication does not have to work in such a disjointed fashion.  There is a more efficient option available that blends digital and print communication and makes it easier to manage communications across multiple locations.

The ECS⁵ Media Suite from ECS Global is a blended communication solution that allows businesses to manage their customer communications across multiple locations.  The fully integrated ECS⁵ solution harnesses cloud technology to blend paper, digital, and display communications that can be managed efficiently and in real time.  This helps eliminate the complexity and inefficiencies that slow customer communications under traditional systems and lead to inaccuracies.

With ECS⁵, retailers and hospitality providers can create high-impact point of sale content, including print and digital media, and seamlessly integrate these communication channels with any external system.  This makes it possible to manage communication from one system using any computer or mobile device and drive any type of output including electronic signage, TV displays, and print media.

You can also integrate mobile devices including smart phones, handhelds, printers, and tablets to access and use ECS⁵ from anywhere.  ECS⁵ can run on any mobile devices available from Zebra Technologies that can be integrated to meet each business’s specific operational and geographical needs.

Removing Inefficiencies and Inconsistencies

For many businesses, their customer communication methods are disjointed as they typically use multiple individual systems to manage different types of communications separately.  This results in inconsistent communication, such as varying information involving pricing or promotions, which is detrimental to your relationship with your customers.  Using multiple systems can also lead to higher costs as duplicate work is more likely to occur and the manual processes involved are vulnerable to human error.

ECS⁵ helps eliminate inefficiencies and inconsistencies, as every method of customer communication can be integrated together under one solution.  Using a centralized platform to manage all communication channels will save the time, effort, and resources it takes to manage these communications through multiple channels and also ensures a higher degree of accuracy.  The ECS⁵ solution allows for the distribution of consistent, impactful communications within and across locations, via traditional print and digital media, electronic signage, and smart phone communications.

The streamlined communication management improves efficiency and consistency and speeds up the implementation of changes in communication including pricing and promotions.

ECS⁵ integrated with Zebra Technologies devices can help you manage the following communications:

• Digital signage: Create and distribute digital displays to TV screens within your locations that include colorful displays and video content.
• Planogram: The built-in planogram creation tools allow you to digitally create and integrate your store planogram and automate inventory and price tracking.
• Electronic shelf labels: Electronic shelf labels can be implemented into the system and updated quickly for changes in pricing.
• Mobile and digital devices: Mobile devices, including mobile devices from Zebra Technologies, such as tablets, printers, handheld devices, and smart phones can be integrated into the system to drive store operations.
• Promotion planning: You can manage in-store promotional campaigns and instantly update them when offers and information change.

Efficient Shop Floor Operations

With traditional systems, much of the work, including printing shelf tags, must be done from one location in the back office.  ECS⁵ allows retailers and hospitality providers to take care of these tasks on the shop floor.  The integration of digital, print, and multimedia communications allows an employee on the shop floor to quickly look up product information for customers, update digital displays, and print shelf tags without going to a back office.  This not only saves cost, but also makes shop floor employees more available to assist customers.

The industry leading mobile solutions from Zebra Technologies make end-to-end integration possible with ECS⁵.  Zebra Technologies offers the following mobile devices that can be used for a range of tasks, including updating shelf labels and rolling out new promotional campaigns:

• RFID barcode readers
• Mobile scanners
• Handheld computers
• Tablets
• Mobile printers

Improve your ROI with ECS⁵ and Zebra Technologies

Retailers and hospitality providers that implement ECS⁵ to manage their communications benefit in two key ways.  Nucleus Research, an independent analyst in the U.S., found that businesses that used ECS⁵ to simplify the management of their signage and communications experienced a clear ROI.  The simplification of managing communications across locations freed businesses to spend more time managing their communication strategies.

The second major advantage is that marketing teams were able to quickly implement new pricing and promotions in response to real world events.  For example, retailers in locations expecting a snowstorm could adjust the prices of shovels and quickly implement the price changes and coordinate signage only in the locations affected.  These advantages are simply not possible without having a tool to manage communications from one centralized location.

ECS⁵ can help retailers and hospitality providers simplify the management of their customer communications with a centralized solution.  You can instantly distribute price adjustments and special promotions, across locations using this highly integrated, cloud-based tool.  ECS⁵ also works with the industry leading mobile devices from Zebra Technologies that help bring back-office operations to the shop floor.

ECS⁵ can be used by businesses worldwide and works across multiple languages, currency symbols, and local labeling requirements.  Contact ECS Global for more about how ECS⁵ can benefit your business.