DC Velocity - April 2017

20 DC VELOCITY APRIL 2017 www.dcvelocity.com newsworthy

Brick-and-mortar retailers are planning significant technology investments over the next four years as they look for ways to fulfill e-commerce orders directly off store shelves, according to a survey commissioned by printing and tracking solutions specialist Zebra Technologies.

Nearly 70 percent of retail decision-makers surveyed are ready to make changes to adopt the Internet of Things (Io T), and 65 percent plan to invest in automation technologies for inventory management and planogram compliance by 2021, the Zebra survey said.

The results come from Lincolnshire, Ill.-based Zebra’s “2017 Retail Vision Study,” a survey of nearly 1,700 retail decision-makers worldwide that was conducted by the online survey firms Research Now Group Inc. and Qualtrics LLC.

“A lot of retailers are looking to use the store’s backroom as a warehouse for
fulfillment,” said Tom Moore, Zebra’s industry lead for the retail and hospital-
ity industry, in a phone interview. “Retailers are looking to leverage their foot-
print and use their real estate in the store to play in the e-commerce world.”
Together, those hurdles make it difficult to track goods on the shelves and to
match them with incoming e-commerce orders. Most retailers have 98 to 99
percent inventory accuracy at the time they receive their goods from the ware-
house, but that number drops to 50 to 60 percent by the time the goods hit
the shelves, Moore said. A store that is willing to pay its employees to perform
cycle counts can get the figure up to 70 to 80 percent, but most stores can’t
afford that expense, he said.

In response to that challenge, 79 percent of North American retailers plan to invest in Io T-enabling technology such as automated inventory verification systems and sensors on shelves by 2021, the Zebra survey found. And 57 percent of all retailers said they think by 2021, automation will help them pack and ship orders, track inventory, check in-store inventory levels, and help customers find items, the survey showed.

To speed checkout, 87 percent of retailers say they are planning to invest in technologies such as mobile point-of-sale (POS) devices that let shoppers pay for purchases anywhere in the store, the survey said. They also plan to invest in sensors and beacons that let stores use location-based applications that communicate with individual shoppers’ smartphones, linking their online shopping accounts with their in-store activity, according to Moore.

Another technology that’s expected to see a rise in demand is radio-frequency identification (RFID), the decades-old automatic identification (auto-ID) method that has long been criticized for being too expensive for everyday goods. However, falling prices for RFID tags and scanners now make it worthwhile for retailers to tag items worth as little as $25, Moore said.

—Ben Ames

Survey: Retailers drive demand
for Internet of Things
go figure …

52%

The percentage of manufacturing and distribution executives in a recent survey who said the cost of robots had fallen to levels that make investment in the technology attractive.

SOURCE: ALIX PARTNERS SURVEY

Trucking and logistics giant Schneider National Inc. has launched its long-awaited initial public offering (IPO), selling more than 28. 9 million shares at a price of between $18 and $20 a share. The transaction would value the Green Bay, Wis.-based company at about $3.3 billion.

Schneider “Class B” common shares have been approved for listing on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol “SNDR,” the company said. The date for the start of trading had yet to be determined at press time.

Schneider, the nation’s largest privately held trucking company, announced last October that it would go public in 2017, as long as market conditions were favorable. For its first 67 years, Schneider was run by founder Al Schneider and then his son, Don. Don Schneider retired in 2002 as chairman and CEO, handing over both positions to Christopher B. Lofgren. Lofgren still heads Schneider. Don Schneider died in 2012.

In its October announcement, Schneider said the IPO’s objectives would be to “facilitate continuity of controlling ownership of Schneider” for future generations and to “maintain and further investments in its long-term positioning.”