HOLTSVILLE, N.Y. -- Radio frequency networks will soon become the backbone for communications throughout the supermarket industry. Everything from produce scales to kiosks will run on the same wireless network so that any device can be moved at will, depending on customer traffic and staffing. That is the not-too-distant future as envisioned by officials at Symbol Technologies, based here.
"There are really two major issues in the supermarket business today: building loyalty and electronic marketing," Frank Riso, director of advanced product marketing for the vendor, said in an interview with SN. "Radio frequency technology can help the retailer achieve those goals," he said.
Symbol has moved in the past several years from a scanner company to a "radio frequency solutions provider," according to Riso. "Any device can be put into the store and hooked onto an RF backbone, and we want to provide the technology to extend the wireless network," he said. "We've moved from a scanner company to a systems provider of RF technology. Our RF pipeline has moved into the warehouse and onto the trucks bringing goods to the store. Moving to the other end of the supply chain, we've got palm pilots with scanners in the home," he said.
Symbol's repositioning is paying off. For the nine months ended Sept. 30, 1999, revenues rose 17% to $826.8 million. Net earnings rose 22% to $82.9 million. Revenues reflect increased sales of scanner products and scanner-integrated application-specific mobile-computer systems.
"We're developing all sorts of avenues for RF technology," said Dwight Ogletree, Symbol's director food and drug sales. "It opens up a multitude of application solutions that weren't there five years ago."
One of the latest applications uses a network device that integrates voice communications and a bar-code scanner that operates over a wireless LAN. Users can place and receive calls over the wireless network. They can also use the hand-held device, which looks likes an ordinary cell phone, in bar-code applications such as shelf price audit or price check.
"We used to talk about combining these things -- computer, radio, scanner and phone -- into one tool for the retail store staff. Now, we're seeing the beginnings of that excitement," Riso said.
Produce scales are also on the move with help from RF technology, Symbol officials noted. "We're beginning to see retailers put in self-service scales," Riso noted, using RF technology to communicate with the front-end systems. He also said it provides flexibility to take a scale from one area of the store and move it to another if one is broken.
The kiosk is another device that could "ride" on the wireless RF backbone in the near future, Riso said. "The kiosk is not a device that is normally thought of as wireless, but by adding a card it could become wireless and connect through the RF backbone. If the kiosk is not getting good play in one area, the retailer could move it to another location where it might attract more traffic," he said. "The same could be done with customer-activated price checkers using RF technology. A report might show that customers aren't using it stationed in one location, but it might work better in another area," he said.
The wireless world doesn't stop at the front door of the store, Symbol officials pointed out. The company has been developing, in partnership with Hypercom, Phoenix, a home-shopping device that integrates a scanner with a hand-held computer. Users can scan items as they use the device, adding them to their shopping list. When they're ready to order, the customers can use the hand-held device to add other things to the list and transmit the order.
"It really is all about working with retailers to find the best way to serve customers," Ogletree said. "Whether it is a kiosk or a scale that can be moved to the most convenient location, or taking it outside the store to the customer's home or warehouse, we're looking to improve our current RF technology and add devices no one dreamed of being wireless several years ago."
