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Article: Remote control: retail technology. (using bar code scanners for inventory)
- Article from:
- The Economist (US)
- Article date:
- May 29, 1993
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1993 Economist Newspaper Ltd. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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WHEN George Bush was startled by the sight of a supermarket cashier using a laser to read bar codes, he looked like Rip Van Winkle on Main Street. Bar codes are old hat in retailing. But America's top shops are learning to apply their bar-code data in ways that might surprise a good many customers who shop more often than Mr Bush - and that signal big changes ahead for store managers, as well.
Kmart, one of the country's leading discount-store chains, has its employees scurrying around the aisles with hand-held lasers to zap bar-coded labels on products that are still sitting on the shelf. A display window on the laser gun provides an instant score-card. It shows how ...