Home Improvement Projects Don’t Always Go as Planned, but a Good Craftsman Doesn’t Blame His Tools
Home improvement projects can be frustrating, especially if you have to go from store-to-store to find the right products and supplies. The team at Kesko knows this all too well. Although the company dabbles in auto, grocery, and other goods categories, it’s best known for its home improvement inventory. Kesko supplies home improvement products to 16 department stores in Sweden, with its merchandise distributed from a central warehouse in the southern part of the country.
The company’s main mission is to supply the right products at the right stores based on consumer behavior and need, leaving more time for those DIY projects. To help make this happen, you would think that Kesko would need a ton of market intelligence – a way to get inside customers’ heads. However, company leaders have found that all the knowledge in the world won’t help if you have no way of acting on what you know.
That’s why its own “home improvement” effort has been focused on building an efficient supply chain.
Now, you might think that would require a complete remodel – that Kesko leaders would have to essentially tear everything back to the studs and rebuild with a high-tech, highly automated logistics system design. But believe it or not, all they had to do was add some mobile printers into the mix to get the result they wanted.
True story.
With the help of Zebra Registered Business Partner, Pro ID, the Kesko team has standardized its consignment label printing process with a reliable, high quality and cost-effective mobile printing solution that is akin to a reliable hammer. Kesko’s warehouse associates can now get the right supplies for that pesky project to the right store so you and I can stop wasting time and fuel shopping for supplies and actually start using them.
If you’re a retailer or warehouse operator who would love to be able to increase the efficiency of your stocking, picking, packing or shipping operations – and you really like the idea of a printer being the hero of the story – check out what Kesko project leader Andreas Johansson shares in this story:
European Retail Operator Harmonizes Its Warehouse Operations with Zebra’s Mobile Printers
Mark Thomson
What’s happening in retail? How has the shift in shopping behavior impacted retailers around the world and will robots take over? Mark Thomson’s exploration of the global retail landscape helps retailers gain a focus on what’s real and what works when building a retail strategy in a digital world.
As Director of Retail Industry Solutions at Zebra Technologies, Mr. Thomson works closely with retailers and hospitality businesses to provide input on how to face the challenge of a new digital retail landscape, where customers are often more connected and informed than shop floor staff. Mr. Thomson helps retailers focus on developing a vision for their retail business that aims to improve customer experience and drive business efficiencies.
With over 27 years of customer-focused experience, Mr. Thomson has developed in-depth knowledge of the EMEA and global retail marketplace and regularly speaks at industry events throughout the EMEA region including World Retail Congress, Retail Middle East, RBTE and Euroshop. He has worked closely with retailers on the pain points of modern retail and explains how technology solutions can be an integral part of their business strategy to help them solve their real business challenges from supply chain to store.
Prior to joining Zebra, Mr. Thomson held senior roles in Financial Services and Hospitality businesses.
