Retail: “Quality and Convenience” - How OKI Printers Deliver Satisfaction On-Demand at Borders
In the current economic climate, retailers are increasingly focused on finding innovative ways of enticing customers to spend money with them. This thirst for innovation is one of the key factors fuelling interest in and take-up of on-demand retail solutions - where products are created in-store while the customer waits.
Underlining the vast potential of this rapidly-growing market sector, leading analyst Screen Digest predicts that consumers will spend $1.1 billion by 2012 just on buying DVDs manufactured on demand (MOD) in stores and online in the U.S. and Europe.
Software solution provider and digital rights manager, Tribeka is one of the driving forces behind this success. Its SoftWide® platform is the world's only solution for the electronic delivery and on-site manufacturing of retail software and entertainment products through the existing retail channel.
Tribeka's unique in-store system replicates CDs and DVDs and prints factory-quality manuals in an industry-standard DVD-style box within a few minutes, using the high-quality OKI C5950 colour laser printers. The end product received by the customer is identical in quality to a conventional retail version.
Key Role of OKI
Retailers gain access to a broad range of benefits from using SoftWide. By allowing the retailer to buy the software licence and then
burning the software to disk, it removes the physical and logistical problem of having to stock a vast range of software on site while
at the same time ensuring that the shop is able to make available a much broader range of catalogue stock to the customer than before.
From the customer’s perspective, breadth of availability is a key benefit but so too is the speed and convenience of the whole ‘shopping’
experience and the quality of the final product.
The need to support these critical customer requirements was an important element in Tribeka’s choice of the OKI C5950 devices as an integral part of the SoftWide system. As Tribeka’s chief operating officer, Stephen Precious explains: “the primary reasons for choosing the OKI C5950 were the solution’s print quality – its precise use of colour, in particular - and its speed.
As Precious states: “To satisfy the publishers with whom we are working we need to ensure that manuals printed with the software are an exact replica of the pre-printed traditional retail versions – right down to the intricacies of the design and the precise colour shading.
“Not only can the OKI printers deliver this kind of quality, critically they are also fast enough to print off the product manuals while the customer waits. Speed is a critical attribute of the SoftWide system. As soon as a customer makes a purchase, the system has to spring into action and the OKI devices have to be quick enough to keep pace with this whole process.”
Precious adds: “Another key quality of the printers is reliability. OKI has always provided us with excellent service and support. On the rare occasions where we have had a problem, OKI has been able to resolve it quickly.
Groundbreaking Borders Deal
OKI’s high-quality printing solutions are playing an important part in a recent landmark project that Tribeka
is carrying out with leading book retailer, Borders, setting up what is believed to be the world's first on-demand retail store.
A dedicated area has been created on the second floor of the Borders’ Oxford Street store, carrying over 1,600 titles in 400 square
feet of retail space. This area, which is operated by Tribeka and manned by its staff, offers DVD and CD software on demand from a range
of publishers including Britannica, Cyberlink, McAfee, Microsoft, Roxio and Sage.
How it Works
The in-store manufacturing process at Borders is straightforward. Customers choose items from either an online
e-catalogue or from a printed version available in store. As soon as they have made their choice and purchased a product, the
SoftWide system automatically obtains authorisation from Tribeka’s control centre via a secured license release before starting
an on-site replication of the product. The software is then pressed onto a disc and the entire process, including the printing
of a user manual and colour inlay, is completed within a couple of minutes.
The end product from the customer perspective is exactly as if it is has been bought off the shelf with no discernable difference in
quality. The pamphlet is fed into the case as is the disk and from the customer’s perspective it is like having something that is
manufactured absolutely normally.
Focus on Printing
The use of two OKI C5950 devices as part of the overall system not only provides redundancy but also enhances
productivity at busy times, enabling two software orders to be processed simultaneously. Customers standing at the cash tills
can view the SoftWide system including the OKI printers in action.
As Alison Padmore, manager of the Tribeka area, comments, “Seeing software made on site in this way is a new experience for many customers. They are typically very impressed when they see it working.
“The printers have also been very reliable,” adds Padmore. “They are so easy to use. If there is a problem, it can usually be resolved quickly and with minimum disruption.
“They are also versatile. We can use the printers to output admin-related jobs and sales and marketing work including promotions and sales incentives, for example,” she continues. “Print quality is key here also. And in this respect too, the OKI devices have never let us down.”
Looking Positive
In-store manufacturing solutions like that delivered by Tribeka at Borders have the potential to revolutionise the
retail experience. They can help to eliminate the need for holding stock and get rid of associated problems like unsold or obsolete
products, out-of-stock situations and the need for inventory. It also means that there are no distribution delays and minimal distribution costs.
For these solutions to be a long-term success, however, they must also deliver the optimum customer experience in terms of efficiency and convenience. Tribeka’s SoftWide solution is capable of delivering these benefits.
However, the solution must have access
to printing quality, reliability and speed in order to deliver the full spectrum of benefits that retailers and
customers are looking for. The OKI C5950 provides these benefits at Borders, and its use as part of Tribeka’s Softwide,
demonstrates just what can be achieved by retailers in implementing an on-demand software solution.