Retailer Devices Vs. Consumer Devices

By Frank Riso, principal of Frank Riso Associates

Let’s first define what is meant by retailer devices and consumer devices. Retailer devices are the mobile computers used to communicate data to and from retail applications as well as to communicate by voice between store associates and store customers.  These are the devices sold by companies such as Motorola Solutions, Honeywell and Datalogic.  They are also call rugged devices and that term seems a fit dated.  These retailer devices are now available in two forms of resilience, durable and rugged. 

Rugged devices are still the products used by retailers in their warehouses and in stores where the device would be used all day long and shared among many users.  The more uses for a device the more likely it will get no respect and most likely be dropped, banged or just hit during the day.  Now durable devices are those to be used by one or only a few people and for a full shift so it will be taken better care of by the user.  These devices are being used by managers, sales staff and by supervision.  Without these durable devices they would not be able to do their job or provide service to their customers.

Consumer Devices are the mobile computers used to communicate data to and from applications as well as to communicate between friends and now store associates.  And these devices are sold by such companies as Apple, Lenovo, Samsung, and HTC.  Since these devices are either used by or owned by only one person they are not made to be rugged nor are they made to be even durable.  They are made so that we keep them in our pocket, our purse, or in our hand at all times when not being used.  They are manufactured without any defined form of resilience so they cost a lot less.  Most people owning a consumer device replace it at least once every two years and most likely more often.

If we look at these two types of devices using the definition of how they are used, to communication information between devices and among other users, there does not seem to be any difference between them. Consumer devices have an early advantage in that they cost less than a Retailer durable device.   

Now there are a lot of engineers that have written all kinds of papers about the advantages of these rugged and durable devices versus a consumer device for use in our retail stores. These papers point out a number of technical issues with terms such as CCX, EAP-FAST, EAP SIM, and FIP 140-2, and Cisco IPSEX/L2TP, all of which I do not understand.  Sure I can do more research on all the terms and come to a technical decision as to which device to use in a retail store.

However, I would like to point out some more practical reasons why I think using a consumer device would actually cost a retailer more money over the life of the product.  Most of the data sheets for a durable device indicate that I can drop it from 4 feet to a tile floor multiple times and it will continue to work.  I am not about to drop my smart phone or iPad 4 feet multiple times to see if it keeps working. Besides I already have a small crack on the screen from just one drop a month ago

Doing a weekly price markdown is no fun using the iPad, iPhone or iAnything.   They read the barcodes but too many times it takes a long time to get it to read it and then to decode the barcode.  The durable devices were designed for scanning barcodes all day long and do it fast, I mean really fast.  Now barcodes may not be issues since a lot of apparel retailers are seeing big benefits from RFID tags.  Can an Apple device read RFID tags or will we need to go back to durable devices to read the tags?

Another issue when doing the weekly or in some stores daily markdowns is that it does take a long time and we sometimes run out of battery on the devices.  With a durable device I just change the battery but with the Apple device I have two choices, wait until the device recharges or get a spare device.  Now I have to have two Apple devices to equal the ability of one durable device with a spare battery.  I think a spare battery cost less they a second Apple device or the lost productivity waiting for a device to charge up again.

Now let’s say we do lose or drop our Apple device.  We can always buy another one and be somewhat ahead of the game over the cost of a durable device.  If we are lucky the product we are using has not gone “end of life” and that backwards compatibility for my applications and accessories are ok.  Since most consumer devices are designed to be very competitive in the consumer marketplace it is not likely we can find the exact model still available.  This can also add more cost to our consumer device decision.

So if we consider durability, ergonomics, rechargeable battery, device lifecycle, barcode scanning productivity, application compatibility, accessory ecosystem, iTunes dependability, and multiple user capabilities on the same device, I still think there are a number of cost savings with a durable device.  Then throw in all stuff the engineers talk about and it’s a slam dunk in savings, security, and device management to select durable devices that now cost less to the retailer given a three year lifecycle of the devices.

About The Author

Frank Riso has over fifty years serving the retail industry beginning at store level management.  He started his career at Grand Union Supermarkets, installing Grand Union’s first POS scanning systems.  Frank has worked for Twin County Grocers, a cooperative wholesaler as its Director of Retail Services and for Supermation, an application provider for DSD software as its Vice President of Sales and Marketing until joining Symbol Technologies in 1991. Symbol was acquired by Motorola in 2007 which became Motorola Solutions, Inc (MSI). in 2009.  At MSI, Frank was in charge of their retail industry business, the largest part of MSI’s enterprise business. 

Frank has served the retail industry as an associate member of National Retail National Association of Convenient Stores and the Food Marketing Institute. He was elected to serve on the Associate Member Council for the NRF and he is a past member of the Board of Directors for the International Retail User Group.  In addition to being a noted speaker and author in the field of retail automation he is frequently quoted in RIS News, Retailwire, Chain Store Age, Supermarket News, Grocery Headquarters, Progressive Grocer, Newsday, The Wall Street Journal, and The New York Times.  He was also an adjunct professor at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City in the Global Fashion Management graduate program.

Frank holds an engineering degree in Electrical Technology from Westchester, a BS degree in Marketing from Rutgers and an MS degree in the Management of Technology and Innovation for Retail from NYU Polytechnic University and has 5 U.S. Patents regarding the use of portable data devices in retail.

As a principal of Frank Riso Associates, Frank creates successful implementations of in store solutions for retailers and for solution providers.  His proven methodology has succeeded in the implementation of solutions in all segments of the industry.  It ensures for retailers that a solution has significant returns for their stores and for solution providers the steps to ensure a full roll out of the solution.  For retailers, Riso can ensure the lowest cost for implementation and for solution partners the maximum revenue for each project.