Transform retail operations with Zebra’s retail technology solutions, featuring hardware and software for improving inventory management and empowering teams.
Streamline operations with Zebra’s grocery technology solutions, featuring hardware and software for improving retail shelf management, ordering and replenishment.
Enhance e-commerce operations with Zebra’s real-time inventory and automated workflows. Ensure accurate fulfillment, efficient returns, and seamless service.
Zebra’s technology solutions for department stores and specialty stores, feature hardware and software for retail management and workforce management.
Zebra’s omnichannel fulfillment technology solutions, feature hardware and software for timely order processing across channels and unified customer experience.
Zebra’s retail inventory management solutions, feature hardware, software and supplies for optimizing inventory management and demand forecasting.
Enhance transactions with Zebra’s POS technology solutions, featuring hardware, software and supplies for optimizing the checkout experience.
Zebra’s customer experience technology solutions, feature hardware and software for delivering personalized retail experiences and self-service capabilities.
Safeguard profits with Zebra’s retail loss prevention technology solutions, featuring hardware and software for enhancing security and product movement visibility.
Zebra’s associate engagement technology solutions, feature hardware and software for shift scheduling, task management, and team communications.
Streamline operations with Zebra’s healthcare technology solutions, featuring hardware and software to improve staff collaboration and optimize workflows.
Zebra’s hospital technology solutions, feature hardware and software for automating health system processes, reducing errors, and ensuring compliance.
Zebra’s patient registration technology solutions, featuring hardware, software, wristbands, and supplies improve patient identification for safer registration.
Optimize critical assets with Zebra’s healthcare asset tracking technology solutions, featuring hardware and software for ensuring equipment readiness.
Improve decision-making with Zebra’s Health Information Technology solutions, featuring hardware and software for enabling secure communication and data access.
Reduce lab errors with Zebra’s sample identification technology solutions, featuring hardware, software, labels, and supplies for accurate sample and specimen labeling.
Improve pharmacy workflows with Zebra’s pharmacy automation technology solutions, featuring hardware, software, labels, and supplies to reduce medication errors.
Zebra’s point-of-care solutions, feature hardware, software, and supplies for mobile access to critical information, patient ID, specimen collection and labeling.
Enhance processes with Zebra’s manufacturing technology solutions, featuring hardware and software for automation, data analysis, and factory connectivity.
Streamline operations with Zebra’s automotive manufacturing technology solutions, featuring hardware and software for reducing downtime and improving processes.
Optimize processes, assembly and supply chain efficiency with Zebra’s electronics manufacturing technology solutions, featuring hardware and software.
Boost production with Zebra’s food and beverage manufacturing technology solutions, featuring hardware and software for compliance and quality monitoring.
Achieve excellence with proactive quality management. Use Zebra’s solutions for precise root cause analysis and quality assurance.
Achieve seamless production with Zebra’s manufacturing WIP solutions, featuring hardware and software for tracking products and spotting bottlenecks early.
Ensure efficiency with Zebra’s material handling technology solutions, featuring hardware and software for automating systems to prevent delays.
Optimize operations and gain inventory and shipment data with Zebra’s supply chain visibility technology solutions, featuring hardware and software.
Boost performance with smart digital solutions. Equip your team with Zebra’s AI-powered tools for real-time guidance and efficient workflows.
Drive efficiency with Zebra’s unified communications solutions, featuring hardware and software for connecting teams for seamless operations.
Achieve excellence with Zebra’s proactive quality management solutions, featuring hardware and software for supporting root cause analysis and assurance.
Gain transparency with Zebra’s manufacturing traceability solutions, featuring hardware and software for tracking products for compliance and quality control.
Prevent downtime with Zebra’s manufacturing asset tracking solutions, featuring hardware and software for efficiently locating equipment and materials.
Zebra’s transportation and logistics technology solutions feature hardware and software for enhancing route planning, visibility, and automating processes.
Protect products with Zebra’s cold chain logistics technology solutions, featuring hardware and software for accurate tracking, monitoring and data logging.
Enhance operations with Zebra’s post and courier technology solutions, featuring hardware and software for package tracking, proof of delivery, and more.
Zebra’s warehousing and distribution technology solutions, feature hardware and software for inventory tracking, order fulfillment, and warehouse automation.
Ensure accuracy with Zebra’s proof of delivery technology solutions, featuring hardware and software for capturing delivery data efficiently.
Improve efficiency with Zebra’s cross docking technology solutions, featuring hardware and software for real-time tracking and automating scanning and labeling.
Zebra’s order processing technology solutions, feature hardware and software for shipping optimization, order tracking, data analysis and better inventory control.
Zebra’s warehouse inventory management solutions, feature hardware and software for inventory tracking, space utilization, and data-driven insights.
Zebra’s inbound logistics technology solutions, feature hardware and software for inventory management, order fulfillment, and better visibility of shipments.
Zebra’s reverse logistics technology solutions, featuring hardware and software for better visibility and streamlining receiving, sorting, and managing returns.
Enhance deliveries with Zebra’s outbound logistics technology solutions, featuring hardware and software for ensuring timely, precise shipments.
Zebra’s warehouse asset management technology solutions, featuring hardware and software for improved visibility and control of asset movements.
Learn how Zebra's public sector technology solutions empower state and local governments to improve efficiency with asset tracking and data capture devices.
Zebra’s printing, scanning and tracking technologies for public sector healthcare help ensure delivery of the best possible care for optimal health outcomes.
Zebra’s law enforcement and first responder technologies – scanners, tablets and mobile computers – give you real-time, accurate situational awareness.
Zebra’s asset tracking and data capture technologies empower federal civilian agencies to operate more efficiently and effectively.
Zebra’s printing, scanning and mobile computer technology gives state and local government agencies the tools to provide services quickly and efficiently, making the best use of resources.
Zebra’s military and Department of Defense (DoD) barcode printing and asset tracking technologies increase visibility into assets, personnel and equipment, for faster, more efficient and secure operations.
Create a safe and secure environment on campus with Zebra’s ID printing and tracking solutions.
With Zebra's law enforcement technology solutions, you can answer the call of duty with greater confidence. Spend more time protecting the public and less time doing paperwork.
Track your teams, equipment and vitals, so you're better prepared, better protected and better informed at the fire station and at the scene.
Let Zebra show you how our transformative emergency response technology can be your best ally in serving the public.
Zebra’s asset management devices for local and federal government enable agencies to track and manage total asset inventories.
Zebra’s identity management technologies for government include secure ID card printing, mobile fingerprint collection, document scanning, CAC card verification, personnel validation and more.
Zebra’s inspection and code enforcement technology provides fast accurate options for ensuring compliance.
Zebra’s disaster and emergency management mobile technologies allow for real-time communication for onsite assessment, asset tracking and identification, and inventory control.
Zebra’s mobile logistics solutions for military supply chains keep operations moving smoothly around the clock.
Manage the inventory of your military commissary and exchange service with Zebra’s practical and rugged inventory management printers and scanners.
Zebra’s MRO solutions enable personnel to access work orders and maintenance histories, track parts and inventories, and complete necessary documents.
Deliver the right human services, when and where they’re needed, quickly, efficiently and accurately.
Zebra’s electronic citation (E-citation) solutions provide enforcement officers with fast, accurate options for electronic ticketing.
Zebra’s ID card printers and scanners allow for high volume license printing and processing of drivers, marriage, insurance and wildlife licenses.
Zebra’s Communications & Collaboration solutions enable a safer, more informed field workforce, for both routine operations and emergency response.
Zebra’s situational awareness solutions for public safety include an array of purpose-built mobile computers, rugged tablets, visibility and support services enable a fully customized solution for your agency’s needs.
Zebra's hospitality technology solutions equip your hotel and restaurant staff to deliver superior customer and guest service through inventory tracking and more.
With Zebra's Hospitality Communication Solutions, you can enable real-time communications for your hospitality staff with mobile computers and smartphone devices.
Zebra's card printing solutions allows for fast, on-demand printing of room access keys, VIP badges, loyalty, membership and gift cards
Keep track and stay prepared by monitoring and tracking inventory and asset locations with Zebra's restaurant and hotel inventory management solutions.
Zebra provides food label solutions for restaurants, hotels and more. Our labels meet local regulations for direct and indirect food contact.
Zebra's restaurant mobile POS and ordering devices can increase your restaurant sales, enhance server productivity, and increase guest satisfaction.
Zebra's food safety hardware and software keep your guests safe and enable you to automate food safety procedures, reducing the odds of spreading food-borne illness.
Zebra's QSR software can enable you to increase inventory counts, scan guest loyalty apps, decrease wait times and increase customer satisfaction.
Zebra's market-leading solutions and products improve customer satisfaction with a lower cost per interaction by keeping service representatives connected with colleagues, customers, management and the tools they use to satisfy customers across the supply chain.
Enable field workers to perform pre-sales, sales, route accounting activities and more effectively interact with customers.
Instant access to technical specs and inventory helps improve customer satisfaction.
Mobile computers and printers ensure accurate chain of custody handoff during pick-up and delivery.
Empower your field workers with purpose-driven mobile technology solutions to help them capture and share critical data in any environment.
Zebra's mobile computing portfolio is designed to help utility companies improvement the management and lifecycle of their assets.
Zebra's mobile devices enable your entire staff, from call center representatives to field technicians, to deliver enhanced customer service through the use of mobile technology.
Zebra's rugged mobile technology solutions provide the field dispatch and routing tools needed to accelerate in-field operations. Learn More.
From first call through incident investigation, Zebra ruggedized mobile solutions enable emergency response personnel to serve public safety and utilities industries more effectively with industry-leading mobility strategies.
Zebra's rugged mobile devices provide your field teams and contractors with complete situational awareness to meet customer service needs.
Zebra's mobile computing solutions provide utilities companies with the tools needed for advanced GIS asset mapping of in-field infrastructure.
Zebra's mobile computing portfolio features tools to help you upgrade processes such as digitizing record inspections to speed up efficiencies. Learn More.
Zebra's mobile computing solutions specialize in the real-time, data-powered mobile workflows to help utility companies with inventory management. Learn more.
Zebra's rugged HazLoc mobile devices help optimize your critical operations with safety as a top priority. Learn More.
Zebras field-certified rugged mobile devices connect oil and gas field workers to real-time critical data. Learn More.
Zebra's mobile technology solutions enable your operators to get real-time remote asset monitoring across your operations. Learn More.
Zebra's rugged mobile computing solutions enable your staff to plan, schedule and complete maintenance and repairs in any environment. Learn More.
Drive successful telecom management with mobile devices designed to meet the demands of public safety and customer service.
Zebra's data-powered mobile technology solutions help you to generate efficiencies across your field service operation in the water industry. Learn More.
Zebra's mobile work order management technology allows you to leverage your existing systems to your operations perform at their very best. Learn More.
Zebra's range of Banking technology solutions enables banks to minimize costs and to increase revenue throughout their branch network. Learn more.
Zebra's range of mobile computers equip your workforce with the devices they need from handhelds and tablets to wearables and vehicle-mounted computers.
Zebra's desktop, mobile, industrial, and portable printers for barcode labels, receipts, RFID tags and cards give you smarter ways to track and manage assets.
Zebra's 1D and 2D corded and cordless barcode scanners anticipate any scanning challenge in a variety of environments, whether retail, healthcare, T&L or manufacturing.
Zebra's extensive range of RAIN RFID readers, antennas, and printers give you consistent and accurate tracking.
Choose Zebra's reliable barcode, RFID and card supplies carefully selected to ensure high performance, print quality, durability and readability.
Zebra's location technologies provide real-time tracking for your organization to better manage and optimize your critical assets and create more efficient workflows.
Zebra's rugged tablets and 2-in-1 laptops are thin and lightweight, yet rugged to work wherever you do on familiar and easy-to-use Windows or Android OS.
With Zebra's family of fixed industrial scanners and machine vision technologies, you can tailor your solutions to your environment and applications.
Zebra’s line of kiosks can meet any self-service or digital signage need, from checking prices and stock on an in-aisle store kiosk to fully-featured kiosks that can be deployed on the wall, counter, desktop or floor in a retail store, hotel, airport check-in gate, physician’s office, local government office and more.
Discover Zebra’s range of accessories from chargers, communication cables to cases to help you customize your mobile device for optimal efficiency.
Zebra's environmental sensors monitor temperature-sensitive products, offering data insights on environmental conditions across industry applications.
Enhance frontline operations with Zebra’s AI software solutions, which optimize workflows, streamline processes, and simplify tasks for improved business outcomes.
Keep labor costs low, your talent happy and your organization compliant. Create an agile operation that can navigate unexpected schedule changes and customer demand to drive sales, satisfy customers and improve your bottom line.
Empower the front line with prioritized task notification and enhanced communication capabilities for easier collaboration and more efficient task execution.
Get full visibility of your inventory and automatically pinpoint leaks across all channels.
Reduce uncertainty when you anticipate market volatility. Predict, plan and stay agile to align inventory with shifting demand.
Drive down costs while driving up employee, security, and network performance with software designed to enhance Zebra's wireless infrastructure and mobile solutions.
Explore Zebra’s printer software to integrate, manage and monitor printers easily, maximizing IT resources and minimizing down time.
Make the most of every stage of your scanning journey from deployment to optimization. Zebra's barcode scanner software lets you keep devices current and adapt them to your business needs for a stronger ROI across the full lifecycle.
RFID development, demonstration and production software and utilities help you build and manage your RFID deployments more efficiently.
RFID development, demonstration and production software and utilities help you build and manage your RFID deployments more efficiently.
Zebra DNA is the industry’s broadest suite of enterprise software that delivers an ideal experience for all during the entire lifetime of every Zebra device.
Advance your digital transformation and execute your strategic plans with the help of the right location and tracking technology.
Boost warehouse and manufacturing operations with Symmetry, an AMR software for fleet management of Autonomous Mobile Robots and streamlined automation workflows.
The Zebra Aurora suite of machine vision software enables users to solve their track-and-trace, vision inspection and industrial automation needs.
Zebra Aurora Focus brings a new level of simplicity to controlling enterprise-wide manufacturing and logistics automation solutions. With this powerful interface, it’s easy to set up, deploy and run Zebra’s Fixed Industrial Scanners and Machine Vision Smart Cameras, eliminating the need for different tools and reducing training and deployment time.
Aurora Imaging Library™, formerly Matrox Imaging Library, machine-vision software development kit (SDK) has a deep collection of tools for image capture, processing, analysis, annotation, display, and archiving. Code-level customization starts here.
Aurora Design Assistant™, formerly Matrox Design Assistant, integrated development environment (IDE) is a flowchart-based platform for building machine vision applications, with templates to speed up development and bring solutions online quicker.
Designed for experienced programmers proficient in vision applications, Aurora Vision Library provides the same sophisticated functionality as our Aurora Vision Studio software but presented in programming language.
Aurora Vision Studio, an image processing software for machine & computer vision engineers, allows quick creation, integration & monitoring of powerful OEM vision applications.
Adding innovative tech is critical to your success, but it can be complex and disruptive. Professional Services help you accelerate adoption, and maximize productivity without affecting your workflows, business processes and finances.
Zebra's Managed Service delivers worry-free device management to ensure ultimate uptime for your Zebra Mobile Computers and Printers via dedicated experts.
Find ways you can contact Zebra Technologies’ Support, including Email and Chat, ask a technical question or initiate a Repair Request.
Zebra's Circular Economy Program helps you manage today’s challenges and plan for tomorrow with smart solutions that are good for your budget and the environment.
The Zebra Knowledge Center provides learning expertise that can be tailored to meet the specific needs of your environment.
Zebra has a wide variety of courses to train you and your staff, ranging from scheduled sessions to remote offerings as well as custom tailored to your specific needs.
Build your reputation with Zebra's certification offerings. Zebra offers a variety of options that can help you progress your career path forward.
Build your reputation with Zebra's certification offerings. Zebra offers a variety of options that can help you progress your career path forward.
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According to Zebra’s 2020 Shoppers Study, the majority (77 percent) of retail executives believe customers are happy with the personalized in-store services they provide today. The truth is that only 57% of shoppers are actually satisfied. That’s quite a sizeable perception gap and one that retailers must fix if they want to increase footfall and sales in their stores.
While most people (57%) still make more purchases in store than online*, that trend isn’t going to continue for long. Based on current consumer feedback, only 46% will still shop more in physical stores than online five years from now. (*These stats were based on a study conducted in late 2019. We suspect this timeline has been accelerated due to the COVID-19 outbreak and consumers’ continued preference to physically distance themselves from others.)
But that doesn’t mean that the traditional retail model is dead or even dying. eCommerce didn’t make brick-and-mortar stores obsolete, as headlines would suggest. Sixty-four (64%) of retailers opened new stores in 2019. And eCommerce retailers, including digitally-native stores, are actually sending their customers into brick-and-mortar locations for “buy online, pickup in store” (BOPIS) transactions and online returns. (*This remains true even today, despite the economic challenges posed by COVID-19 on many non-essential retailers.)
Retailers have not been forced to abandon the operating principles that have sustained storefronts for so many decades, either. At least not completely.
As I explained to Therese Van Ryne in a recent sit-down, the convenience of online shopping has simply compelled retailers to simply fashion new customer experiences and strive for operating efficiency and inventory efficiency standards that will appease 21st century shoppers who expect instant gratification – whether in the form of information, products or services.
If retailers want to win and retain shoppers in these competitive times, they must modernize their stores and supply chains. However, it can be difficult to determine which technologies truly give retailers the ability to sense what is happening in their operations or in the market and analyze why it is happening. And without the right technologies in place, it is nearly impossible to know how to “act” in real time to resolve issues that could negatively impact a shopper’s in-store experience – such as a misplaced item that could look like an out-of-stock – or take advantage of an opportunity to increase basket size.
At the same time, it can be hard to know if technology is benefitting or hindering shoppers’ in-store experiences.
That is one of the reasons why retailers and technology solution providers have been participating in concept stores such as the Modern Retail Collective at Mall of America or conducting their own in-store pilots for the past couple of years. They need a real, flexible environment in which to test new technologies such as RFID locationing systems, automation solutions and mobility platforms to learn which ones actually improve the in-store shopping experience for customers prior to implementing at scale.
For example, will “eye in the sky” track-and-trace systems improve real-time inventory management and, specifically, replenishment actions? And how effective could that same system be in helping a retailer understand which items have been tried and purchased versus those that have been left in a dressing room or put back on the shelf. (*Or even monitor employees’ proximity with one another or with customers?)
Some may just want to know if the investments they’re making in new mobile computers at the point of sale and workflow software in stockrooms are enough to gain the intelligence they need to better serve customers. Or if they need to integrate additional layers of “intelligent” technologies – such as an Internet of Things (IoT) platform, a prescriptive analytics solution or even artificial intelligence (AI) – to make those devices, and the workers using them, as smart as they need to be in today’s retail environment. And just how much could an intelligent automation solution improve the in-store experience for shoppers? Could a robot-like device roaming the aisles checking inventory levels and planogram compliance via computer vision technology really prevent out-of-stocks and, therefore, shopper walkouts? Could inventory management be as simple as installing AI-powered shelf cameras to better monitor stock levels? (*This is something that could also assist with social distancing efforts in stores by minimizing the number of associates walking the floor to check shelf status. Associates could be dispatched to very targeted shelf locations with the correct items and quantities only when out-of-stocks are confirmed. This would minimize contacts and, just as importantly, prolonged contacts with customers.)
Though some of these questions have yet to be answered in full, I believe we’ll have a better idea of technological impacts in the very near future as (stores begin to re-open and) the results of these pilot programs start to roll in. As you can see in this report, there were already several revelations in the first wave of the Modern Retail Collective that took place in late 2019 about what technology does (or doesn’t) improve shoppers’ in-store experiences.
For example, we learned that half of shoppers (50%) enjoy self-service options and often prefer to be left alone while in store. (*I suspect this is going to only increase now that COVID-19 requires enhanced physical distancing efforts.) However, value was found “in small nudges upfront to explain or show the technology.” Another 45% of shoppers “wanted to be shown what to do, and then checked in on over the course of their tech interaction. Most of the time, they would pull the store associate in only when they had questions.” Then, there was a small group (5%) of customers who “wanted and needed store associate assistance throughout their entire tech journey.” These aren’t preferences that store associates may have otherwise been clued into if it weren’t for the formal surveys conducted. (*Such assistance will remain necessary in the short term until shoppers become more accustomed to new in-store technologies designed to make them more self-sufficient and aid with social distancing.)
As I explained to Therese, both myself and Zebra CEO Anders Gustafsson as well as some of Zebra’s customers recently had our own “aha” moments about what works and what doesn’t for shoppers in a perfect world. Watch this:
Retailers must move from “systems of record” to “systems of reality” – and they need to move fast – if they want to sustain the success of their physical stores in a digitally empowered economy. Only those with a certain level of operational intelligence and agile execution will be able to adapt to changing market dynamics in real time and meet customer expectations every time they walk in the store. The good news is that most retailers are well on their way to becoming truly “intelligent enterprises” per Zebra’s 2019 Intelligent Enterprise Index.
However, technology isn’t enough.
As we were reminded during the first wave of the Modern Retail Collective, “a holistic set of changes in store is needed to support the technology” if retailers want to get the maximum return on their investments.
Processes must be re-engineered and associates trained to strike the right balance between technology utilization and human engagement so that technology doesn’t become a deterrent. (Remember, technology is not replacing store associates. It is enabling them to become more effective brand ambassadors while simultaneously empowering shoppers to become as self-sufficient as they want.)
Merchandising strategies must also change to accommodate the natural customer flow within stores and evolving shopper interests which, of course, are derived from technology-delivered data. Even more, performance metrics must evolve to better align with shopper expectations and behaviors and ultimately become actionable. The simple key performance indicators (KPIs) that worked five years ago may no longer give the complete view of “success.” (*Even KPIs that were used five months ago may need to evolve due to COVID-19 impacts.)
As McKinsey notes in its report, “a broader set of input and output metrics need to be tracked to truly measure the omni-channel journey. Associates should appreciate their impact on the customers’ omni shopping journeys and help drive the specific and measurable commitment actions in store.”
While we may not be able to say for certain yet what the store of the future will look like, I’m confident that it will be equipped with a combination of mobile, RFID, analytics and intelligent automation solutions that enable retailers to see what is happening at any given moment across their operations, understand why it’s happening and know exactly what to do about it. Store associates will no longer be left guessing about whether or not their actions are helping or hurting customers’ in-store experiences, and customers will no longer leave a store feeling unsatisfied.
Jeff Schmitz became Chief People Officer in March 2023. He has more than 30 years of experience in technology, engineering and marketing, and he joined Zebra Technologies in 2016.
In his previous role as Chief Marketing Officer, Jeff launched Zebra’s award-winning PartnerConnect program and led the company’s first major brand refresh. In 2020, Jeff also took on the role of Chief Human Resources Officer. As CMO/CHRO, he focused on attracting, retaining and developing top talent and creating opportunities for growth and development within Zebra’s inclusive culture and diverse workforce, and he continues to focus on these areas today as Chief People Officer.
Prior to joining Zebra, Jeff served as General Manager and held other leadership roles at Spirent Communications, Visual Networks and Tellabs. He has a master’s degree in computer science from the Illinois Institute of Technology and a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering and computer science from Marquette University. In addition, he is the executive sponsor of Edge, Zebra’s Millennial and Gen Z Employee Resource Group.
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