JD Sports boosts agility with mobile printers

Sports retailer JD Sports has freed its staff to spend more time with customers after installing mobile label printers throughout its 360 stores.

The printer system from speciality printing supplier Zebra has allowed JD Sports to overcome difficulties caused by incompatible stock information systems, which meant that staff had to hand-write ticket labels for some products.

"The printers mean we can react to seasonal demands and ensure that special offers have a big impact. Staff can deal with customer queries on the shop floor rather than go to and from the stock room checking for available sizes," said Shaun Armstrong, IT project manager at JD Sports.

The printers, which use wireless links to connect to JD Sport's stock control systems, allow staff to produce price labels, shelf labels and identification labels.

The system also helps provide greater visibility of stock across JD Sports' supply chain. The printer scans stock items and updates stock levels at head office, which can then assess product availability at stores across the chain.