The Camera Doesn't Lie

Let's go to the videotape. That's what executives from Bath & Body Works, a division of The Limited, Columbus, Ohio, did when they wanted to move customers through the checkout faster at its high-transaction stores.

A video camera was used to tape the speed of the chain's old IBM 4680 POS system and a new Windows-NT unit featuring price codes and intuitive keyboards. The result: The new system was 50% faster, prompting the chain to develop a three-year plan to install it at all stores.

"Any vendor can talk about efficiencies its products offer, but viewing videotapes of our stores using the technology was very telling," says Ken Montera, executive vice president of stores, Bath & Body Works. The chain consists of more than 1,200 stores, including 83 stores under a new brand, White Barn Candle Company, which features home fragrance and décor items.

For its innovative use of video technology to improve its front-end efficiency, Bath & Body Works received Stores of the Year recognition.

The problem with the chain's legacy system was that it was unable to support multiple promotions the brand refers to as "deal pricing." "Our systems were not customized enough to keep up with our brand, and many packages available did not allow for our complicated pricing structure," says Sharon Leite, director of store operations for Bath & Body Works. "We needed something that would help us build future relationships with our customers."

Associates would sort products by promotion—a time-consuming process that slowed the checkout experience and led to errors as items were often rung up incorrectly. "By putting price coding into our new POS, we're scanning products correctly and that speeds up the transaction, and eliminates the chance for errors," says Leite. "Our new system offers more control at the POS."

Prompting associates: Bath & Body Works is implementing an open NT-based POS system from NCR, Dayton, Ohio, that uses software from RCS. The units feature a graphical user interface (GUI), and NCR's intuitive DynaKey keyboard to prompt users through transactions.

"The system functions similar to an ATM, prompting associates to the proper options throughout the transaction," says Jeannine Ralston, vice president store systems for Limited Technology Services. "We found as new associates trained on the new units, ramp up time was greatly reduced," taking as little as a half-hour to grasp the new system, compared to the previous two- and three-hour training time.

The chain is also running back office applications from Park City Group, Park City, Utah, a reporting application from RCS, and a remote polling package from Sterling Commerce, Dallas.

"We didn't think that a 'one-size-fits-all' solution off-the-shelf would suit our needs," says Montera. "Instead, we opted for best practices and sharing between vendors. The result is a smart system that classifies the correct deal upon checkout, improves our accuracy and average unit retail and speeds up the transaction."

By using DynaKey and integrated pricing, stores outfitted with the new POS system are increasing transaction speed between 25% and 50%, Montera reports.

The chain began rolling out the technology to stores in late 1998, and currently a third of the chain is outfitted with the new POS and back office systems. Approximately 500 stores were retrofitted in 1999, and 600 additional stores are being considered for implementation by this holiday season. The balance of stores will be reviewed for implementation beyond 2000. Bath & Body Works plans to complete the rollout by spring 2001, Leite says.

Additional applications, like automated labor scheduling, will be integrated into the new POS units this year. "We will be able to monitor who our most qualified associates are and keep the right people in the stores at the right times," says Montera. A radio frequency-based (RF) inventory management system that will communicate data both up and down from stores to the corporate office is also slated for testing this year, he says.—Deena M. Amato-McCoy