O2 reduces PoS waste and cuts costs with new merchandise display system

O2 has reduced PoS waste by 20%, saved £500,000 in printing costs and around 17,000KG of CO2 by reducing deliveries of materials to stores after implementing a merchandise display system across its estate.

The system, called O2 display and developed in partnership with software provider RBM Technologies, allows the retailer to send the right amount of PoS materials to each store at the right time. Store staff can also use the system to see where each piece should be placed in store.

Before the system was rolled out from February to May this year, merchandising was done manually using excel and paper merchandising guides. A spokesman for O2 explained that sending incorrect PoS to stores cost it money, wasted store staff time as they worked out what went where and store staff decided for themselves what they thought should be displayed rather than what they were told centrally by head office.

Under the old system orders for PoS, fixtures and dummy handsets were made separately and sent separately. Under the new system, the ordering for all of these is brought together and sent out together, reducing the number of different deliveries made to stores and saving CO2.

O2 can track the amount of leaflets taken away by each customer for particular handsets, track the position of these handsets in store and measure sales data against each handset and the position using the system. It then helps O2 to identify hot spots in stores where its customers focus.

O2 Retail general manager Richard Baylis said: “The system is good for our stores because it saves staff time and makes their jobs easier. It’s good for O2 because it saves us money and allows us to better plan and manage campaigns.”