Ethereal Arts revamps tracking Retail Sales
Business Situation
Ethereal Arts is a karate school located
in Maynard, MA. Founded in
1996, the school today has eight
employees. Recently, the school
added a small pro shop, selling
items such as martial arts embroidery
products, uniforms, and belts.
The pro shop is at the front of the
building; the Windows PC running the
ChampionsWay Martial Arts School
(MAS) simulated cash register software is at the back of the building.
MAS does come with a scanner that
can be used with the barcoded student
ID cards it generates—but that
scanner is tethered to the computer
via a parallel cable, so there was no
way it could be used in the pro shop.
“After a week or two of running back
and forth between the pro shop and
back office, I knew there had to be
a better way, so I went looking for a
portable scanning solution,” says Eric
Frost, Ethereal Arts founder. Price
was an important consideration, so
he rejected the $500 portable scanner
available from other online suppliers.
Business Solution
After extensive Internet research, Frost
found the MicroVision ROV Scanner with USB cable, available for less than
$200. “As soon as I found it, I knew that
was the one I wanted,” says Frost. “The
price was right, and the small, compact
size made it really convenient to use.”
Now, when a student purchases pro
shop products, Frost uses the ROV
Scanner to scan the UPC codes for
all items being purchased. He then
goes to the PC, selects the student
in the MAS software, and clicks on
the Store tab, causing the software to
bring up the student’s relevant information.
After clicking the text box
where purchase information is to be
entered, Frost places the scanner in
its cradle, tethered to the PC via a USB connection—and that’s it. The scanner
enters all the purchase information
automatically, and the MAS software
automatically generates the invoice.
“Using the ROV Scanner in keyboard
mode is so easy!” exclaims Frost. “It
used to take 10 minutes or more to
enter a purchase, depending on how
many items a customer was buying.
Now it takes less than 2 minutes.”
Benefits
- Huge time savings: “The whole purchase process is five times faster than before,” says Frost. “That not only saves us time, but saves our customers time as well.”
- Ease of use : “The ROV Scanner is really easy to use,” says Frost. “After the first hour or so, when I was learning how close to hold the scanner to the bar code and what angle worked best, I could count on getting good scans every time.”
- Compact size : “The ROV Scanner is easily half the size of the one that came with our MAS software,” says Frost. “That makes it much easier to carry and use—especially for me, since I have small hands.”
- Portability: “Having a cordless scanner is so much more convenient than one that has to be tethered to the computer all the time,” says Frost. “And in our case, with the pro shop in the front of the building and the computer in the back, that portability is absolutely critical.”
- Extensive onboard memory: The ROV Scanner has enough onboard memory to store up to 4,000 UPC codes—so no matter how large a customer’s order is, the scanner can store it all. That eliminates all the running back and forth that Frost previously had to do.
- No need to change software settings: “When I was using the MAS scanner, I had to go into the control panel all the time to change between attendance tracking and product tracking modes,” says Frost. “Now I just place the ROV Scanner in its cradle, and that’s it.”
- Low price: “At less than $200, the ROV Scanner is far more affordable than other options out there,” says Frost.
Summing up, Frost says, “I love the ROV Scanner’s convenient size, affordable price, and ease of use. Once I have the text box open on my cash register software, I just plug the scanner into its cradle, and it does the rest. This is one impressive scanner!”
learn more
- Download this barcode scanner case study in PDF format
- Learn more about the ROV Scanner