VDC recently published a report focused on Industrial Color Label Printing Solutions. The following blog highlights some of our thoughts on this market and its potential. Vendors today can no longer rely on brand recognition and product quality alone to achieve profitability targets and with increased levels of market maturity, it is driving interest in/opportunities around various types of unique functionality and design innovations. Read more

In a recent VDC View that is now available for public download, we highlight some of the major robotics solutions including ASRS systems, robotic picking solutions, AGVs and delivery drones overhauling the warehouse and delivery space today and what to expect going forward. Read more

Zebra Technologies reported its Q3 2016 earnings on November 15th 2016 beating analysts’ EPS estimates by $0.12 at $1.42 while missing on revenue by $0.42 million. The company’s revenues declined 1.4% from Q3 2015. Revenues of $906 million for the quarter included $605 million from the Enterprise business unit, which was consistent with the revenue contribution in Q3 2015. Zebra’s legacy business (including barcode printers, card printers, consumables, location services) accounted for $301 million, down from $314 million in Q3 2015 (a decrease of 4.14%). Read more

VDC recently published a report focused on Stationary POS Scanners. The following blog highlights some of our thoughts on this market and its potential. The global stationary POS scanners market will grow 5% year over year from 2015 to 2016 and is expected to grow to $ 446.8M by 2020. Applications including reading of 2D barcode labels and loyalty cards are leading the charge for POS scanners. Read more

The global market for stationary thermal barcode printers will post a CAGR of 4.3% through 2020, reaching $1.6 Billion in overall revenues. Macroeconomic challenges have prompted a slowdown in the first half of the year for hardware vendors this space. Zebra’s year-over-year sales declines within this category so far in 2016 are primarily due to a difficult comparison and a massive retail order in 2015 that will not be immediately repeatable. Ongoing global exchange rate fluctuations, pressure from a strong US dollar, and geopolitical risks in regions like Latin America and the Middle East will also affect overall sales. Read more

VDC recently published a report focused on Handheld Barcode Scanners. The following report highlights some of our thoughts on this market and its potential. The global market for handheld barcode scanners is expected to grow 3.3% from 2015 to 2016 and continue this growth posting a CAGR of 4.9% through 2020 reaching $1.3B. Global macroeconomic challenges that hardware vendors in this market are facing caused handheld scanner revenues to stay flat year-over-year during the first quarter of 2016. Drivers for future market growth will include the increase in sales of camera-based imagers. Read more

On Thursday, August 25th, VDC’s Richa Gupta will co-present a webinar with Loftware’s Vice President of Product Management, Josh Roffman, on how global supply chains and changing regulations are powering the evolution of enterprise labeling. This presentation is a follow-up to a comprehensive white paper authored by VDC Research titled “The Changing Landscape of Barcode Labeling”. Read more

VDC recently published a report focused on Mobile Thermal Printing Solutions. The following blog highlights some of our thoughts on this market and its potential. The global mobile thermal printer revenues posted a 7% growth from 2014 to 2015 and are expected to grow to $509M by the year 2020. Led by increasing investments on mobile thermal printers by retailers and third party logistics providers in the growing e-commerce space, the Americas will continue to be the major market for these solutions with 53% of global revenue shipments and growth at an expected 7.5% through the forecast period. Read more

Datalogic, the European leader of the automatic data capture market, recently introduced a new generation of its popular Joya handheld self-scanning device for retail – Joya Touch. The multi-purpose solution can be deployed for consumer self-scanning applications as well as supporting in-store employee applications including queue busting, shelf replenishment, inventory management, and price checks. The company is one of two hardware vendors (the other being Zebra Technologies) of self-scanning devices and is a leader in the barcode scanner/imager and mobile computer markets. Read more

Globally distributed automotive supply chains now make it imperative for automakers to have the ability to trace any part all the way from the component/part supplier through to the end consumer. Specialized component vendors may distribute their products throughout the entire industry to several different automakers, meaning an issue with one small part has the potential to affect several market participants. According to VDC’s latest report, US-based automakers and components manufacturers are looking to invest in smarter traceability and communications systems in order to shift from a traditionally reactive supply chain model to one that is more proactive in order to support functions like order fulfillment, inventory management, reverse logistics, and recall management. Read more

US pharmaceutical companies today face a number of challenges emerging in the supply chain that are driving greater adoption of track-and-trace systems including the theft and diversion of drugs, counterfeiting, and unpredictable errors potentially leading to mass recalls. 2015 saw an increase in drug recalls by the FDA and pharmaceutical manufacturers, up from 1,572 in 2014 to 2,021 recalls. Read more

Zebra Technologies reported its Q1 2016 earnings on May 10th, and saw its stock price drop by more than 17% when the markets closed as its revenues and EPS both missed analysts’ estimates – by $31 million and $0.21 respectively on net sales of $847 million. Enterprise segment sales accounted for $537 million, a 5.3% drop as compared to Q1 2015, and legacy business sales – including barcode printers, card printers, consumables, and location solutions – were $313 million, down 5.7% from last year. The company’s gross margin now stands at 46.2%, which is at the high end of expectations, helped by improved services margin and greater synergies on the procurement front. However, Zebra’s tempered outlook for Q2 and lower guidance for the rest of 2016 have been cause for investor concern, leading to the steep decline in share price. Read more

Barcode labels are the foundation of a sound track-and-trace initiative and facilitate seamless data collection and visibility throughout the supply chain. The information made available provides crucial insights into product flow and enables organizations to enhance their operations and productivity. In recent times, labeling has transitioned from simply being a means to better inventory management and improving data accuracy to being a mission-critical function that is helping them seamlessly connect their globally distributed operations. The labeling function is now an integral part of enterprise applications like ERP and WMS that bring about process improvements and cost reduction, to ensure content consistency and reliability across all supply chain participants. Read more

VDC recently published a report focused on Handheld Self-Scanning Solutions. The following blog highlights some of our thoughts on this market and its potential.

VDC expects the global market for handheld self-scanning solutions (including hardware, software, and services) to grow to $92M for the 2015-2020 forecast period. Handheld self-scanning/shopping solutions are dedicated handheld barcode scanners with integrated screens and mobile self-scanning applications that are used for consumer applications such as self-checkout, special offers, and price checks in-store while shopping. Read more

Color labeling has posed somewhat of a conundrum to label printer hardware vendors, many of whom are still unsure about the use cases for such a solution beyond GHS labeling for chemicals manufacturing and distribution. That said, there are several hardware options and brands in the marketplace today – this list includes cab Produkttechnik, Carl Valentin GmbH, Epson, Primera Technology, QuickLabel Systems, and VIPColor. What is interesting to note is that although thermal is the print technology-of-choice for barcode labeling applications, there aren’t many on-demand thermal color printers available today. Read more

Advances in mobile technologies and improved built-in cameras have propelled the adoption of consumer-grade smartphones in the enterprise space. Software-based camera enhancements have encouraged businesses to actively consider using consumer smart devices to scan barcodes and capture images to augment operational workflows. A new generation of smartphone camera peripherals offers organizations the option to deploy consumer devices into harsh environments for applications such as proof-of-delivery and warehouse inventory management. Read more

On Wednesday, March 23rd, VDC’s Richa Gupta will co-present a webinar with Scandit CEO, Samuel Mueller, where they will discuss the evolution of data capture solutions used for barcode scanning in support of enterprise applications. This presentation is a follow-up to the comprehensive white paper authored by VDC Research in December, titled “Revolutionizing Data Capture: Bringing enterprise-grade scanning to everyone”. You can download this white paper here. Read more

Zebra Technologies reported its Q4 2015 earnings on February 25th 2016 beating analysts’ EPS estimates by $0.04 while missing on revenue by $7.52 million. The company’s revenues grew 20.5% from Q4 2014. Revenues of $952.74 million for the quarter included $635.8 million from the Enterprise business unit, which was significantly higher than the revenue contribution in Q4 2014 (24% increase) as the acquisition closed on October 27 of that year. Zebra’s legacy business (including barcode printers, card printers, consumables, location services) accounted for $320.5 million, up from $314.6 million in Q4 2014. Read more

Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. an immensely popular and highly successful quick service restaurant chain serving build-your-own burritos, tacos and bowls, has been at the center of a string of food-borne illnesses since the second half of 2015 involving E-coli and salmonella, affecting hundreds of customers across the country that dined at the chain’s many restaurants. The outbreaks have taken a massive toll on the company as share prices have declined from $750 to $450 (as of 02/11/16), a 40% decrease since October 2015 while also affecting customer confidence in the brand and its food. The company is widely recognized for its “Food with Integrity” mission and its focus on serving 100% non-GMO ingredients and responsibly raised meat across its 1,900 outlets. Read more

VDC recently authored and published a white paper (download here) focused on Scandit, an independent software vendor with a keen focus on enabling enterprise-grade barcode scanning using the built-in camera on smart devices. In my first blog on the topic, I talked about the evolving data capture solutions market and how the AIDC industry is expanding its footprint to now proactively leverage the capabilities of powerful consumer devices by introducing solutions that enable enterprise-grade performance on smartphones and tablets. Scandit, and other solution providers like it, are changing the way the world views barcode scanning and devices that enable the same. Read more

Businesses no longer rely exclusively on purpose-built scanning solutions to capture information from barcodes, which are now synonymous to enterprise supply chain operations such as asset identification, visibility, and track-and-trace. Since the launch of smartphones and other camera-enabled consumer mobile computing devices in the last decade or so, several application developers have also empowered consumers to know more about their purchases, thereby helping them make informed decisions and elevating their levels of engagement. There is now an installed base of more than 1 billion smartphones and hundreds of millions of tablets. VDC’s research shows that the data capture industry is expanding its footprint to now proactively leverage the capabilities of these powerful computing devices by introducing solutions that enable enterprise-grade performance on these smartphones and tablets. Read more

Honeywell, an AIDC veteran, this year introduced a range of solutions which showcased its strong initiative behind the Honeywell User Experience. Focusing on the user’s requirements and maximizing businesses’ productivity, the company showcased a number of mobile computing, scanning and printing solutions this year at NRF. For scanning, Honeywell introduced the 1602G companion scanner, the Solaris 7820 stationary scanner (aimed at the growing SMB space), as well as two new wireless voyager pistol grip scanners – the 1202G and 1452G. In addition, the company continues to see success of its Youjie brand of scanning solutions and plans to expand its product line to new emerging markets beyond China in 2016. For printing, following the same initiative of customer centric design, the company introduced the Honeywell PC42t is a light industrial label printer developed for price sensitive emerging markets in Asia and around the world. Read more

There was a buzz at the 2016 NRF event in New York City where retailers and their solution vendor partners talked about their growing focus on the retail storefront. E-commerce is certainly contributing to a higher percentage of overall sales and deserves the attention from an investment and operational enhancement standpoint; at the same time, however, it will continue to be critical for retailers to enhance customer experience, increase sales, and improve associate productivity in brick-and-mortar establishments. This is all with an aim of giving customers a consistent experience regardless of their retail touchpoint-of-choice. Read more

Warehouses and distribution centers are increasingly playing a critical role in generating supply chain efficiencies across industries like pharmaceuticals, food and beverage, retail, and fashion, leading to companies such as Amazon and DHL to look for new ways to support their growing warehouse operations through solutions such as robotic picking systems and augmented reality. As such material handling, data capture, order fulfillment, and software technologies are evolving to align with organizations’ vision of the warehouse of the future. Read more