Home Improvement Projects Don’t Always Go as Planned, but a Good Craftsman Doesn’t Blame His Tools

Part of the third largest retail operator in Northern Europe, Kesko found a way to reduce costs and boost efficiency in its warehouse with…wait for it…a printer!

by Mark Thomson

September 06, 2023

Home improvement projects can be frustrating, especially if you have to go from store-to-store to find the right products and supplies. The team at Kesko knows this all too well. Although the company dabbles in auto, grocery, and other goods categories, it’s best known for its home improvement inventory. Kesko supplies home improvement products to 16 department stores in Sweden, with its merchandise distributed from a central warehouse in the southern part of the country.

The company’s main mission is to supply the right products at the right stores based on consumer behavior and need, leaving more time for those DIY projects. To help make this happen, you would think that Kesko would need a ton of market intelligence – a way to get inside customers’ heads. However, company leaders have found that all the knowledge in the world won’t help if you have no way of acting on what you know.

That’s why its own “home improvement” effort has been focused on building an efficient supply chain.

Now, you might think that would require a complete remodel – that Kesko leaders would have to essentially tear everything back to the studs and rebuild with a high-tech, highly automated logistics system design. But believe it or not, all they had to do was add some mobile printers into the mix to get the result they wanted.

True story.

With the help of Zebra Registered Business Partner, Pro ID, the Kesko team has standardized its consignment label printing process with a reliable, high quality and cost-effective mobile printing solution that is akin to a reliable hammer. Kesko’s warehouse associates can now get the right supplies for that pesky project to the right store so you and I can stop wasting time and fuel shopping for supplies and actually start using them.

If you’re a retailer or warehouse operator who would love to be able to increase the efficiency of your stocking, picking, packing or shipping operations – and you really like the idea of a printer being the hero of the story – check out what Kesko project leader Andreas Johansson shares in this story:

European Retail Operator Harmonizes Its Warehouse Operations with Zebra’s Mobile Printers

Topics

Mark Thomson

Mark Thomson is the Director of Retail & Hospitality Solutions, EMEA at Zebra Technologies. With over 27 years of customer-focused experience, Mr. Thomson regularly speaks at industry events throughout the EMEA region including World Retail Congress, Retail Middle East, RBTE and Euroshop.