Copyright Goodheart-Willcox Co., Inc. Chapter 5 Satisfying the Fashion Market 81
develop smart strategies, gain an advantage over their competitors, and be
more profitable.fi
With computerized information systems, companies have more accurate
sales and stock records, faster check-out transactions, and fine-tuned mark-
ings for identifying all aspects of each piece of merchandise. Computer infor-
mation helps companies provide better customer service because they can tell
quickly what pleases their customers by using electronically readable product
codes, code printers, optical scanners, and other devices.
Almost all merchandise tags are marked with product codes, printed onto
machine-readable merchandise tickets or other labels. They allow for fast,
economical product identification and data collection. Product codes are used fi
globally. Companies use them throughout the soft goods chain on raw materi-
als, parts going through production, shipping containers, and finished prod-
ucts for sale to consumers. They help companies track their own products
internally, plus all company goods through their distribution pipeline.
Bar Code Systems
Bar codes are product symbols with dark bars and white spaces of varying
widths, plus numbers that can be “encoded” into specifi data by computer fic
systems. Businesses use them on merchandise tags or other labels for elec-
tronic data collection. The bar and space pattern represents numbers, letters,
and other data about the brand name, style, size, color, and price of a product.
The current standard Universal Product Code (UPC) is referred to as UPC–A.
Many companies that use bar codes have their own on-site bar code printer
to create their labels or tags. See Figure 5.6 for an example that shows one
model. The company can change its code information as needed, printing dif-
ferent codes at different times. Otherwise, a company pays label suppliers to
print and provide labels with the correct information.
Bar codes are read by electronic optical scanners that feed information
instantaneously into the system. The scanners send out a light beam on com-
mand, directly onto the bar code, by line-of-sight, Figure 5.7. They then rec-
ognize and record information from light reflected off the surface of the label. fl
Dark bars absorb the light and white spaces reflect it back. As the scanner fl
reads the bar code, it receives and automatically decodes all information and
puts it into the computer system.
Automated data collection, or data capture, uses stationary countertop
scanners, optical scanning wands, or handheld laser guns at retail checkout
locations. Stationary, movable wired or wireless readers can read the print
bar codes. Recording of wireless sales information can occur a distance away
from the checkout area. This can shorten retail checkout lines during busy
times by processing credit customers out on the sales fl oor, thus preventing
them from standing in long lines at registers. Another remote use is for spe-
cial events, such as sidewalk sales, outside of stores. Throughout the textile/
apparel pipeline, bar-code scanning automatically records the movement of
bolts of fabric, garment parts going through production, or the shipping or
receiving of fi nished goods. The system then calculates unit sales, inventory
levels, and other information.
Sergiy Zavgorodny/Shutterstock.com
Figure 5.6 Old hard-wired bar
code printers have been replaced
with new convenient, lightweight,
portable ones that can be used
anywhere in the textile/apparel
pipeline—from fi bers to retail.
develop smart strategies, gain an advantage over their competitors, and be
more profitable.fi
With computerized information systems, companies have more accurate
sales and stock records, faster check-out transactions, and fine-tuned mark-
ings for identifying all aspects of each piece of merchandise. Computer infor-
mation helps companies provide better customer service because they can tell
quickly what pleases their customers by using electronically readable product
codes, code printers, optical scanners, and other devices.
Almost all merchandise tags are marked with product codes, printed onto
machine-readable merchandise tickets or other labels. They allow for fast,
economical product identification and data collection. Product codes are used fi
globally. Companies use them throughout the soft goods chain on raw materi-
als, parts going through production, shipping containers, and finished prod-
ucts for sale to consumers. They help companies track their own products
internally, plus all company goods through their distribution pipeline.
Bar Code Systems
Bar codes are product symbols with dark bars and white spaces of varying
widths, plus numbers that can be “encoded” into specifi data by computer fic
systems. Businesses use them on merchandise tags or other labels for elec-
tronic data collection. The bar and space pattern represents numbers, letters,
and other data about the brand name, style, size, color, and price of a product.
The current standard Universal Product Code (UPC) is referred to as UPC–A.
Many companies that use bar codes have their own on-site bar code printer
to create their labels or tags. See Figure 5.6 for an example that shows one
model. The company can change its code information as needed, printing dif-
ferent codes at different times. Otherwise, a company pays label suppliers to
print and provide labels with the correct information.
Bar codes are read by electronic optical scanners that feed information
instantaneously into the system. The scanners send out a light beam on com-
mand, directly onto the bar code, by line-of-sight, Figure 5.7. They then rec-
ognize and record information from light reflected off the surface of the label. fl
Dark bars absorb the light and white spaces reflect it back. As the scanner fl
reads the bar code, it receives and automatically decodes all information and
puts it into the computer system.
Automated data collection, or data capture, uses stationary countertop
scanners, optical scanning wands, or handheld laser guns at retail checkout
locations. Stationary, movable wired or wireless readers can read the print
bar codes. Recording of wireless sales information can occur a distance away
from the checkout area. This can shorten retail checkout lines during busy
times by processing credit customers out on the sales fl oor, thus preventing
them from standing in long lines at registers. Another remote use is for spe-
cial events, such as sidewalk sales, outside of stores. Throughout the textile/
apparel pipeline, bar-code scanning automatically records the movement of
bolts of fabric, garment parts going through production, or the shipping or
receiving of fi nished goods. The system then calculates unit sales, inventory
levels, and other information.
Sergiy Zavgorodny/Shutterstock.com
Figure 5.6 Old hard-wired bar
code printers have been replaced
with new convenient, lightweight,
portable ones that can be used
anywhere in the textile/apparel
pipeline—from fi bers to retail.