Consumers line up in favor of bar code scanners.

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 16, 1995--The holiday shopping season can be an ordeal for retailers and shoppers alike, but a majority of Americans surveyed said that bar code scanners at cash registers improved their shopping experience.

According to the ShopperScan, a national survey released today at the National Retail Federation conference in New York, four times as many Americans (68 percent) said bar code technology most improved their shopping experience as compared with the next highest-ranked technology, credit card readers (17 percent).

Conducted by ICR Survey Research Group of Media, Penn., the national ShopperScan Survey was commissioned by Symbol Technologies, the world's leading manufacturer of bar code-based data management systems, and asked 1,010 adult members of the general population about their holiday shopping habits.

"The retail industry has long relied on bar-code technology and has made bar code scanners ubiquitous on the retail floor and at the check out line. Now we know that consumers also recognize the value of technology," said Jan Lindelow, president and chief operating officer of Symbol Technologies.

"Scanners help increase productivity where consumers don't see it -- at the store receiving dock -- and where they do, like in the check-out line," Lindelow added.

In fact, 54 percent of respondents felt that they spent less time waiting to pay for items than the previous year -- despite reports that sales were higher for many stores as compared to the previous year. Interestingly, while slightly more women (46 percent) said they were concerned about waiting in line than men (43 percent), women were more likely to feel that they had spent less time in line this year than men (57 percent to 49 percent).

"Bar code scanners are involved in trillions of dollars of transactions each year and have helped significantly speed up the average time it takes to complete a purchase," Lindelow added. "That translates into less time in line and less hassles for the customer. The findings of the ShopperScan Survey will help us and our customers gain additional insight into the most important part of their business -- the consumer."

Other Findings

The ShopperScan Survey looked at various factors that help determine the consumer's choice of which stores to patronize, with some surprising results. More women (88 percent) are likely to shop during the holiday season than men (81 percent), but both sexes shop less as they get older. Adults ages 18-34 were one-third more likely to shop for presents than were adults 65+, the survey found.

Nearly half of all respondents reported that length of the wait at the cash register was an important factor in choosing a store. Residents in the South (49 percent ) and in non-metro areas (48 percent) particularly felt that waiting in line is a significant determinant. However, the length of the wait at cash registers was ranked as the second most important factor that all respondents would like to see improve before the next holiday season. The most important factor was sale prices.

"The good news for retailers is that this is a factor they can control because with new wireless scanning technology, they can put out more cash registers during the Christmas rush in addition to their permanent registers -- without the additional costs and hassles of having to hardwire new systems. With a few more registers available, lines grow shorter and customer satisfaction increases," Lindelow said.

The most important factor in deciding whether to shop at a particular store, respondents said, was availability of goods. More than three-quarters said availability was the deciding factor. Metro residents rated availability of goods as slightly less important than non-metro residents; regionally, residents in the Northeast (70 percent) and the West (71 percent) rated availability of goods less important than residents in the NorthCentral (84 percent) and the South (82 percent).

"This finding is significant because it underscores the importance of keeping track of products," Lindelow said. "Urban consumers have more choices when shopping so they can easily go to another store to find the products they want. Stores lose out when they don't stock what their customers want or don't have what their customers want in enough quantity. We're finding than an increasing number of stores are keeping track of what's selling to determine the proper mix of products to reorder. They do it automatically, which saves time, increases productivity, lowers costs and enables more staff to be on the sales floor to help customers."

With more than 2;.5 million scanners and terminals installed, Symbol Technologies Inc. (NYSE: SBL) is the world leader in bar code-driven data transaction systems. Based in Bohemia, N.Y., the company designs, manufactures and markets bar code reading equipment, portable data terminals and radio frequency data communications networks that are used as strategic building blocks in information systems for retail, manufacturing, package and parcel delivery, warehousing and distribution and other industries.

CONTACT: Symbol Technologies

Nancy Tully or Doug Picker, 512/244-4699

or

Brodeur & Partners Inc.

Norman Birnbach or Beth Kitchner, 617/622-2800