ARGOS PICKS STAR PRINTERS

Leading UK catalogue retailer, Argos, has standardised on Star Micronics flagship POS printer, the TSP700, for its back office networked printer to produce product-picking tickets and returns labels.

Planned for nationwide installation across Argos 560+ stores, the TSP700 was selected in a competitive tender process and as a result of a 6000-ticket trial. The replacement of its existing printers is an indication of the retailers commitment to improve its services. Printing at 180mm per second, the TSP700 was also chosen for its high speed operation and application versatility, being capable of outputting for both tickets and labels, ease of operation and drop in & print paper-loading design, also overcoming potential time delays. In addition, Star Micronics modified the TSP700s partial-cut autocutter, ensuring that one ticket could be easily separated from the others, negating the potential problem of a string of tickets being taken from the printer at any one time.

For each item the customer orders in-store, the TSP700 produces a ticket in the warehouse for product pickers to collect, providing them with the necessary details to quickly locate correct purchases, taking them to the counter for customer collection.

Equipped with an Ethernet interface ensures that the TSP700 meets Argos needs for networked communication and its considerable reliability (20 million MCBF for the printer and 1 million MCBF for the autocutter) assures the retailer of performance longevity: a critical requirement in this fast-moving environment.

Also used for the production of product returns labels, the TSP700 is the only printer capable of undertaking both the ticket printing and labels functions in one unit, a feature that affords Argos with reduced support costs and provides the retailer with the added bonus of being able to switch printers between applications to accommodate peak transaction periods.