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The application of electronic data processing at point of sale has been one of the most impact‐full events on the retail scene in the western world. Many retailers are still anxiously assessing the likely benefits — both soft and hard — while at the same time calculating the costs. Meanwhile they are watching with interest the progress of retail companies in America who, after initial setbacks and long delays, now seem to be experiencing positive advantages in POS developments. How much help have retailers had from the suppliers of POS equipment in guiding them through this dilemma? Not very much, asserts Gil Jones in this exclusive RDM feature. In particular he suggests that suppliers have not been sufficiently aware of the differing needs of retailers, and that there has been too little willingness to co‐operate with retailers in the development of systems on a co‐operative basis. But this feature is not to be taken simply as criticism; it is intended as constructive comment and even as a guide for suppliers in their future strategy. As Gil Jones writes — “The challenge … is immense, but the rewards are great.”

Words like “revolution” are frequently used to describe the impact of the silicon chip on industry; as far as retailing is concerned, there is no doubt that the availability of the mini and micro computer will have profound effects. In this article Gil Jones and Barbara Walman discuss first, the development of mini computers and how they are used; then what they describe as the “intriguing” prospect of how micro computers might affect the retail sector, looking both at small retailers and then at multiples. No retailer — large or small — can afford to ignore the implications of this remarkable technological development.

Dr. Gil Jones has been carrying out a research programme into the ways data can be captured, transmitted and used to provide retailers with improved management information. The full results of the research are to be published by the National Computing Centre later this year in a Report entitled “Data Capture in the Retail Environment”. In this two part article, Dr. Jones summarises his findings, identifying the technical options open to the retailer for preparation of management information, the costs involved and the likely benefits more sophisticated solutions can bring. Part I covers the effect the recent economic climate has had on management information strategy, the differing data requirements of various types of retail organisations, and the main options open to retailers for data capture and data processing. In Part II, Dr. Jones will go on to examine the costs of the various systems available and will look at the factors which must be considered in the economic justification of the necessary investment.

A great deal of interest has been aroused in the retail trade over the last few months by reports of the development of a new OCR omnidirectional scanning system. Called Scantron, the system has been developed by Herr Hans Scholze, with research being carried out by the Battelle Institute in Frankfurt. EPOS 80 scored a coup at their Congress in June in London by staging a presentation delivered (in German and translated) by Herr Scholze himself. In the event the presentation was somewhat inconclusive. Gil Jones explains why and attempts to put Scantron in its proper perspective.

This is the second part of an article previewing the results of a research programme aimed at studying the effect of recent developments in data capture and data transmission on management information in retailing. The results are to be published in full later this year by the National Computing Centre in a report entitled “Data Capture in the Retail Environment”. In Part I Dr Jones looked at the various technical options open to retail managers for both data capture and data transmission, and the ways in which such data may be used in a management information context. He also touched upon the differing data handling needs of various types of retail organisation. In Part II, he covers the cost and economic aspects of computer aided systems, provides some examples of user experiences, and draws together his main conclusions and recommendations from both parts of the article.

For some time the pharmacy sector has been in the unusual position of having two codes at its disposal — the standard EAN code and its own Pharmacists Interface Product (PIP) code. The latter has been used by independent chemists and especially members of the NPU. Now Boots has decided to “go EAN”. Gil Jones discusses the implications of this decision for the pharmacy sector.

At EPOS 81 last September Dr Gil Jones gave a review of items of scanning equipment at that time on the market. In this article for RDM he outlines the broad types of equipment that are available, and discusses their suitability and cost.

One of the reasons for the dramatic growth of the mini‐computer market is the realisation on the part of retail managements in both small and large companies that this type of equipment is versatile, powerful and relatively cheap. In this article Mike Eccles defines a mini, discusses the problems of buying and selection, and examines some specific retail applications. The author is a management consultant with Gil Jones & Associates, specialising in management information systems for retail organisations. He has recently been engaged in a programme of research into the growing importance of the mini‐computer in retailing. His findings will be published in full later this year in a Report. Mike Eccles will be presenting a paper on this subject at the forthcoming OnLine Conference on Retail Data Processing, to be held in London on June 2–3.

With proposals being made in this country for the development of cable TV, perceptive retailers will not have failed to see the opportunities it opens up to them. In America, currently 55% of all homes are passed by a cable link, and some 34% connected. But the vast majority of these are one‐way, which is limiting. In March RMDP held a conference on “Cable TV and the Retailer” which explored the ways in which cable TV might impact on the retailer, looking at developments in the United States and in Europe. RDM was at the conference.

Expert Systems — which forms a small part of Artificial Intelligence — presents opportunities for the retailer, with applications to such areas as buying, merchandising, warehousing and distribution, and retail operations. The authors suggest that senior management in retailing should be aware of the changes taking place and evaluate the impact of these changes in order better to plan their future competitiveness.