Point of Sale: Adapt or die, right Billy?

Quality customer service for all

I’ve never shopped at a Wegmans supermarket, but if you ask Forbes, the brand is known as one of the best, if not the best grocery store out there. I’m a Hy-Vee stan and the closest Wegmans to me is about 20 hours away, but after some adjustments it has recently made, I might call myself a fan anyway. The company has introduced auxiliary aids and accessible options to its stores. Progressive Grocer reports that Wegmans is targeting its customers who may be hard of hearing, deaf or have sensory disabilities.

“At Wegmans, we are committed to providing incredible customer service to all our shoppers,” said Linda Lovejoy, community relations manager for Wegmans. “Implementation of these in-store pharmacy auxiliary aids and accessibility options for customers with sensory disabilities helps us deliver on this commitment, giving our Deaf, hard-of-hearing, blind and low-vision customers industry-leading, enhanced access to effective communication at our in-store pharmacy locations.”

Some of those aids include:

• Video remote interpretation services in American Sign Language.
• Video Relay Service for the pharmacy to make and receive calls with customers using a customer’s video phone.
• Inductive hearing loops at one release-to-patient register/pharmacy payment checkout and one counseling area in each in-store pharmacy.
• Large-print prescription labels and counseling documentation.

Those are just a few of the options now available to customers. Wegmans is also starting a pilot program at five of its pharmacy locations where shoppers can use ScripTalk, a technology that uses audio to help identify labels on medication bottles for folks who are visually impaired. This offering helps reduce the risk of at-home medication errors. Check out the full article for more information on Wegmans’ accessibility efforts.

The trading post

(Photo: Jim Allen/FreightWaves)

Zulily layoffs

While we don’t know how many, we do know that some Zulily employees are out of a job after company layoffs. GeekWire said the e-commerce site announced a second round of layoffs in a year due to declining revenue.

“Yesterday [March 6], we announced to our team members some hard choices we have made for our organization to bring our operating expenses in line with our revenue and position our business for future growth,” the company said in a statement.

GeekWire reported that Zulily has nearly 2,000 employees nationwide. Its revenue dropped 28% in Q4 with lower numbers in unit volume, shipping rates and views to the site.

Qurate is Zulily’s parent company, which laid off 500 employees at a fulfillment center in 2022.

“We have taken action to strengthen the balance sheet, improve execution and aggressively cut costs, including meaningfully reducing excess inventory and undergoing a structural reorganization,” said David Rawlinson, CEO of Zulily, in reference to the company’s earnings report last week.

Workers who are losing their jobs with Zulily will get severance pay, an extension of some benefits and help finding jobs elsewhere.

Gigs and gadgets

(Photo: Jim Allen/FreightWaves)

A win-win so neither lose-lose

I’m a Best Buy shopper and I have a Roku TV. I might be the retail and tech companies’ exact target audience when it comes to their new partnership. Marketing Dive reported that these two brands are shaking hands on a business deal that makes Best Buy the exclusive shop for new editions of Roku TVs. The main goal, however, is to better understand shoppers and target ads to the right people. Under this partnership, Roku ads can be measured against Best Buy’s first-party data to improve performance. Marketing Dive said the Best Buy Ads system uses information from both online and in-store shoppers.

This is being seen as a win-win situation for both parties. One company gets to save on advertising and the other gets its name out there in the hopes of bringing in shoppers. This deal comes after Q4 earnings were less than ideal for both companies. Maybe together these two can come out on top.

Check out the full article to see what else Roku has been up to and just how the ad space is changing.

SONAR steals

(Source: FreightWaves SONAR)

This week we’re checking out the Outbound Tender Volume Index (OTVI) in Memphis, Tennessee. OTVI shows tender load volumes for the U.S. Users can also look at specific regions and market granularity.

Over the past month, volume levels in Memphis have increased 7.76% as the freight market has solidified itself as one of the 20 largest in the country. 

Rejection rates in the market have ever so slightly shown some positive momentum after rising by 96 basis points over the past week, sitting nearly double the current national average.

Rates out of the market haven’t reacted to the upward move in rejection rates, but according to FreightWaves TRAC, the spot rate from Memphis to Atlanta still sits around $3 per mile at $2.94, 56 cents higher than the national average spot rate.

Is SONAR for you? Check it out with a demo!

Need to speak to the manager? Shoot me an email with comments, questions or story ideas at sedwards@freightwaves.com.