Jewelry Maker Dove into Department Stores, then Realized Bar Coded Shipping Labels were Required

For several years department stores pleaded and pleaded for the hottest new costume jewelry.  A mid-sized U.S. jewelry maker, very successful in boutique stores and on-line, decided to offer some basic jewelry items to major department stores which included Bloomingdale’s, Neiman Marcus, Nordstrom’s, and SAKS.  As a complication, they were also featured on the department stores’ on-line sites, which meant that two types of labels were required for each merchant.

They called Data Communication Solutions (DCS) to assist with the creation of the GS1-128™ Serial Shipping Container Code labels (formerly SSCC 128).  Our EDI Specialists helped them on a turnkey basis, performing the following steps:

  1. Created a project plan: discovery, estimation, and priorities.
  2. Reviewed of GS1-128 label software vendors which provided the print jobs to the printer.  (Loftware was chosen.)
  3. Reviewed the label printers.  (Zebra was chosen.)
  4. Built a SQL VIEW to retrieve label data for the label vendor.  Extracted data with a complex SQL query from the development Microsoft SQL Server™.  Then added tables to the SQL VIEW query to retrieve warehouse and customer addresses and also division and store descriptions, etc. to obtain required label data.
  5. Linked the data fields to the SQL ODBC connection. Set field and bar code parameters and positions.
  6. Built Loftware label template for Neiman Marcus GS1-128 label. Made additional label field and database link adjustments for the new Zebra printer.
  7. Made final test adjustments for Bloomingdale’s, Nordstrom’s, and SAKS labels.
  8. Printed and submitted samples for each retailer’s evaluation.  Made minor changes.
  9. Wrote mini-user manual and then trained the shipping team.
  10. Assisted with the first orders and for several weeks after.

The time needed to launch GS1-128 for the four large department store chains was 70 hours.  They are now self-reliant.  Since then two more stores have been added.

Do you need a GS1-128 tune up?  The time needed is about a week.  DCS EDI Specialists are ready to help! Just contact us for a free assessment.