Recommended Hardware List
- BARCODE SCANNERS
- DOCUMENT SCANNERS
- PRINTERS
- CUSTOMER DISPLAY
- TOUCH SCREEN / PCS
- CARD MACHINE
- SHELVING
- SHELF LOCATION NUMBERING
If using ERS below, highland parcels is recommend for freight to Shetland (they are no more).
| Description | Make/Model | Supplier Link / More Info | |
|---|---|---|---|
1. BARCODE SCANNERS | |||
 | Portable USB handheld barcode scanner | Honeywell 2D Imager. We recommend a 2D scanner for QR codes / PDF417 (lots of data in a compact space, resilience baked in). They also support 1D barcode. Wireless options available with charging dock. | https://www.ers-online.co.uk/default.asp?p=results&q=honeywell+2d (general purpose) 1400g2D-2USB-1 Honeywell Voyager 1400G 1D, PDF, 2D Scanning Area Imager USB KIT - Inc Stand (static auto-scanning) |
 | Fixed auto scanning barcode scanners without trigger (though previous can also be set up in this mode with cradle). | Honeywell 1400g2D-2USB-1 (also 2D) | https://www.ers-online.co.uk/o5239/1400g2d-2usb-1-honeywell-1400g-voyager-1d-or-2d-barcode-scanner |
 | Android mobile device (with integrated barcode scanner), which runs the EaseSuite Stores App. Covers stores activities such as catalogue updating, photographing items, stock taking, moving items, receiving deliveries, customer delivery note signing, creating walk around sales and purchase orders. Also used by service staff to sign out/in items. | Zebra TC210K range | https://www.ers-online.co.uk/default.asp?p=results&q=zebra+tc210k Accessories, including pistol grip (popular) and charging docks (saves USB port wear): https://www.ers-online.co.uk/TC21/accessories |
2. DOCUMENT SCANNERS | |||
 | Any is suitable, since files can be drag and dropped into the system. A WIA compatible scanner allows you to utilise the Scan button in the application when adding a File in the system but not essential (generally those are flatbed) since most use scan to folder then drag and drop, which can also be done directly from Outlook. | Fujitsu ScanSnap we have recommended in the past as a portable solution. They are not WIA compatible but are high speed multi-page scanners and come with software that support OCR, making the PDFs they produce searchable in the system. | https://www.scansnapit.com/ https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=scansnap |
3. PRINTERS | |||
 | Document printer: general A4/A5 printer for sales counters, avery label sheets, and other print outs. Recommend a high speed laser printer (the higher the speed, the larger they are generally). | Brother HL-L6400DW A4 Wireless Mono Laser Printer, quite large but fast. | https://www.ebuyer.com/742891-brother-hl-l6400dw-a4-wireless-mono-laser-printer-hll6400dwzu1 |
 | Label printer (B&W) | Brother QL700ZU1 (replaces QL570) Different size labels available, too small for postage labels if that is desirable but good for other stores activities (shelf/location labels, packing splits) and guillotines to size. | https://www.ers-online.co.uk/o8393/ql700zu1-brother-ql-700-high-speed-label-printer Datasheet: https://docs.rs-online.com/1c03/0900766b8160554d.pdf |
 | Label printer (Colour) | Brother VC 500W Photo glossy, thermal. Speed is not the fastest and thermal labels can be expensive, but portable and useful for shelving / drawers with unseen contents. Different size labels available. | https://www.ers-online.co.uk/p8184/brother-vc-500w-full-colour-label-printer |
 | Receipt printer (B&W) | The Epson TM-T88VI is a popular and robust receipt printer that takes small roles. Useful for sales counter and printing smaller receipts if that is more desirable than A4/A5. | https://www.ers-online.co.uk/p4372/epson-tm-t88vi-receipt-printer |
 | Cash drawer | A cash drawer can be hooked into the TM-T88VI receipt printer above and opened by the system. Various cash drawers are available but ensure the one you pick has an RJ12 connector for this receipt printer. | https://www.ers-online.co.uk/p8480/apg-cash-drawer-ecd-entry-level-cash-drawer-series |
4. CUSTOMER DISPLAY | |||
 | Small portable option, we've integrated with these directly. Or see below for touchscreen customer display which is also a customer display. | Epson DM-D30 | https://www.ers-online.co.uk/o20525/a61cf26101-epson-dm-d30-customer-display-for-tm-m30 |
 | Touch screen capability (e.g. for customers to digitally sign advice notes) / customer display / plays video/image slideshow when idle. This acts like an additional monitor and requires either a spare HDMI output from the PC or a USB3 to HDMI adapter (obtainable from Amazon). Note the Android devices above can also capture signatures. | ELO M Series 10", Vesa bracket mountable. Link for pens also (needs special capacitance pens). | https://www.ers-online.co.uk/o9033/e155834-elo-m-series-10-and-15inch-touch-screen-monitor https://www.ers-online.co.uk/a5005/d82064-000-touch-pen |
5. TOUCH SCREEN / PCS | |||
 | Touch screen monitor (sales counter staff EPOS). | HANNspree HT248PPB | https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07K3K7TJ4 |
 | Compact Sales Counter PC, Vesa mountable to back of monitor above. | Mini PC Windows 11 Pro | https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B09X2T8R1F |
6. CARD MACHINE | |||
 | EPOS integrated card machine. | Castles Saturn with merchant plan. Integrates with the system, which sends a sale or refund amount directly to terminal for customer facing input. Can be used standalone also for resilience and has receipt printer built in. These are wireless with a docking station. One or more terminal can be shared/hot-swapped easily between different PCs (they aren't tied to a computer). | Contact us |
7. SHELVING
There are several suppliers of shelving and accessories, one such is Shoptek - https://www.shelving4shops.co.uk/
If you have existing shelves then adding shelf edge strips (e.g. https://www.shelving4shops.co.uk/shelving-accessories/epos-shelf-edge-strips.html) will allow you to slot in labels with descriptions and barcodes, which can be generated by the system. These edge strips can come in various sizes and colours (colour coding may be useful to form categorisation). Double-sided tape can be used to attach them to a shelf.
For this shelving you want to print labels that are not self-adhesive to allow them to be easily swapped out, or they can stick to say a strip of thin card first that can be slotted in. These 29mm labels for example https://www.ers-online.co.uk/o4203/dk22210-brother-dk-labels-for-p-touch-and-ql-series come in 30m lengths and can be printed to landscape and are adhesive (which is more common but they don't necessarily need to be peeled). When printed in landscape mode the 29mm can form the shelf strip height, and the width (length of the continuous label roll) is guillotined to size by the printer, allowing a flexible width.
A good starting point would be to purchase the QL700 above, labels (a variety of sizes available via the datasheet but 29mm is a good size for shelving) and some shelf edge strips.
8. SHELF LOCATION NUMBERING
As well as barcoding products, we also encourage barcoding shelf locations. In this way products can easily be paired to a location on the move, or what should be at a location summoned quickly. Location labels are common in warehousing and aid stock taking and relocation.
There are different ways of coming up with a numbering system for locations using a combination of letters and numbers. You might have for example A1-02-03, which translates to Aisle (A1), Horizontal location (02) and Vertical (03). The horizontal might cover a distant of 2 to 3 feet on a shelf rack from left to right. The vertical (level) can be a floor to ceiling incremental number for reach shelf on the rack. When ordered it can be drilled down to find items easily from the system.
There is a bit more flexibility and less maintenance when assigning multiple to the same location rather than giving each it's own unique location. If you think of a shelf location like a category, you might want to have several things in it to make it worthwhile, but not too many to overburden. Barcode scanning a single location might bring up say 1 to 10 items for that location. Bulkier items might get their own location if evenly spaced and several similar smaller items share the same location for example.
When defining a numbering system it might be useful to work off a a top-down plan of the store to determine how things could be segmented logically and where the crow flies. It may even be a good time to re-organise more logically if required, for example to bring similar items together or more frequently sought items to the front.