WO2004034298A1

WO2004034298A1 - Stock movement control

Info

Publication number: WO2004034298A1
Application number: PCT/GB2003/004342
Authority: WO
Inventors: Jonathan Faith
Original assignee: The Retail Experience Limited
Priority date: 2002-10-08
Filing date: 2003-10-08
Publication date: 2004-04-22
Also published as: AU2003271909A1; GB2394078A; GB0223320D0

Abstract

A control system for directing the movement of items in a shop having a plurality of item storage units each comprising a zone where items can be stored, at least some of the item storage units being located in a display area of the shop, each item having an item identity indicative of the type of item that it is, and each storage unit having a unique storage unit identity indicative of which of the storage units it is, the system comprising: input means capable of receiving item movement data comprising the item identity of an item, the storage unit identity of a storage unit and activity data indicative of that item having been located in that storage unit, and transmitting that data to the storage means in the form of an item movement message; storage means capable of receiving an item movement message from the input means and storing a record of the item identified by the item identity in the movement data being located at the storage unit identified by the storage unit identity in the movement data; control means arranged to analyse the content of the storage means and to direct the movement of items from one storage unit to another in accordance with the content of the storage means.

Description

STOCK MOVEMENT CONTROL

This invention relates to controlling the movements of stock in a shop, for example a retail shop.

In a typical shop there is a display area where stock is displayed to customers. Customers can inspect an item of stock in the display area and, in the case of clothing, try it on in a changing room adjacent to the display area before deciding whether to purchase it from the shop. The typical shop may also have a stock room where stock is stored prior to being put on display. Staff in the shop are normally responsible for moving goods from one location to another and for monitoring stocks of goods on display and in the store.

Stock must be ordered in advance for supply to the shop, and it is necessary for a decision to be made as to what stock should be supplied. This decision is normally made by the manager of the shop. The manager will analyse current stock levels of items in the shop, estimated customer demand for the items, and may also estimate future trends of sales, and using this information will decide on what products should be ordered into the shop to form the shop's stock. Current stock levels are typically estimated by a manual stocktaking analysis of the items in the shop, and by comparing purchasing records of the numbers of items that have been ordered with sales records indicating the numbers of items that have been sold.

Once stock is in the shop a decision must be made as to what stock should be displayed, and where it should be displayed in the shop. This is normally done by the manager, based on his skill and experience. When a decision is made that items of stock are to be moved from the stock room to the display area, from the display area to the stock room (if it is to be withdrawn from sale) or from one location in the display area to another, the manager will instruct a member of staff to move the items. It is often time-consuming for the manager to give the instructions because he must indicate to the member of staff precisely what items are to be moved, and how many of them, and to precisely which location. The member of staff must then find the items in their current location. If the items are in the stock room then he may have to consult records of the arrangement of the stock room in order to find the items before he can move them.

If the shop is part of a centrally-managed chain then its manager may receive instructions from a central controller regarding stock ordering and its placement in the store. In a centrally-managed system it would be desirable for all aspects of the stock's location in the store, and especially in the display area, to be capable of being rapidly controlled by the central controller. For example, on a sunny day it might be desirable for the shops of the chain to move summer clothing, to a prominent position in the front of the shop, or if a certain football team has recently won it might be desirable to move that team's merchandise to a prominent position. However, this level of control is normally impractical because it is difficult for the central controller to accurately instruct the shops of the chain to make such precise, short-term stock movements. As a result, centrally-managed shops can lose sales to locally-managed shops.

Because staff at the shop can easily influence how many goods are displayed, and where, it is difficult for managers remote from the store to control policy on which goods are displayed where, and what stock levels should be maintained on display. Second, it is difficult to instruct staff rapidly on moving numbers of goods from one location to another since for each item that is to be moved they must have instructions on picking goods from one location (in the display area or in the stock room) and replacing it in another location. Thus if goods are sold rapidly it can be difficult for staff to restock the display area quickly enough to maintain the optimum amount of stock on display. Also, it is beneficial for the shop to display items in different locations depending on short-term factors such as information on which items are selling well (either in that shop or another related shop) or the weather; and it is difficult to quickly adapt the selection of stock that is displayed to accommodate those factors.

In a. conventional shop a record must be held of where in the shop and in the stock room items are kept. Otherwise it takes staff a long time to find items, especially in the stock room. In a typical stock room there are shelves divided into bays. When stock is received it is allocated a bay, which could be labelled with details of that stock, and then stored there for retrieval later. For convenience, like stock, or stock related of a similar style etc., is normally kept in nearby bays so that it can be found easily, because the system often relies on staff remembering where stock is located. This system allows staff to store and find stock easily without additional tools, but it generally means that the stock room is used inefficiently. Once a bay has been allocated to an item of stock it is generally kept assigned to that item even if the item is out of stock (or all stocks of the item are on display), because it is laborious to alter the labelling and because staff will get confused if the bay is assigned to another product. As a result, bays can sit empty. If the stock is kept in order of stock code then it must often be moved to accommodate new stock for insertion, or to fill gaps that were occupied by stock that is no longer to be kept.

EP 1 107 155 discloses a system for providing information to salesmen in a shop on items that are available in the shop. The salesmen are provided with portable terminals that can communicate with a server to provide them with information on attributes of the items and their availability in the shop.

It would be desirable for there to be a means whereby stock movement can be controlled more rapidly and/or accurately, especially in the case of centrally-managed shops.

According to the present invention there is provided a system as set out in claim 1.

Preferred aspects of the invention are set out in the dependent claims.

The present invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings in which; figure 1 shows a plan view of a shop comprising a floor stock control system in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention; figure 2 shows schematically the structure of a portable terminal; and figure 3 shows a plan view of a shop floor.

Figure 1 is a diagram showing a shop 2 having a floor stock control system 26 in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. The shop 2 comprises a stock room 12 and a shop floor 4. The shop floor has an access 8 to the street 6 and an access 10 to the stock room. The stock room has a delivery entrance 16 which allows access to the stock room from a service alley 14.

The floor stock control system 26 comprises a server unit 20. The server unit could be a conventional personal computer loaded with appropriate software for interfacing with the other components of the system and for performing the functions described below. The server unit is connected to a data storage unit 22 to which it can store and from which it can receive stored information. The data storage unit is loaded with information on goods in the shop, as described below. The server unit is also connected to a data input device 18 and a wireless base station unit 24. The wireless base station unit can communicate with a plurality of portable wireless stock retrieving terminals 28. In practice there may be numerous data input devices, one for each staff member who is tasked with moving goods within the shop. If necessary, a number of wireless base station units may be provided in order to give full coverage within the shop. The base station unit provides an interface by which the server unit can transmit information to and receive information from any of the terminal units. The server unit is also connected to one or more point of sale terminals such as cash tills or the like, and can receive information from those terminals.

The server unit 20 is preferably located somewhere in the shop that is inaccessible to a shopper but accessible to a member of staff. The data input device 18 is preferably located relatively near the delivery entrance 16. The base station unit is located somewhere that allows good radio coverage to all areas of the shop.

Figure 2 shows one of the portable wireless terminals in more detail. The terminal of figure 2 comprises a processor 30 which is connected to a non-volatile memory 32, a wireless terminal unit 34, a display 36, a keypad 38, and a bar code reader 40. Nonvolatile memory 32 stores software for execution by the processor 30. Processor 30 includes temporary memory for use in executing such software. The wireless interface unit 34 is capable of communicating by radio with the base station unit 24. The processor 30 can thus communicate with the server unit by way of a radio link between terminal unit 34 and base station unit 24. Processor 30 can control the display 36 to display at least text and/or graphic information, and can receive input from keypad 38. The bar code reader 40 includes an optical sensor 42 and a bar code processing unit 44 for analysing input from the sensor as it is drawn by a user across a bar code and decoding it to determine the value encoded by the bar code. When the bar code reader is activated and detects a bar code it provides the value of that code to the processor 30. The portable terminal also includes a rechargeable battery as power source, which can be recharged when the terminal is stored in a recharger stand.

The base-station unit 24 and the wireless terminal units 34 of the portable terminals are arranged so that bi-directional radio communication can be carried out between the base- station unit and any of the terminals. Each terminal unit 34 may have a dedicated radio channel, or other means may be used so that each terminal ignores communications intended for another terminal. Communication between each terminal and the base station is in the form of discrete digital messages. Each message specifies the identity of the transmitting unit and the identity of the unit intended to receive the message. The base-station unit 24 and the wireless terminal units 34 may be based on the Piccolink system available from Nordic ID of Salo, Finland. The terminals are preferably of a sufficiently small size to be conveniently held and carried by hand.

Stock is delivered to the shop via delivery entrance 16. Upon delivery, information relating to the delivered stock is input into the data input device 18. Data input device 18 preferably comprises a bar code reader, such that information may be input by scanning bar codes on the boxes containing the stock. The data input device may be a wireless terminal. Each such bar code should contain information relating to the contents of the box it is affixed to. In a preferred embodiment of the invention, this information will identify the goods, for example using a style number, in addition to indicating the number of items in the box. The barcode may also contain information relating to number of items of a particular size or colour contained in the box. By scanning the bar codes, this information is relayed via the server unit 20 to the data storage unit 22.

The data. storage unit 22 holds a database of the shop's stock. For each type of goods it stores the quantity of goods of that type in the shop. If goods are delivered that are of the same type as goods already in stock then when those goods are logged by the data input device and the corresponding information passed to the server unit 20 the server unit will increment the stock quantity stored for that type of goods in the data storage unit in accordance with number of items delivered. For items which are not of the same type as goods already in stock the server will if necessary, create a new record for the item in the data storage unit, such that the quantity of items delivered may be stored, and will then store the delivered quantity in the appropriate record.

In an alternative embodiment of the present invention, the information relating to the delivered stock may be entered manually at the server unit 20 by a member of staff. Alternatively the information may be contained in a bar code on a delivery note accompanying the delivered items, which can be scanned instead of scanning each individual box. The principal aim of entering this information into the floor stock control system is to record the number of items delivered so that the amount of a particular type of item in stock is available to the server.

The system also tracks sales of goods so that the quantities of goods that are stored in the database are decremented in accordance with the sales of items. In a preferred embodiment of the invention, after a sale is made, the point of sale terminal, such as a till, transmits a sale message to the server indicating how many of which type of goods have been sold. The server then decrements the stored stock quantity for the item in the data storage device accordingly. On occasions when items are returned to the shop by a customer in exchange for a refund, the stored stock quantity for the item is incremented accordingly. This however may not be the case when returned items are faulty. Since such items may not be resold, it would be undesirable to increment the stored stock quantity for the item. Therefore, in an embodiment of the invention the member of staff processing the refund at the till is able to prevent the stored stock quantity from being incremented by either preventing the message from being sent to the server, or by indicating in the message that the item is faulty and will not be returned to stock.

The sale message sent from the point of sale to the server 20 may be used to track the sales of a particular item. When the sale message is received by the sever, the server may store the quantity of the total number of sales of a particular item in the data storage unit. Additionally, or alternatively, the server may store in the data storage unit the number of sales of a particular item over a period of time, e.g. the number of sales in a day. A member of staff located at a separate location, e.g. head office, may retrieve the sales information using a personal computer connected to the server over a suitable network such as a PSTN (public service telephone network) or the internet.

Thus, the server 20 maintains a record of all the types of items available for sale in the shop, together with a quantity of each.

Figure 3 is a diagram of the shop floor 4. The shop floor 4 is used to display a selection of the goods in stock. Display stands 46 are commonly used in retail shops to present the items to the shopper in a manner which allows the shopper to view different ranges of items as well as being able to select a certain type of item from a particular range. For example, in a clothes shop a selection of different styles of clothing may be presented on the shop floor in different sizes, allowing the shopper to select items in the style and size of their choice. The display stands may be of a number of types, for example hanging racks, shelves and bins.

By means of the data input device 18 or 28, information on the configuration of the display stands is provided to the server 20. Each zone on the shelves in which a product may be stored is allocated an identity code. For convenience that code may correspond to a number which is represented by a bar code sticker at the zone itself. For each zone the server 20 stores the zone's code, and the type and quantity of goods at that zone. As goods of that type are sold the quantity at that zone is decremented accordingly by the server in the same way as for the total quantity of those goods. As goods of that type are restocked at the zone, as described below, the quantity at the zone is incremented accordingly. Initial information relating to display stands may be input into the server by scanning the barcode on the stand with the stock retrieving terminal 28 and then inputting the type and quantity of the goods there by means of the terminal. Alternatively, information relating to the stand may be input into the server manually by a member of staff. This information is stored on the data storage unit 22. The stock room has zones similar to those on the display floor. Each zone in the stock room has an identity code and, in a similar way to the display zones, the server 20 stores in the data storage unit 20 a record for each zone in the stock room which indicates the type and quantity of goods stored there.

Thus, the server has access to the following information stored in the data storage unit:

- the types of goods in the shop, and for each type the quantity in the shop that is available for sale;

- for each zone in the display area or the stock room the type and quantity of goods at that location, and preferably its capacity.

Conveniently each type of goods has a unique identity code by which it can be referenced, as does each zone in the display area or the stock room.

The floor stock control system is pre-programmed with an algorithm according to which it issues instructions to members of staff to move goods within the shop, to order goods from elsewhere or to expel goods from the shop.

Examples of the operation of the algorithm will now be given.

1. When goods are delivered to the shop a member of staff provides the server with details of the delivery, including the type of goods that are delivered and the quantity of each. As described above, this can be done by the barcode of each delivered item or its container being scanned. The server provides the member of staff with instructions on where to put the delivered items in the shop. That will be in a zone in either the stock room or the stock room, as determined according to the algorithm. If the item is to be placed in the stock room then the server informs the member of staff of the zone where goods of that type are already stored, or if that zone is full or there are no goods of that type already in the stock room, it allocates an empty zone in the stock room to items of that type. Alternatively, the allocation of empty zones may be done manually, as described below.

2. The server stores a replenish threshold for each zone in the display area. When the number of goods at that zone falls below the replenish threshold it issues an instruction for a member of staff to move goods of that type from the zone in the stock room at which they are stored to the relevant zone in the display area. The server may also store a display target for each type of goods. The server can then instruct the member of staff to move to the display area from the stock room as many items as will bring the number of displayed goods of that type to the display target.

3. The server stores a reorder threshold for each type of goods. When the quantity of those goods in the shop falls below the reorder threshold the server issues an instruction for a member of staff to reorder goods of that type. The server may also store a stock target for each type of goods. The server can then instruct the member of staff to order as many items as will bring the number of stocked goods of that type to the stock target. Alternatively, the server may order the goods automatically, via an external data connection to a supplier's computer system or a computer system at the shop's head office.

4. The server may determine by means of the algorithm that goods at one display zone should be moved to another display zone - for example to move them to a more or less prominent position in the shop so as to promote sales. In that situation the server issues instructions accordingly to the member of staff.

When goods are to be moved to or from a zone in the shop by a member of staff the server informs the member of staff of the identity of the zone. This means that clear instructions can easily be given to the staff. Also, because the server informs the staff of the zones from which goods are to be picked in the stock room, there is no need for the staff to organise the stock room so that similar types of goods are near each other in order that they can be found easily.

The server may issue its instructions to the staff by transmitting messages to their portable wireless terminals or, less preferably, by causing them to be printed out by a printer. When a message instructing the movement of goods arrives at a wireless terminal the terminal may issue an alert or may display an indicator indicating that the message has arrived. The message is then stored at the terminal. A user of the terminal may then view and act on the message at a time that is convenient for him. This can mean that there is no need for dedicated staff to perform the restocking. The terminals could be used for sales processing as described in our co-pending application EP 1 107 155. A salesman can view and act on messages sent to his terminal instructing movement of stock during quiet periods, when he may otherwise be unoccupied. If within a pre-set period from when the message was sent the server has not received confirmation that it was acted on then the server may either send a reminder message to the terminal that received the message, or send a message that cancels the first message, and then send an instruction for the same stock movement to another terminal.

When a member of staff receives an instruction concerning movement of stock he can use his terminal to inform the server that the instruction has been performed. To do this he may use his terminal to send to the server a message indicating simply that the instruction has been performed. Alternatively, stock movements may be recorder by the terminal in the following manner. When a member of staff removes stock from a location he informs his terminal of the location, and the type and number of items removed from that location. Then when he replaces the items at a new location he informs the terminal of that new location. Preferably the terminal may be informed of the locations by scanning bar codes at each location which correspond to the identity of the respective locations. Preferably the terminal may be informed of the types of the goods by scanning bar codes on the goods. The quantity may be entered by means of a keypad on the terminal. On receipt of all the required information the terminal may then pass that information in a message to the server.

In a chain shop the server 20 is preferably connected to a server at head office. The server 20 can inform the head office server periodically of stock movements and sales. The head office server can instruct the server 20 to issue staff with instructions to move stock, normally with the intention of optimising sales.

In an embodiment of the present invention, a member of staff assigns a particular type of item to a particular display stand and inputs this information into the server. Assuming that it is desirable to fill the capacity of the stand, in this embodiment the capacity of the display stand is then the only variable in calculating, the quantity and the quantity of stock to be displayed. When a sale message to the server indicates that an item has been sold and therefore left the display, the server calculates the percentage of the quantity of stock remaining on the display compared to the capacity of the display. If this percentage falls below a threshold percentage which may be preset by a member of staff, the server firstly accesses the data storage device to see the quantity of items in stock and then calculates how many items to take from the stock room and put on display. This calculation may be simply to fill the capacity of the stand. The server then sends message a via the wireless base station to a stock retrieving terminal 28 instructing the member of staff operating the terminal to retrieve the calculated number of the particular type of item. The message also contains the identity of the stand on which the items should be stocked.

As previously mentioned, the information relating to the display stands include an indication of the zone in which the stand is located. Figure 3 shows six zones 48 which are indicated by dashed lines. In one embodiment of the invention, each zone indicates an area in which a particular category of item is displayed. For example zone 50 may be reserved for displaying handbags, whilst zone 52 may be reserved for displaying boots.

Zones may be used by the server to allocate a display stand to a type of item of stock which is not yet on display. On receiving a delivery of a new type of item, the server may allocate a display stand according to the stock type as indicated on the barcode which is read by the data input device when the new stock is delivered.

In order to accommodate the new type of stock in the shop it is necessary for space to be created on the display stand. In an embodiment of the present invention, the server runs an algorithm which identifies a poor selling type of item in the zone having the lowest rate of sale. The rate of sale is calculated from the message sales as previously described. The percentage. of space that the poor selling item occupies on a display stand is reduced to a minimum number specified by a member of staff, or withdrawn from the display. The poor selling item may be allowed to sell out or may be recalled to the stock room. In order for the items to be returned to the stock room the server sends a message via the wireless base station to the stock retrieving terminal 28 instructing the member of staff operating the terminal to retrieve the poor selling items and place them in storage in the stock room. Once the poor selling items have been removed from the display either by a member of staff or through sale, the server sends a second message to the stock retrieving terminal 28 to send a quantity of the new stock to the display. The identity of the display is included in the message.

In response to changes in external conditions, such as weather, current public events or current affairs, the system may issue instructions for changes in the displaying of items, for example instructions for items to be moved to more or less prominent positions in the display area of a shop (including the shop's window), or to be moved between a display area and a stock room. Thus the range of items on display may be adapted to short-term changes in retail conditions.

The system can return to the head office data on sales and stock movements within the shop. These could be analysed, and the data returned from different shops in a chain compared to provide data on the influence of display position on the sales of items, and on the types of items that are more likely to be sold in one shop than another. For example, it might be found that (a) sales of footwear are increased if those items are displayed in a more prominent position in a shop, whereas sales of underwear are increased if the items are displayed in a less prominent position in a shop; or that (b) more clothing items in larger sizes are sold in one geographical area than in another; or that (c) work clothes are more likely to be bought on weekdays, whereas evening clothes are more likely to be bought at weekends. Using this data the system at the head office can (either automatically or manually) develop instructions to be sent to shops to have stock moved with the aim of exploiting this data to increase sales. For example, in response to the conditions mentioned above, the following steps may be taken: (a) have footwear moved to a more prominent position and underwear moved to a less prominent position; (b) increase stocks of larger sized clothing at the locations where they are more popular; (c) instruct staff to move work clothes to prominent positions on Monday mornings and issue instructions to have evening clothes moved to prominent positions on Friday evenings. In general, the data received at the head office can be analysed to determine factors of the location of items in a store that have a positive correlation with sales of those items, and instructions can then be issued for the movement of stock to those locations. If the factors are interlinked with environmental conditions such as weather or time of the week then the instructions based on those factors may be issued when those factors occur or are expected to occur.

The system can return to the head office data that can be used to monitor the performance of staff at a shop. These include the time taken to respond to instructions to move stock and the levels of sales of items. These can be compared with data received from other shops.

Reports of various events can be generated at each shop or at head office. One useful report lists events of levels of stock of an item falling below a pre-set threshold level. This can be used as a warning to initiate supply of more of those items to the shop. Instructions for the supply of the items to the shop could be generated automatically in response to the warning.

The present system may also address the problem of wasted space in stock rooms. Since the system stores the location of each item of stock (i.e. the bay in the stock room or the zone in the display area at which it is located) instructions to staff to move stock will take the form of:

Move [quantity] of [item] from [first location] to [second location] Since staff are informed of the first location, even if it is in the stock room, there is no need for staff to label bays in the stock room with the type of item that is to be stored there, or to remember or keep a manual record of what stock is where in the stock room. Therefore, when stock is to be placed in the stock room the system can dynamically allocate a free bay to that stock, instruct the member of staff to store it there, and store a record of what stock was stored there. As a result, a greater efficiency of usage of storage bays can be achieved than in a conventional system. Preferably, the allocation of a bay to a set of items occurs when the items are delivered to the shop. When a delivery arrives a member of staff provides the system with the identity of the items that have arrived (e.g. by scanning bar codes on the items). Then the system allocates storage locations to the items and instructs a member of staff to move the newly-delivered items to the allocated locations. These may be locations in the store room or in the display area. Alternatively, or in addition, a member of staff may be permitted to manually alter the location of stock. In that case the member of staff should inform the system of the items that have been moved, their former location and their new location so that the system can update its record of where they are.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the staff may be instructed to place best selling items, which are identified by the system, in areas of the stock room that are close to the sales area so that these items may be reached more easily.

Using the data available, an estimate can be made of the amount of sales that may have been lost due to slow replenishment of stock.

Ordering of new goods to the shop, or ordering of movement of goods from the stockroom to the display area may occur when the respective goods to be replenished have reached a threshold level, or when they are expected to reach a threshold level, after a predetermined time, based on expected sales.

The applicant hereby discloses in isolation each individual feature described herein and any combination of two or more such features, to the extent that such features or combinations are capable of being carried out based on the present specification as a whole in the light of the common general knowledge of a person skilled in the art, irrespective of whether such features or combinations of features solve any problems disclosed herein, and without limitation to the scope of the claims. The applicant indicates that aspects of the present invention may consist of any such individual feature or combination of features. In view of the foregoing description it will be evident to a person skilled in the art that various modifications may be made within the scope of the invention.

Claims

. A control system for directing the movement of items in a shop having a plurality of item storage units each comprising a zone where items can be stored, at least some of the item storage units being located in a display area of the shop, each item having an item identity indicative of the type of item that it is, and each storage unit having a unique storage unit identity indicative of which of the storage units it is, the system comprising: input means capable of receiving item movement data comprising the item identity of an item, the storage unit identity of a storage unit and activity data indicative of that item having been located in that storage unit, and transmitting that data to the storage means in the form of an item movement message; storage means capable of receiving an item movement message from the input means and storing a record of the item identified by the item identity in the movement data being located at the storage unit identified by the storage unit identity in the movement data; control means arranged to analyse the content of the storage means and to direct the movement of items from one storage unit to another in accordance with the content of the storage means.

2. A control system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the storage means stores, for each storage unit, the quantity and type of item stored at that location.

3. A control system as claimed in claim 1 or 2, wherein the storage means stores, for each storage unit, the capacity of that storage unit.

4. A control system as claimed in claim 3, wherein the control means is capable of performing an incoming stock operation in which: the input means is capable of receiving incoming item data comprising the item identity of an item, and activity data indicative of that item having arrived at the shop, and transmitting that data to the control means in the form of an incoming item message; the control means is responsive to an incoming item message to identify a storage unit for receiving the item in accordance with the content of the storage means and to direct the movement of the item to that storage unit.

5. A control system as claimed in claim 3 or 4, wherein the control means is capable of performing a stock relocation operation in which: the control means is arranged to be responsive to receiving an item relocation message comprising the item identity of an item and the storage unit identity of a storage unit and activity data indicative of that item requiring to be moved to that location to query the storage means to determine the storage unit at which the item is currently located, and to direct the movement of the item from that storage unit to the storage unit whose identity is contained in the item relocation message.

6. A control system as claimed in any preceding claim, comprising a user terminal capable of displaying instructions to a user, and wherein in order to direct the movement of an item to a storage unit the control system transmits a movement direction message to the user terminal, the message comprising at least the item identity of the item and the storage unit identity of the storage unit.

7. A control system as claimed in claim 6, wherein the movement direction message comprises the storage unit identity of the storage unit where the item is currently located.

8. A control system as claimed in claim 6 or 7, wherein the terminal is capable of acting as the input means.

9. A control system as claimed in any of claims 6 to 8, wherein the terminal is capable of wireless communication with the storage unit and the control means.

10. A control system as claimed in any of claims 6 to 9, wherein the item identity is a bar code and the terminal includes a bar code reader for inputting item identities to the terminal.

11. A control system as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the control means includes a local portion located at the shop and a remote portion remote from the shop.

12. A control system as claimed in claim 11 , wherein the remote portion is arranged to store records of the movement of items between storage units.

13. A control system as claimed in any of claims 3 to 12 as dependent directly or indirectly on claim 2, comprising a financial transaction unit located at the shop for performing financial transactions, the financial transaction unit being capable of transmitting to the storage unit item sales data comprising the item identity of an item, and activity data indicative of that item having been sold, and transmitting that data to the storage means in the form of an item sales message; and wherein the storage means is responsive to the item sales message from the input means to decrement the quantity of items of the identity of the item identified in the item sales message stored as being located at a storage unit at which they are located.