This summer, thousands of people will have been to UK airports on the first stage of their holidays and it seems a safe bet that a large number will have taken advantage of the Duty and Tax Free shopping opportunities to find a bargain.

With over 90 stores in 26 locations across the UK, USA and Sri Lanka, Alpha Retail is a leading retailer within this market. As well as Alpha Airport Shopping, the group owns and runs specialist stores such as World News, Sunglasses Studio and Glorious Britain (as seen in local towns such as Windsor), as well as food outlets and bars in airports throughout the UK, including Manchester and Luton.

In a market place where the key selling point is price, Alpha Retail needs to present a strong price message to the customer. One way in which it achieves this is by displaying products such as wines, spirits and tobacco in bulk with an attention-grabbing price label in front. This also saves time by removing the need to label individual items.

To meet its ticketing needs, Alpha Retail recognised the advantages of a flexible and cost-effective in-house printing solution, which could instantly produce eye-catching labels, when required. Acting on recommendation from its existing printing bureau, Surrey-based company Eastman-POS, Alpha invested in Epson Aculaser C900 colour laser printers, along with Eastman-POS's net.tickIT software package.

The solution allows each shelf edge ticket to be selected and viewed on the shop's back office PC, simply by keying the individual product code. A new colour ticket can be printed in a matter of seconds. This is invaluable as it maintains a fresh look with updated prices in line with till prices and shop display needs.

The ticket template can be customised to accommodate changes in price, or company branding. This is particularly important as each ticket has to carry information on whether or not the product is Duty Free, Duty Paid or Tax Free. In addition, the high impact, colour graphics and logos enable the shop to highlight the saving a customer can make, compared to recommended retail price. A significant selling message for Alpha.

Alpha Retail has successfully implemented Epson colour laser printers in the UK and further expansion is already planned. Alistair McGregor-Gray, Process and Project Manager at Alpha Retail, is certainly impressed: "The Epson printers have speeded up our business processes enormously. They have exceeded our expectations and we are very happy."