RFID technology is actually not a new thing, it has been widely used for many years, including Macy's, ZARA, Decathlon Sports, many US retail industries are using this technology. Its working principle is very simple, that is, every product has a radio frequency ID tag, and the tag has its own unique magnetic signature. The signature is extracted by the recipient or RFID reader, which is not only unique but also shows the location of the marked product.
Because the tag is magnetically read, it has a higher efficiency than the general visual scanning system, and the tag and reader do not need messy communication lines. Therefore, the direct benefit of the RFID system is that retailers can reduce the time to obtain inventory data by 90%. In other words, it takes only 45 minutes to use RFID technology for inventory data that originally took three days to learn.
RFID also greatly improves accuracy. The actual inventory scanned manually has an error of about 4%, and this value will be superimposed every year, so the cycle inventory of the entire sales year may have an error of more than 60% during the peak sales season.
In contrast, the error caused by RFID technology is usually only 0.5%, which means that the inventory will be much more accurate throughout the year. Next, let's talk in detail about the specific advantages that RFID technology brings to the retail industry.
1. Implement major product planning
Most chain retail stores have a plan for the location of the merchandise displayed in the store. This is especially true for the fashion retail industry because there are usually multiple displays in the store, and these display costs are often paid by their brands. However, the more stores a retail chain operates, the more difficult it will be for each store to accurately implement a centralized buyer’s merchandise plan.
Place some readers in some important areas of the store, and you can get the location information of most products in a smaller area. This means that centralized purchasers can get a report of the wrong product information in each store.
This means that if a woman's sporting goods are incorrectly placed in the position of the boots, the problem will be immediately displayed in the report, thereby giving the store an opportunity to take timely measures to correct the error. In addition, goods that should have been displayed in the store are often placed in the warehouse. With a well-functioning RFID system, managers can determine whether there are still some badly sold goods in the warehouse.
2. Inventory accuracy-improve click rate and pickup rate
Most businesses will adopt an "omnichannel retail strategy", which means that customers can buy online and then pick up the goods themselves in physical stores. Of course, this click-through rate and pickup rate strategy depends on the accuracy of each store's inventory count.
In other words, if the system shows that there are two units of stored goods in a certain store, but the fact is that there is no inventory in the store, it will be embarrassing when a customer appears in the store to pick up the goods. The customer will be left with one Very bad experience. The excellent accuracy of RFID technology will also make businesses more confident about the location of the products in the store displayed by the system.
3. Understand product hot spots
Another advantage of RFID is that it can record the location of the merchandise displayed in the store. This record can be combined with sales data to figure out which displays and areas in the store have the best sales volume.
Of course, different areas in the store may have an impact on the sales of different commodities. Combining the reference inventory type, store type, and display area, RFID technology can give the best possible solution.
4. Pay attention to customers' fitting habits
One of the key indicators of fashion retail is to understand customers' fitting room habits. Whether a customer actually wears a certain piece of clothing in the fitting room is a very valuable piece of information. Some businesses will put RFID readers at the entrance of the fitting room, which will collect some information including size and color for them. Useful information. So we can learn some interesting data points as follows:
The first question is whether this dress has never been tried. This means that the customer has no interest in this dress at all. The reason may be that there is a problem with the display of the clothing, or in a place where the visual effect is not good, or in a place that does not attract customers' attention at all.
However, if the customer tried the clothes but still did not buy them, that is a completely different problem. It may be because of the problem of the clothing itself: What size clothing is not popular? Which colors are particularly popular? These are what centralized buyers need to know so that they can better understand why some products are very popular, while some do not meet expectations.
5. Fast and accurate checkout
With the use of RFID technology, the cashier does not even need to take the product out of the customer's shopping cart and can check out with the help of the system. This can skip the manual scanning process and will make a fundamental change in the waiting time, especially during peak periods, the effect is more significant. In addition, the performance of RFID technology during settlement greatly reduces the cash reconciliation error at the cashier.
6. Helps reduce theft
Many businesses will embed the RFID tag on the security device of each product, and some will embed it on a separate tag, or even embed the RFID in the product itself.
The clerk will even know where the product is as long as it is within the range of the reader, the system will know whether the product has been brought to an unallowable place. Secondly, the RFID system helps prevent ghosts. Many employees will hide one or two items in some places in the store and wait for them to go home after getting off work. The application of RFID technology will greatly prevent this phenomenon.
7. Can be used as a temperature measuring instrument
For food and beverages, understanding the temperature records of perishable products is essential to maintaining their freshness and quality. Membrane Electronics has produced an RFID tag with a built-in micro-thermometer. This tag can record the temperature record of a certain product. In this way, stores and even customers with this product will have a more intuitive and accurate climate record to prevent potential loss.
8. Identify the authenticity of the product
The regular manufacturer of the product can embed the RFID tag in the relatively hidden place of the product, and the distributor can distinguish the authenticity by scanning the tag. However, the problem is:
The RFID tag itself is quite cheap. The question is how to add it to the product. The most economical and effective way is to embed it in the production process. If it is a garment, consider sewing a label to the garment, or sew a sewing label for the garment.
Many retailers can use purchasing power to force suppliers to embed RFID tags in their products. For merchants with independent brands such as Decathlon Sports and ZARA, it may be relatively simple. However, for most reselling brand distributors, it is not easy to persuade big brands to add RFID tags to their products, especially for those brands that have not yet adopted RFID systems.
If you want to more accurately locate the floor where the product is located, a reader is very important. Through the combined use of the reader, the product can also be triangulated. Many large retailers use handheld readers to reduce costs, and they can also add RFID to the bottom of the bar code through additional equipment, thereby realizing RFID of goods.
RFID products manufactured by YANZEO have been used in many stores, and they have realized intelligence and efficiency in retail. If you want to know more about RFID technology after reading the above, YANZEO is happy to provide you with relevant knowledge.
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RFID and barcode manufacturer, YANZEO has gained praise and trust from many customers with its excellent R&D technology and thoughtful after-sales service. In order to ensure the quality of our products, we are equipped with a professional quality inspection system and a comprehensive management team. Our products are sold all over the world and used in all walks of life. If you are interested in our RFID products, please contact us immediately!