TREND: RFID technology for real-time stock management in the retail sector

The buying behaviour of consumers evolves continuously. The modern customer decides for himself where, when and how he purchases products: he therefore expects retailers to be present anywhere, anytime and to always have the right information, both when shopping online and offline. In order for retailers to live up to these expectations, accurate and real-time stock management is crucial. RFID can play an important role to impove the visibility of your inventory.

Faster stock control 

“By integrating RFID labels in products and installing RFID read points at crucial places, hundreds of products can be scanned at the same time and without line-of-sight”, RFID Business Unit Manager Jason Scrivens explains. “This way, retailers can identify their stocks fast and in real-time. Moreover, they save a lot on their logistic costs: because the products are shipped to customers from the location closest to them, less storage space is needed and the inventory rotates faster. The data flow generated by the logistic movements of the products leads to important insights for demand forecasting.”   

Simpler and less expensive 

The high price tag of an RFID solution that retailers used to bump into sometimes is no longer a reason to hesitate nowadays. The price of a tag is at one-tenth, that of reading devices such as readers and antennas at 1/5th compared to 20 years ago, which has substantially reduced the payback period of an RFID solution. Furthermore, more and more retailers are applying standards like GS1. This makes the integrated approach of an RFID rollout even easier”, Scrivens concludes.   

Fashion retail switches faster with RFID 

Since the impressive growth of online shopping, top retailers like Zara and Nike have realised that automation of their stock management with RFID is the way-to-go. As they know where their items are at all times – in their distribution centres and up until store level – they can guarantee the online and offline availabilty of their products and respond very fast to their customers’ needs. And a satisfied, loyal customer base in turn ensures great sales figures. Because the items are readable in bulk and without line-of-sight the customer can also pay faster at the self-checkout or return products in an easy way.