Retailers are always on the lookout for ways to test and implement technology to operate more efficiently, set themselves apart from the competition and improve the shopping experience.
RFID isn’t a new technology, but retailers are beginning to see how this tech can directly benefit their bottom line in unexpected ways.
RFID is a tracking technology that uses small tags or chips to transmit a signal to remote scanners. In 2019, research showed 73% of retailers had implemented or were currently implementing or piloting RFID. That number had nearly doubled from 2016.
So, why exactly is RFID use on the rise? The majority of retailers see the technology as a clear path to more accurate inventory counts, but some innovative retailers are using it in more unique ways for more than simple inventory management.
Benefits of RFID in retailer
- Reduces warehouse and labor costs
It replaces the barcode labor-intensive process of tracking cases, pallets, individual products and cartons with sensors. This can help reduce labor costs as well as service charges of shelf inventory and stock management. Moreover, RFID has unique tags, which make the system error-free as compared to the bar code system.
- Cuts labor-intensive cost
With RFID enabled goods, calculation can be done with a swift scan of all products in the cart reducing labor-intensive costs. Additionally, this will improve the current system being used, helping to enhance adoption, thereby eliminating fraud.
- Eliminates losses
Inventory accuracy helps to eliminate missing/excess inventory, write downs and losses. With RFID, you can minimize inventory errors so that the records provided are factual. RFID tags are also popular since they can withstand harsh temperature and environment.
- Improves planning and forecasting
Visibility improvement can improve the planning capabilities to keep track of the inventory and what changes are made to it. This system will therefore help reduce fraud and losses, as well as missing inventory.
- Reduces losses and theft
With RFID, goods are tracked with pin-point accuracy to ensure there are no inventory errors, which can lead to loses. RFID can also be used in retail stores to keep track of high priced items, to prevent theft.
When organizations use RFID for high end security jobs like payment methods, theft still remains inevitable.