![]() ![]() “Using practically any smartphone, one can walk over to a lower-priced item and read the tag, then walk over to a higher-priced item and write the information from the lower-priced item to its tag. “RFID tags can be very easy to clone, especially if the chip has no authentication mechanism,” said Mitchell. As Mitchell illustrates, it doesn’t take more than a smartphone to hack: CON: Securityįor all the magic and customer-enhancing experiences RFID promises to deliver, security remains a top concern among retail industry professionals. “Imagine picking up some items and simply auto-paying as you walk out of a store,” Bale said. This applies to inventory, checkouts and to streamlining processes. ![]() This is the time-saving advantage of RFID, where entire areas can be scanned in seconds. “While traditional barcodes require line of sight for scanning, and each item has to be scanned individually, an entire shopping cart can be scanned all at once, instantly, with no items being removed from the basket.” “RFID can also help reduce wait times at the checkout as well,” Mitchell said. Without the data points that RFID provides, none of this is possible. This is an example of a use case scenario using many tools, where RFID enables the entire experience. “ Lowes has an app that can route you through the store and guide you to that specific item, because you know where the inventory is in real time.” This works particularly well, he said, with retailers such as Lowes Home Improvement, where customers may struggle to find a niche item like a wrench or faucet. Imagine knowing where a product is, in the store, at all times. PRO: Smart shelvingīale sees RFID as the future of customer engagement. This offers retailers an entirely new way to track trends and gather data - plus being able to know specifics around what’s in stock and what walks out the door. ![]() This is especially helpful for apparel, where a barcode might say, ‘This is a $300 sundress,’ and an RF security tag might say, ‘Someone just walked off with something.’ An RFID tag can tell you ‘this is a $300 sundress in a size 0, it’s coral pink this is the one with a small snag by the hem but it’s still super cute, it arrived in the store three weeks ago, you just put it on the rack last week, and now it’s walking out the front door.'” Mitchell explained it well: “RFID tags carry unique identification numbers and can store a moderate amount of data, which can be used to identify and track items on an individual level anywhere in the store. Straightforward inventory control is one thing, but what about descriptors that tell you far more detail than a generic description could ever provide? RFID gives retailers a heightened inventory accuracy that makes all this possible. Customers want to know what’s in stock, and they want to know where they can get it, such as buying something online and choosing in-store pickup. “Traditional barcodes can only identify products on a basic level, and all products of the same type have identical barcodes.”īetter inventory control leads to better customer experience, especially critical in chains with multiple store locations and hitting the expectations of omnichannel fulfillment. “RFID can be most beneficial when it comes to enhanced inventory control and loss prevention, where RFID can help give you much greater visibility into and more granular control over your inventory,” said Emily Mitchell, COO of password-cracking firm Sagitta HPC, which specializes in breaking authentication and encryption technologies. To ensure you receive the most ROI, consider the following pros and cons before investing in RFID for your retail business. If a company buys it without use cases for it, then there’s no ROI.” Holden Bale, lead retail strategist for ThoughtWorks, a global consultancy focused on using technology to drive business innovation in retail, noted that, “RFID is meaningless if it’s not used as an enabler. Though its actual user numbers are still estimated to be in the single-digit range, retailers are scrambling to secure a place for RFID in their future roadmap - no one can argue that it’s one of the hottest trends to hit the industry.īut remember, like any new technology, know how and why you’re going to use it before you move forward. RFID has fallen dramatically in price, especially when purchased in mass. It was a sparkling new concept, used primarily for inventory accuracy.įast forward to today. At that time, Walmart was the first big retailer to experiment with the new technology, which cost an astounding $1.50 per tag. RFID, or radio frequency identification, has come a long way since the early 2000s. ![]()
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