The fashion industry was one of the first retail sales sectors to adopt RFID technology

In recent years, mainly in the USA and Europe, dozens of fashion retailers like Marks & Spencer, Levi’s, Throttleman, American Apparel, Le Coq Sportif, Karstadt, Dillards and Galeria Kaufhof have implemented RFID product identification projects to improve their supply chain processes and retail outlet operations.

For such an industry, experiencing seasonal peaks and handling large volumes of goods, the use of RFID tags in the supply chain offers significant advantages:

-    A major improvement in inventory accuracy and speed, resulting in better supply management, greater on-shelf availability and therefore more sales.A clear illustration of the advantages of RFID is that it enables bulk, ‘on-the-fly’ reading, thereby cutting inventory times by 90% and, at the same time, substantially improving inventory accuracy, as RFID leaves little room for human error and information on the style, size and color of an article can all be stored on the tag.

-   Unprecedented fashion logistics productivity gains can be achieved thanks to improved reception, shipment and inventory processes in manufacturing factories, distribution centers and stores.The simultaneous, contactless and ‘on-the-fly’ reading of hanging articles and articles folded into boxes radically reduces the time spent counting and controlling articles during reception and shipment operations. Because it takes only a few seconds to identify all the articles on a pallet, a rack or in a parcel, our customers are spending 12 times less time checking their goods.

Thanks to RFID technology, today we have easier and abundant life than before. It not only change the way we purchasing, but also change the way of production.   It builds an efficient information highway between the manufacturers and end customers, at one end of highway, manufactures can get instant sales status and make right decision on business, while at the other end, customers can directly get the products details and enjoy the fast purchasing  that high technique brought.

Though there are still some concerns upon the newly emerged RFID technology, however as more successful stories come we believe the bright future of RFID technology will come soon.

Continuing on with our five-part series in which we review the advantages of RFID within several industries, we examine the advantages RFID is providing the retail industry:

Inventory Shrinkage (Shrink) Reduction

• Track retail items between point of manufacture or purchase from supplier and point of sale.

• Real-time notification of security when RFID tagged items leave area without payment

• Competitive advantage – saving money on theft allows to offer product at lower prices

RFID Smart Labeling

• Monitor unattended inventory

• Automatic item identification on mixed pallets

• "Smart Shelf" systems – designed to provide real time tracking and lovating of tagged items on shelves

• Shipping and Receiving applications

Shelf Stocking

• Real-time notification of out-of –stock items

• Improvement of product replenishment

• Retention of consumers who may turn to competitors if inventory item is out-of-stock

• Automated charting and tracking for improved product forecasting

Check-out Process  

• Reduce time spent in line

• Reduce labor/time cost of employees

• Streamline check-out process with ability to scan multiple items and pay for them all at once

Overhead Reduction

• Track product shipping and receiving from point-to-point automatically versus manual tracking to save time and labor cost

• Know how many units of inventory or on-site via automated RFID system versus manual process, saving labor and time cost

• Efficiency in error reduction reduces manual labor cost