Can RFID Labels Save Traditional Retailing?

On April 18th, according to foreign media reports, in 2003 June, when Linda Dillman, WAL-MART's chief information officer, said at a retailer supply chain meeting, WAL-MART asked suppliers to paste RFID labels on pallets and boxes in WAL-MART. Initially, WAL-MART only made the request to the 100 largest suppliers, such as Procter & Gamble and HP. In 2006, WAL-MART made this request to all suppliers.

In 2007, WAL-MART changed its strategy because many suppliers thought that the RFID label increased the cost and did not bring the corresponding return. Although WAL-MART and many suppliers did not give up completely RFID Tags But the "promise" that RFID tags triggered the supply chain revolution did not materialize.

Like barcode, RFID tags enable retailers to identify goods or boxes and provide richer information. At present, RFID shoulders a more important mission: through the "multi-channel" sales mode -- traditional stores, Online retailers Social media helps traditional retailers to enhance their competitiveness compared with electric providers. According to Monetate, a market research firm, in 2012, 1/5 of online shoppers shoped through mobile devices and grew by nearly 50% to 1/3 in 2013.

Messi RFID, a senior vice president of logistics and operations at Messi stores, said, "RFID technology enables retailers to check inventory regularly and make inventory data more accurate." (Bill Connell) If there is no accurate understanding of the stock of goods, multi-channel sales mode is not feasible.

Some retailers find that RFID is still very useful. Messi store has tried RFID technology in Bloomingdale SoHo store since 2009. Connell said, "we label all the goods in the store with RFID tags and start scanning and periodically stocktaking."

By seeing or scanning bar code It takes much more time to complete the work. Connell explains, "using barcode, retailers can inventory 1 or 2 times a year, and the accuracy is limited, because people may make mistakes in distracting their inventory, or scan the same product repeatedly. With RFID, retailers can inventory 24 inventories a year, and the accuracy can reach more than 90%.

Because of the success of early experiments, Messi stores began deploying RFID technology in its 850 chain stores. Connell said that since the beginning of this month, Messi's department store has significantly increased the number of suppliers who want to paste RFID labels. This summer, Messi store plans to use half a half of the supplier's RFID tag.

RFID has proved to be much more helpful to retailers in terms of sales than the supply chain. This is especially true for clothing with a large number of colors and sizes. Retailers often fail to understand inventory accurately. Bill Hadegrave, President of Auburn University business school, said: "the warehouse can carry out six sigma management, and stores can not manage Bill Hardgrave. Store environment is too confusing, and sales process is not repeatable, customers are shopping differently every day. Weather patterns that influence buying patterns are different every day, so shops are where RFID can play its value.