RETAIL / FRANCHISE

A significant performance improvement in RFID hardware and tags has led to a leap in capability. ARS’ product line provides many opportunities to reduce costs, raise revenue and boost customer satisfaction in the retail sector. Access to more accurate inventory data improves on shelf product availability and reduces inventory costs which leads to higher revenue and profits for both retailers and vendors.

The following retail applications can provide significant ROI using RFID and RTLS:

• Inventory management – cycle counting
• Brand authentication
• Shrinkage – theft and return fraud

INVENTORY MANAGEMENT

The key beneficiary of better inventory management is the retail shopper. Better inventory accuracy leads to better shelf availability of the items needed by the customer. Studies show that people are not negotiable in their purchase of a few key items. If the store fails to maintain stock of those items, they risk losing the customer altogether because they will go somewhere else to make their purchase. Retailers have been driven to a system where bi annual physical inventories are supplemented with time consuming, tedious cycle counts by their staff. ARS can increase inventory accuracy to 95% or better while simultaneously offering a 90-96% reduction in time to cycle count. For stores such as Wal-Mart, J.C. Penney, Macy’s and Dillard’s, this is a significant paradigm shift. It is now possible for the stores to conduct a weekly inventory in less time that it took them to conduct 2 full inventories a year. RFID will enable retailers to set a cycle counting strategy period. ARS offers tools to define cycle counting based on turns and shrinkage for various product categories. The benefit is elimination of stock outs of product categories with high SKU counts such as apparel and books leading to improved revenue and customer satisfaction.

BRAND AUTHENTICATION

Brand authentication technology is an elegant and extremely effective method for ensuring that high value items are legitimate and not cheap knock offs, protecting both brand and customer satisfaction. ARS offers cost effective RFID tags to eliminate counterfeiting of high value cosmetics, electronics, apparel and pharmaceuticals.

THEFT & RETURNS FRAUD

Return on investment for using RFID and RTLS to minimize theft and returns fraud is realistic today. ARS can ensure that product is automatically registered as it passes through RFID equipped read zones on its way from the back room, to the sales floor, the cash register and home with the shopper. By authenticating that process, it is now possible to use that knowledge to reject returns that represent fraudulent claims by professional organizations to defraud retailers.