3 Ways RFID Technology Improves Retail

Without question, radio frequency identification (RFID) technology has grown leaps and bounds since the early 2000s. Since then, RFID technology has been increasingly deployed to identify and track pieces of inventory in retail operations across the globe. In fact, over 90% of retailers in North America are using RFID technology in some fashion, and nearly 50% have completely integrated the technology. At the same time, over 60% of retailers are planning to utilize it in their operations by 2026, according to global research conducted by Zebra Technologies. Despite these statistics, this innovative technology is still underutilized in the world of retail. In the world of modern retailing, RFID technology is the key to precise, efficient operations. Contrary to a printed barcode, RFID technology utilizes a tag that gathers large amounts of information—such as item number, entry date, size, color, location, type, origin, and price. Barcodes must be scanned individually, while RFID readers can scan thousands of items on a single pallet in seconds. Clearly, the advantages of RFID technology are clear. When implementing RFID technology into your retailing operations, you’ll see benefits such as:

• Increased Product Availability – Assuring high levels of product availability is crucial to supporting sales in retail. At the same time, however, low product availability and out-of-stocks are shockingly a common occurrence in the industry—which lead to lost sales because of insufficient replenishment processes and inaccuracies in stock. With RFID, stock accuracy is increased to 99% from the conventional 60-80%.
• Optimized Supply Chain Traceability – With RFID, both inbound and outbound reads are streamlined. As a result, items are accurately accounted for throughout each step of the supply chain. These high levels of stock visibility also reduce the rate of errors in shipping or picking, since they are identified by RFID readers and corrected by employees in real-time. 
• Enhanced Inventory Visibility – Thanks to the convenience and accuracy of RFID-based stock counts, retailers can consistently obtain complete item-level inventory visibility throughout their stores and supply chains. 

As you can see, the future in retail coincides with RFID-fueled workflows. If you want to better your business across every point, the integration of our innovative RFID devices and solutions is a great first step. If you’re ready to make the jump into modern retailing, reach out to Strategic Systems today to get started.