What are RFID retail solutions?

RFID Basic Concepts

RFID is the abbreviation of Radio Frequency Identification, that is, radio frequency recognition, commonly known as electronic tags. RFID is a non-contact automatic identification technology, which automatically identifies the target object and acquires relevant data through radio frequency signal, and the identification work without human intervention, and can work in various harsh environments. RFID technology can identify high-speed moving objects and can identify multiple tags at the same time, and the operation is fast and convenient.

The basic components of RFID

The most basic RFID system consists of three components.

• 1. Tag: by the coupling components and chips, each tag has a unique electronic code, attached to the object to identify the target object;
• 2. Reader: read (and sometimes write) tag information equipment, can be designed for handheld or fixed;
• 3. The antenna: in the tag and the reader between the transmission of radio frequency signal.

The basic working principle of RFID technology

The basic working principle of RFID technology is not complicated: the tag enters the magnetic field, receives the RF signal from the decoder, and sends out the product information stored in the chip by virtue of the energy obtained from the induction current (passive tag), or actively sends a signal of a certain frequency (active tag); the decoder reads the information and decode it, then send it to the central information system for relevant data processing.

What is RFID Retail Solution?

Because of its unique identification method and technology features, RFID can bring tremendous benefits to retailers and suppliers as well as customers; it enables supply chain systems to track merchandise dynamics more easily and automatically in an efficient manner, allowing for truly automated item management. In addition, RFID provides the retail industry with advanced and convenient data collection methods, convenient customer transactions, efficient operations, fast and insightful decision-making tools, and other benefits that cannot be replaced by barcode technology.

Why You Need RFID Retail Solutions

With the pioneering application of RFID technology in the export-oriented goods manufacturing industry, the rise of labor costs in the retail industry, the growth of demand for lower logistics costs, and the need for retail enterprises to compete and develop themselves, the rise of unmanned retail/intelligent retail, etc., will provide the objective demand for modern retail industry to rapidly apply RFID technology as a driving force, it can be predicted that RFID technology in enhancing the competitiveness of modern retail enterprises It is predicted that RFID technology will play an increasingly important role in enhancing the competitiveness of modern retail enterprises.

The essence of RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) is to achieve identification and information recognition of items with the help of radio frequency technology (RF). Since 1937, RFID technology began to take shape as a model, with priority applications in the military, laboratories and other fields, and developed enemy identification systems, air traffic control systems, shopping mall anti-theft systems and so on. With the development of the Internet of Things industry, RFID technology is gradually popularized and applied in our daily life, bringing convenience and speed to people’s life.

Retail industry from procurement, storage, packaging, loading and unloading, transportation, distribution, sales to service, the entire supply chain interlocked. Companies must have a real-time, accurate grasp of the entire flow of commerce, logistics, information and capital flows and changes, and RFID effectively provides the retail industry with business operations data input / output, business process control and tracking, as well as reducing the error rate. Therefore, RFID technology is quite attractive to the retail industry, which focuses on logistics and inventory management, and the retail giants are very enthusiastic about it.

Due to the rapid expansion of retail enterprises, they generally present the characteristics of logistics and distribution such as multiple varieties of goods, small batch, high distribution frequency, multiple distribution points, fast distribution requirements and the need for perfect information system support, making the whole logistics activities more complex, the logistics system is greatly extended, the complexity of logistics system planning makes it a field that only experts can get involved in. Therefore, along with the rapid development of retail enterprises. The demand for the use of specialized and personalized logistics services to improve the quality and efficiency of logistics services has arisen.

Running out of stock is a major taboo for retailers. Wal-Mart has pointed out that if it can solve the problem of 1% of products out of stock, then Wal-Mart will be able to gain an additional $2.5 billion in sales revenue. In order to do this, the retailer also began to think – is it simply not aware of the merchandise out of stock, or simply do not know the warehouse stock, or the goods are in transit from the factory to the store.

Not only in Wal-Mart, in fact, in the face of modern retail, retailers are facing a common problem, that is, how to achieve maximum transparency in the supply chain, how to make every link in the retail chain are able to “see the management” in. Well, RFID technology allows this “omnichannel retail” is gradually moving toward reality.

Why deploy RFID technology in retail?

RFID technology is a non-contact tag recognition technology, is the best means of goods tracking. It is superior to the barcode recognition technology is: RFID can dynamically recognize the high speed movement object, can recognize multiple electronic tags at the same time, the recognition distance is larger.

At the same time because of the uniqueness of the electronic label recognition function, so it can track the goods in the whole supply chain, thus simplifying the various aspects of commodity tracking and obtaining the required inventory visibility in real time, thus improving inventory management.

RFID technology is being used extensively in the retail industry. Macy’s believes that item-level RFID could reduce inventory costs by $1 billion, and specifically describes their “Select Last” program, which ensures that any item in any store is available for sale and can be easily located for order fulfillment.

In addition, the Future Order Fulfillment Vision Study, published by Actility Technologies, shows that 95% of supply chain decision makers will migrate to RFID-based inventory management by 2028. Why are retailers willing to adopt RFID technology? There are three main reasons: first, RFID technology can help companies reduce inventory, second, RFID can improve the accuracy of the inventory of goods, and third, RFID can bring more efficient business results.

At present, high inventory costs, low service efficiency, low accuracy of information and other issues to retailers have brought great distress, permeating all aspects of the retail industry, the application of RFID technology is an effective solution to the retail industry “pain points” of the recipe.

Reasons why retail companies need RFID

• 1. Although the initial investment is large, but long-term use, can significantly reduce logistics, storage costs, can improve the inventory turnover rate, reduce the amount of inventory;
• 2. The whole process of goods tracking – throughout the supply chain, from production, factory, transportation, storage, distribution, to return to the factory, maintenance, scrap recycling;
• 3. Improve the efficiency and accuracy of the goods out and in while reducing labor costs, and improve the accuracy of the inventory;
• 4. It is conducive to retail enterprises to extend the supply chain link upward and downward, and fully cooperate with suppliers and 3PLs strategically to form a complete value system.

RFID technology in the retail industry and the advantages and disadvantages of the introduction

The future of RFID in the retail industry

In recent years, RFID technology has been the focus of attention in all walks of life, for example, manufacturing, transportation, medical, food and other industries have different degrees of application, then, its application in the retail industry and how?

RFID applications in the retail industry focus on five areas: supply chain management, inventory management, in-store merchandise management, customer relationship management, and security management.

• 1) Supply chain management was the first to use RFID in the retail industry, and is currently one of the most used areas of RFID.
• 2) In-store merchandise management Most department stores and supermarkets currently focus on some easy-to-steal or valuable merchandise.
• 3) The main content of RFID application in inventory management includes the use of fixed or mobile decoders to scan the goods in and out of the warehouse and on the warehouse shelves to improve the efficiency of goods in and out, picking and inventory; to the upstream suppliers to improve the visibility of inventory and timely supply; and to connect with the store shelf automatic replenishment system to replenish goods in time to optimize inventory.
• 4) RFID applications in customer management are mainly focused on self-checkout and improving customer in-store shopping experience.
• 5) RFID applications in security management are mainly focused on commodity theft prevention, followed by RFID identification codes to replace the original password control the right to use IT equipment or access to certain important departments.

RFID technology in the retail industry and the advantages and disadvantages of the introduction

Inventory Management

Through the RFID tagging of merchandise items, managers can make real-time price adjustments, effectively analyze the sales situation and demand forecasts, automatically replenish merchandise, and control stocking, thus building an inventory management process that is fully oriented to consumer demand.

Self-management

Through the RFID roll label and the cooperation of sensors, retailers can update the sales information of goods in real time, monitor the number, layout and dynamics of goods on the shelves in order to replenish the shelves of goods to achieve consistency in planning and execution of the timeline.

Customer Service Delivery

RFID in the customer side of the application includes kiosk (kiosk) applications, mobile devices and remote POS system connection and other interactive convenience services to improve consumer satisfaction, for example: in the consumer to take down the goods at the same time automatic consumption records, through the self-service checkout counter, credit card for checkout, saving time to scan each item at the checkout; In addition, the In addition, through the radio frequency technology and the digital displays set up at each corner, it is possible to deliver real-time information about the products purchased by consumers and their personal shopping records, so as to achieve the ultimate benefit of personalized marketing.

Shortage Management

Human errors, including incorrect return processes, sales scanning errors, incorrect pricing and incorrect inventory counts, can cause retailer losses, while losses caused by shortages of goods can be as high as 1.5% of revenue, so in the SBT, the shortage of goods to form a major obstacle to cooperation between suppliers and retailers, and RFID can track the movement of goods records RFID can track the characteristics of the movement of goods, which helps a lot to solve the SBT operation on the issue of commodity management.

RFID in the retail industry, anti-counterfeiting, traceability

The principle of anti-counterfeiting is that the commodity identification number (ID), i.e., the anti-counterfeiting code, is written in the RFID chip, and this ID is unique in all aspects of production and sales; the chip is made into a label, and the electronic label is attached to the commodity so that it becomes an inseparable part of the commodity. When the electronic tag is forced to be separated from the merchandise, the integrity of the merchandise is destroyed, the merchandise is considered to have been consumed, and the anti-counterfeiting ends.

Tainted milk powder, lean and weak essence, gutter oil, dyed steamed buns and other incidents about food safety are in a frenzy, and RFID food traceability is the most effective technical means to ensure food safety. Using RFID as an information carrier and relying on technologies such as network communication, system integration and database applications, a set of information platforms established by government supervision, sales and other links. Build a full traceability system to achieve the record of each link of the entire industrial chain from production, processing, storage, transportation, all the way to the end consumption.

Pros.

• 1. No mechanical wear and tear, anti-wear;
• 2. The physical interface of the reader ensures its own security;
• 3. Label password protection upgrade;
• 4. The mutual authentication process exists between the reader and the label.

RFID in Supply Chain Management

Each supplier has an electronic label, with the label (with uniqueness) for settlement, transfer, query and other applications; in inventory management, according to the electronic label on each package, the system can automatically identify the required goods inventory area, inventory quantity, the number of in and out of storage and time and other information; in membership management, it can carry out fast and effective identification of members, in order to better to the customers entering the store In cashier management, the cashier system can automatically identify the electronic tags on the goods without intervention, automatically calculate the total price of the goods, and automatically print out the bill when the customer arrives at the cashier area; in merchandise safety management, the monitoring device automatically monitors the movement of unauthorized electronic tags in the area, and can start the sound and light alarm device if there is any abnormality.

Advantages: high degree of work automation, fast processing speed, and no excessive human intervention in the process.

Disadvantages: the cost of electronic tags is expensive, in the case of electronic tags cost can not be reduced, RFID in small and medium-sized retail industry application prospects are not optimistic, but because of its advantages are very obvious, will be a development direction for a period of time in the future.

Use in cold chain logistics

In the cold chain logistics, from the completion of the collection to the loading of the truck, a tote review business process needs to be completed in the middle. The main function of tote review is to check whether the number of totes on the store’s collection position is correct, and whether there is a phenomenon that “totes belonging to the store are not on the store’s collection position, while totes not belonging to the store are on the store’s collection position”. This process requires the reviewer to scan all the totes once, and if the number of totes in each store is large, the time required is considerable, which may lead to the completion of the collection, but not in time for loading and shipping.

The bottleneck of the improvement of the efficiency of the crate review is mainly caused by the barcode technology. As we all know, when recognizing barcode, must align the scanner to the barcode, and only read a group of barcode at a time. While the radio frequency identification technology (RFID) can overcome the above defects in the bar code application.

RFID mainly reads or writes RFID tag information through radio waves, so not only can it be read near or far, but it can also read a large number of RFID tags at the same time. More importantly, RFID can penetrate objects and identify RFID tags placed inside objects. Therefore, compared to bar codes, RFID has a very large technical advantage.

From the cost point of view, the cost of RFID tags are mainly composed of IC chips, antennas and packaging and other parts (the following are said to be 96-bit tags). According to information, in 2003 the average price of passive high-band tags for 91 cents, now for about 50 cents, if the amount of goods to be more than 100,000 words, can also be reduced to 10 cents. With the progress of integrated circuit technology and the expansion of the application scale, the cost of RFID tags will continue to reduce. According to Auto-ID Center’s prediction, in the case of large-scale production, RFID tag production costs low can be reduced to 5 cents, of which the IC chip about 1 to 2 cents, the antenna about 1 cent.

In addition, the cost of RFID readers is one of the factors affecting RFID adoption. In fact, because RFID systems have tremendous technical advantages, they will bring about a significant increase in efficiency, which will reduce the overall cost of the system, so that the cost of adopting RFID is also worthwhile.

RFID system application promotion also involves the transformation of the existing business system. Now the use of RFID to carry out a review of the crate, just change the way the review can be quite small changes to the business process, but the time used to review will be greatly reduced.

An enterprise cold chain logistics crate review after the use of RFID, in the case of business processes do not need to do much adjustment, so that the time spent on crate review is reduced by at least half, so that the completion of the set of goods to the end of the loading interval is shortened, the logistics of transporting goods to the stores will also be ahead of time, so that the number of cold chain distribution stores increased, bringing greater profits for the enterprise. On this basis, RFID technology can also be promoted to the use of the crates of room temperature logistics, replacing bar code technology, RFID’s advantages are further reflected.

Effectively improve the efficiency of unbundling and distribution

Unpacking and distribution is a common form of logistics for supermarket chains and convenience chains, when a large number of totes are needed, these totes are distributed in the distribution centers of enterprises, stores and other organizations, which have greater difficulty in inventory management; at the same time, totes need to be well-defined processes in sorting and outbound links to ensure accuracy and efficiency. RFID technology can be used in these operations to improve the logistics of enterprises. Application points are reflected in the following areas.

• 1. In the crate on the installation of RFID chips, try to install in places that are not easy to collide or wear.
• 2. When generating the Packing List corresponding to the Sorting Order, calculate the crates required for the goods, generate the correspondence between stores, goods and crates, and record the correct crate number when actually packing the crates.
• 3. When the crates are discharged, the batch reads the RFID tags of the discharged crates, records the discharge time of each crate number, etc., and automatically completes the discharge of the crates and the discharge records of the goods in the crates.
• 4. Read the RFID tag of the crate in batch when the crate is returned to the store, and record the return information of the crate.
• 5. Use the above process to manage tote inventory and record the distribution of each tote’s inventory in distribution centers and stores.
• 6. On the basis of managing the inventory of crates, it can batch realize the inventory of crates in the distribution center, form abnormal records for the inventory discrepancies, and guide the operators to find the reasons.

For room temperature distribution, the use of RFID technology, can greatly improve the efficiency and accuracy of out of the warehouse; for cold chain distribution, due to the sorting, out of the warehouse process, the tote bar code scanning is very inconvenient, the use of RFID technology, to improve operational efficiency and inventory management accuracy effect is more obvious.

RFID application scenarios in the retail industry

Application Scenario One: RFID-based supply chain management in supermarkets

In recent years, the rapid development of RFID technology for the retail industry’s supply chain management has brought leaps and bounds of development opportunities. With Wal-Mart, Marks & Spencer, Metro, Albertsons, Target and other international retail giants have released mandatory use of RFID supply chain management technology, the finished supply chain between the resistance has become the key to the success or failure of future competition in the retail industry.

1. Walmart

Wal-Mart has always been known for its boldness in applying new technologies to its supply chain and retail management. Following the launch of communication satellites for data exchange and logistics management in the 1980s and the vigorous implementation of bar code systems on merchandise, the world’s number one retail giant took aim at RFID technology in 2005 – requiring its top 100 suppliers to start using RFID on pallets and boxes from January 2005 The introduction of RFID tags to Wal-Mart’s supply chain efficiency to further enhance: before the verification of the goods on the shelves need all the retail store staff spent hours, but now only 30 minutes to complete.

Wal-Mart retail stores have a wide range of goods, between 80,000 and 100,000 kinds, and every week there are more than 900 pieces of goods into the ranks of automatic selection. In the era of manual operation orders, such a large workload is prone to errors; and RFID technology-based automated workflow can be achieved automatically place orders, sorting and screening, can greatly reduce the inventory of goods, improve the flow of funds, while the visibility of the warehouse greatly improved, so that suppliers, managers of inventory and arrival ratio at a glance.

A quantitative relational trial conducted by the University of Berkeley for Wal-Mart showed that by using RFID, there was a 16% reduction in goods shortages, which indicated a 16% increase in sales; and the replenishment rate of goods utilizing RFID barcodes was three times faster than the replenishment rate of goods without tags. Retail industry analysts estimate that Wal-Mart could save $8.35 billion annually by adopting RFID technology.

2. Madrone

In 2002, Metro, the world’s third largest retailer, announced its “Store of the Future” initiative, which involved the adoption of RFID technology throughout its supply chain. The program has attracted more than 50 partner companies to work together to develop and test applications for IoT RFID technology across all aspects of the retail supply chain, including inventory, transportation, logistics, warehousing, and even the customer buying experience in retail stores. In 2011, Metro announced the full adoption of RFID technology throughout its supply chain and at its “store of the future” in Rheinberg, Germany. RFID application technology has been developed to the second generation.

Berkeley University for Metro’s latest survey data show that the use of RFID systems to identify pallets, shipment confirmation and warehousing processing, each truck inspection and unloading task time to save an average of 15 to 20 minutes; at the same time, the supply chain is not in place in time to be found in the shipment, improve inventory accuracy, inventory in place rate increased by 11%, 11% reduction in out-of-stock situations, as well as the loss of goods reduced by In addition, warehouse labor expenses were reduced by 14%.

It is easy to see that the fully electronic supply chain management of finished products based on RFID technology enables the sharing of sales, inventory, costs and other information with suppliers in real time. Suppliers can keep abreast of their own product sales and inventory status, significantly cutting communication costs as well as replenishment time, and have a more accurate grasp of market response. Practice has proven that many international retail giants are using advanced supply chain management systems based on RFID technology to create a competitive advantage for them in the retail sector that is difficult to shake.

Application scenario two: RFID-based inventory management for footwear retail enterprises

With the RFID electronic tags in the retail industry increasingly high penetration rate, clothing also gradually began to introduce RFID technology in the entire management system applications, is expected in the next few years, the penetration rate will get faster growth. Some data show that at the end of 2016, the number of global chain retail industry demand for RFID tags, mainly in apparel, exceeded 5 billion pieces. Such as foreign Decathlon, ZARA, Uniqlo, domestic Helan Home, La Chapelle, UR, Fuliana have fully implemented RFID projects.

RFID tags in the garment industry application of high, which has two major reasons: First, this scene of the tag belongs to the consumable, once the electronic tag flow to the final link, that is, the hands of consumers, the mission of the electronic tag then completed; and another reason, is thanks to its increasingly low manufacturing costs, the current domestic application scene of the average cost of a single electronic tag less than 1 yuan, which for The selling price of a piece of clothing, by and large less than 1%.

1. Decathlon

Decathlon in 2010 specifically set up its own RFID company – Embisphere, about 85% of the merchandise is now using RFID tag tagging, in addition to the application of inventory and supply chain management, but also in stores to achieve a bulk checkout, reduce consumer queuing time and enhance the experience. Decathlon RFID project leader Jean-MarcLieby said that RFID technology has improved inventory efficiency by five times and reduced the rate of merchandise loss by about 10%.

2. ZARA

Zara’s parent company, Inditex, decided to adopt RFID technology across the group in 2014 to improve the group’s supply chain, and said and said that RFID is an important innovation for the next generation of store management. on the first half of 2016 earnings report, Inditex CEO publicly stated: through the application of RFID technology to improve the inventory and supply situation of nearly 70% of the flagship brands, coupled with upgrades in design, production and distribution, sales rose 11.1% to €10.47 billion in the first half of the year, while profits reached a 7.5% increase to €1.26 billion. ZARA has proven to be ultra-efficient through RFID technology, with its apparel going from design concept to finished product on the shelves in about 10 days.

3. Uniqlo sister brand GU

To cover the lower prices of clothing that Uniqlo could not reach, GU was officially established in 2006.On September 15, 2017, GU opened a 30,000 square meter digital store powered by RFID technology in Yokohama, Japan.The opening of this new store debuted products and several featured applications centered on RFID technology, with RFID shopping carts, RFID fitting mirrors, RFID self-checkout and other intelligent devices.

After the customer picks a dress, the touch screen embedded in the mirror shows a variety of information about the dress: size, style, fabric …… dress on the electronic tag information has been read by the mirror embedded RFID reading device. Not only that, the screen also shows suitable with the clothes with the pants, hats, sunglasses and other goods icon, which is the business pre-stored information, customers can click to check these goods.

Consumers through the clothing on the electronic tag brush the shopping cart RFID plate on the induction area will be able to sense the basic information and price of the purchase, while the product can be displayed where the library size, displayed in the shopping cart on the plate.

After customers finish shopping they can take the basket from the shopping cart and place it in the self-checkout machine, and the self-checkout machine can settle the bill and complete the self-checkout.

4. Hellas House

Hyland’s House has been performing well in recent years, opening more than 460 new stores in 2014, more than 260 new stores in 2015, and 650 new stores in the first half of 2016. Hailan House realized early on the great value of RFID technology for clothing retailing, and in late 2014 officially launched the research and development of the “RFID Streaming Reading System” and selected three companies as suppliers of Hailan House RFID Streaming Reading System tags, which contain information such as item numbers, color codes, specifications, and quantities. At the beginning of 2016, the “RFID Streaming Reading System” was officially launched, which adopts the “channel machine” mode to streamline the reading of garment RFID information and realize the batch scanning, real-time uploading, comparison and classification of the information of garment products in boxes. Comparison and classification of disposal. After the system is put into operation, it will significantly reduce labor costs, improve the efficiency of delivery and receipt, and make useful exploration for the optimization of supply chain management of clothing enterprises. It is reported that, after the introduction of RFID technology, receiving link in the manual to reduce to the original 1/3 of the same time will also improve the efficiency of 5 to 14 times.

5. Fiana

The same with Hailan House, F Anna Group also understands the value of RFID technology, the successful application of RFID supply chain management program to solve the problem of anti-counterfeiting and anti-falsification, through the RFID electronic tags in the production process of the product is implanted into the goods inside, to achieve the production of goods – storage – logistics – sales of the whole process of monitoring and data collection, to avoid counterfeit goods, channel falsification of products are taken online Low price dumping, thus effectively maintaining the interests of enterprises and agents.

6. Lachapelle

In 2016, La Chapelle Group established a plan to introduce RIFD technology for all its brands, including tagging in garment factories, receiving and shipping in logistics centers, fast receiving and inventorying in stores, and intelligent management. Since the spring of 17 years, La Xia has fully introduced RFID wash mark, processing labeling in the garment factory, standardizing the production process of the garment factory. It also adopts RFID flat panel testing equipment to carry out boxing inspection of garments, which strengthens the quality inspection process before shipment and reduces over-loading, under-loading and wrong loading. In the logistics center, the product information is read quickly through the channel machine to improve the efficiency of receiving goods, eliminate the occurrence of string code and less goods, and realize 100% data full inspection. Before the goods leave the warehouse, they are verified by the shipping review board to ensure the accuracy of shipping while greatly improving the efficiency of shipping.

After the goods arrive at the store, the store clerk receives the goods conveniently through the professional reading and writing equipment SWING-U. Realize not to open the box to count the goods, and through the customized cell phone APP to achieve real-time docking with the backstage system, update the data and receive information. After the receipt is completed, the store goods information is uploaded to the company’s server, that is, the store data update is completed. In the inventory link, according to the inventory plan provided by the company, targeted inventory is conducted to provide timely and accurate data for the company to carry out related business.

In addition, the use of smart fitting rooms improves the user experience of customers, while facilitating the backend for customer flow statistics, which is a powerful tool for building marketing big data. The application can also realize real-time docking with the backstage system to update data and receive information in a timely manner. In this regard, the store staff said that the use of new technology has reduced their work intensity, improved work efficiency, and saved more time and energy to better serve customers and increase sales.

7. UR

In 2016, UR brand’s RFID intelligent application system successfully landed operation, through the RFID supply chain technology, to achieve a leading global lead time of 7 days, twice a week per store goods update, the annual launch of 10,000 new models. Its RFID project phase benefits include: through the RFID project to force suppliers to hang tags, hanging nails, tags boxing, delivery appointments and other more standardized, from the source with technical means to curb the occurrence of counterfeit tampering and other undesirable business practices, and to achieve information interoperability, more collaborative communication between suppliers, increasing the degree of transparency in supply chain management. The distribution mode combining electronic tag and conveyor line is more accurate, precise, faster, and realizes automatic distribution. The second phase adopts RFID channel, conveying line, automatic labeling machine, and automatic sealing machine, and the efficiency can be increased by as much as 10 times again after the line, reducing the operation cost and will greatly save manpower. Accurate capture of data in the process, store receiving efficiency, inventory efficiency increased by more than 20 times. Stores aggregate information about the goods that have been tried and tested, and adjust the store display layout accordingly, providing a reference for UR stores to better grasp consumer demand and carry out more accurate production and marketing of goods.

8. Taylene

In March 2017, Telenor joined forces with Faraway Valley to create China’s first smart fashion store using a new retail RFID total solution. In addition to customers can experience from the selection, fitting, cashier, access control and other aspects of a very different shopping experience with traditional stores, more importantly, with RFID technology to bring about a comprehensive improvement in supply chain efficiency, store operations and management mechanisms can be improved, in the inventory, cashier, anti-theft, returns and other aspects of the gradual realization of efficient, intelligent and visual management, and then solve the current garment industry inventory is high, the Supply chain response is not timely, data is not accurate, logistics efficiency is low, inventory takes a long time, anti-counterfeiting, anti-tampering and anti-theft and other pain points.

Obviously, RFID technology has a strong complementary to the characteristics of the apparel industry, clothing companies can use RFID technology to control goods from procurement, storage, packaging, loading and unloading, transportation, distribution, sales to service information in all aspects of the effective solution to the clothing business “pain points. Decathlon, ZARA, Hailan House and other clothing companies’ success, is in line with the new, accurate and fast three principles, and RFID technology plays a key role in it.

Application Scenario 3: RFID Application for Unmanned Convenience Stores

Unmanned convenience stores are a wide range of schools, however, are basically inseparable from RFID technology. At present, the unmanned convenience store category is to Auchan, RT-Mart, Rainbow as the first traditional retail, one is to Ali, Bingo box as a representative of the Internet companies, there is a category is represented by the actual home, Wahaha, etc. cross-border operations enterprises. They have in common is basically inseparable from the RFID technology, each piece of merchandise are attached to the RFID tags, used to checkout collection, in addition to the monitoring system, remote customer service and other functions.

RFID technology-based unmanned stores, according to the use of the process to the following three main modes:

• 1. Pre-identification (identity) mode;
• 2. No identification (identity) mode;
• 3. Fully open mode.

Pre-identification (identity) mode means that users need to identify themselves before they can shop for goods when they open the doors of smart merchandise cabinets or unmanned stores. Such as the unmanned store introduced by Auchan, first need to scan the QR code (identity authentication) before entering, that is, belongs to a typical pre-recognition (identity) applications, such as can not complete the identification, the consumer can not carry out shopping action! (The goods are equipped with RFID tags and form the corresponding electronic bill)

Identification-free (identity) mode means that users can shop for goods without identification. Generally such unmanned stores are equipped with access control systems, consumers can directly enter the store through a physical switch, after the consumer enters, the access control automatically locks, the consumer in the shopping is completed and successful payment, the access control can only be reopened.

Full open mode means that users are free to enter and exit the store, and can freely select products with RFID and QR code payment tags, and consumers can leave the store after selecting products and scanning the code to complete payment. However, if the payment is not completed and leave the store, the access control system will automatically detect and alarm. The advantage of the fully open model is that it can solve the problem of multi-point shopping settlement, while the store transformation is relatively controllable. This model is particularly suitable for convenience stores and supermarkets to form a new model of combined application of manned and unmanned, if a small number of service personnel are equipped and combined with the application equipment of the first two models.

The retail industry itself is thin profit, especially in the convenience store scene, the unit price of goods is generally not high, any increase in costs will cause great challenges to its profitability. RFID solutions have been criticized for the high cost of one thing. However, in recent years, with the development of technology and application scenarios increase, the cost of RFID tags has declined. And UHF RFID has some significant features and more popular, such as high sensitivity, the fastest speed of data collection, the number of multiple tags, low cost.

In addition, RFID fully involved in unmanned retail / smart retail also urgently need to solve the identification rate, the standardization of system-level products, physical damage and sustainability of research and development and many other important issues. Some professionals point out that RFID, artificial intelligence and big data, these three will become an important factor to promote or restrict the realization of future smart retail.

Application Scenario IV: Application of RFID in Logistics Industry

By using RFID technology, we can improve the transparency of supply chain logistics management and inventory turnover, effectively reduce out-of-stock losses, and improve the efficiency of logistics within the enterprise.

• One fast: fast logistics efficiency, fast goods handover point, improve the efficiency of logistics operations;
• Two accurate: data accuracy, in all aspects of logistics management of the flow of goods data collection accurate.

According to the current situation of warehouse management and the feasibility study of RFID technology in logistics management, the advanced RFID data collection means embedded in the WMS system can realize the management of RFID tag identification of the warehouse and pallet. In this way, it can realize the informationization and modernization of enterprise logistics management, but also improve the level of enterprise logistics management and management efficiency, and reduce enterprise management costs.

However, in foreign warehousing and logistics enterprises to get a wide range of practical bar code technology, RFID, GPS / GIS and EDI technology in China’s warehousing and logistics enterprises in the application of less than ideal. At the same time, the three-dimensional warehouse, bar code automatic identification system, automatic guide car system, automatic cargo tracking system and other warehouse logistics automation facilities are not much applied. From the future trend of logistics development in China and abroad, network information construction is the future development trend of warehouse logistics. To radio frequency identification (i.e., RFID) as the representative of the new technology is profoundly affecting the warehouse management and warehouse management system, and even breeding a “logistics revolution”.

Application scenario five: RFID intelligent parking management system

After shopping mall in the underground parking lot to find a vehicle is a very painful thing, especially out of the mall and into the mall at different locations, car owners looking for vehicles will be very difficult: take the bloody goods, dragging a heavy pace, anxiously looking in the quiet parking lot. At this time RFID intelligent parking system can effectively solve the problem. If the vehicle is not installed inside the RFID electronic tag, you can take a card when entering the parking lot, the card is a long-distance RFID card, and the vehicle is similar to the internal installation of RFID electronic tags, here will store the vehicle model, license plate number, the owner of the relevant data and other information. After the car is parked, the camera will automatically take pictures to identify the license plate, when you can’t find the car in the parking lot, don’t be anxious, swipe the card on the car-seeking integrated machine can find the parking video and parking space, and quickly find the car according to the floor plan.

The intelligent parking management system applying RFID technology can solve many problems of traditional parking lots, significantly improve efficiency, reduce operating costs, maintain vehicle safety, solve the problems of difficult parking, difficult to find a car, easy congestion, etc., and can effectively prevent the phenomenon of staff favoritism and fraudulent charging.

RFID advantages and disadvantages

Conceptually, RFID is similar to bar code technology. Bar code technology attaches bar code information to an item and scans the bar code on the item with a scan gun to obtain information about the item. RFID technology, on the other hand, attaches an RFID tag to an item and reads the information in the tag into the RFID reader via RF signals to obtain information specific to the item. Compared to traditional bar codes, FRID technology has the following advantages.

1. Quick scan

RFID identifiers can read multiple RFID tags simultaneously, compared to bar codes where only one bar code can be scanned at a time.

2. Penetrating and barrier-free reading

When covered, RFID can penetrate non-metallic or non-transparent materials such as paper, wood and plastic, and is capable of penetrating communications. The “unmanned retail store” can be unmanned cashier, is also the main use of this feature of RFID technology.

3. Large memory capacity of data

The capacity of 1D barcode is about 30 characters, the maximum capacity of 2D barcode can store 2 to 3000 characters, and the maximum capacity of RFID is several trillion characters, and with the development of memory carriers, the data capacity has a tendency to expand.

4. Size miniaturization and shape diversification

RFID in the reading and not size and shape restrictions, do not need to read the accuracy of the paper with the fixed size and printing quality, unlike bar codes are prone to deformation and damage and other problems that lead to the inability to identify.

But in fact, although the current low-frequency band, high-frequency band in the country has been widely used, such as campus cards, ID cards, cell phone NFC modules, etc.; but in the consumer field, bar codes can also basically meet the ability to describe individual items and in the promotion of a mature supporting system, RFID tags have not been able to replace bar codes. Therefore, want to fully replace the bar code with RFID tags is not an easy task, its popularity in at least the following challenges.

1. Cost

Although the cost of RFID tags, readers and software has been decreasing, the cost of RFID deployment is still unaffordable for many companies that want to track their merchandise inventory.

2. Technical standards are difficult to unify

For RFID technical standards, the international community is currently difficult to achieve uniformity, making product development and application positioning more confusing.

3. Reading accuracy needs to be improved

Data integrity as well as correctness is an important factor in determining the performance of RFID systems. Multi-target identification is both the greatest advantage of RFID and a technical difficulty that needs to be solved urgently.

RFID Retail Solutions

Because of RFID’s unique identification methods and technical features, it can bring great benefits to retailers and suppliers and customers; it enables supply chain systems to track merchandise dynamics more easily and automatically in an efficient manner, allowing for truly automated item management. In addition, RFID provides the retail industry with advanced and convenient data collection methods, convenient customer transactions, efficient operations, fast and insightful decision-making tools, and other benefits that cannot be replaced by barcode technology.

Build a complete RFID end-to-end solution

For retailers, RFID can also be used as an information carrier, relying on network communications, system integration and database applications and other technologies to establish a set of information technology platform to achieve the production, processing, storage, transportation, all the way to the end consumption of each link of the entire industry chain records.

Actility Technologies is a company that provides complete RFID solutions. As a business enabler, Actility Technologies provides outstanding products, software, services, analytics and solutions to support the best people in retail, transport logistics, manufacturing and other industries.

From mobile data terminals and scanners to dedicated printers, RFID, software and services, Actility technology provides end-to-end solutions for a wide range of warehouse stock management, shelf management and store management in retail, enabling in-store communications, price/inventory management, mobile payments, connected shopping and personalized interactions, such as

Inventory visibility: Actility’s solutions use a variety of capture technologies such as barcodes and RFID to provide visibility of the entire process, from delivery of stock from the distribution center to the store’s stockroom, through to replenishment and completion of delivery on the sales floor.

In addition, with mobile technology solutions provided by Actility Technology, retailers can build knowledge platforms using a variety of applications running on enterprise-grade mobile devices. Real-time information allows sales staff to spend more time with customers and provide more personalised service, product advice and flexible payment and delivery options.

Nowadays, the new retail wave is sweeping in, and China’s retail industry is reshaping the landscape. Unlike the old model of traditional retail, “omni-channel retail” and “interactive customer experience” are becoming two key elements of modern retail, which is also the core of RFID technology to provide high added value for retail companies, and Actility’s RFID retail solutions are designed to help the retail industry transform digitally, from production, warehousing, logistics to sales.

Features of RFID Retail Solutions

Automated Monitoring

All tags within the antenna range can be monitored from a distance, and the antenna takes different operations on the goods after different processing methods, and starts the alarm function for the goods illegally brought out of the security zone, without manual operation in the whole process.

Read and write data from a distance

RFID reader can read and write tag information at a distance, and can handle multiple tags at one time, and can write the status of the goods into the tag for different regional antennas to produce the corresponding operation.

Counter Sales Automation

The use of electronic tags can realize the functions of counter portable POS and can complete the functions of sales automation operations such as sales, returns, counter stock, inventory, and collection; at the same time, it can generate various daily statistical reports and transmit them to headquarters or local offices for sales analysis.

Offline work

RFID reader supports offline working state, can work normally in the case of communication interruption, etc., and can also alarm when reading the tag of goods illegally brought out of the security zone.

Automatic storage function

RFID reader has an internal flash storage space, can store more than 2W tag ID information, when the reader in the offline working state, you can read the tag information automatically saved in the Flash storage space, to be normal communication after the query.

Tag encryption function

RFID reader can encrypt the tag, only the reader that meets the encryption format can read and write the tag, other readers can not operate on the tag. At the same time in the tag operation can also set a password to prevent others from stealing behavior occurs.

Source: China RFID Retail Solutions Provider – Actility Technologies Company Limited (www.tractility.com)

Actility provides powerful security solutions for retail store management to prevent asset and property losses, improve transaction security, and provide intelligent analysis. We produce AM/EM/RFID systems, EAS tags, EAS soft tags, EAS safer, lanyards, detachers and all kinds EAS accessories products. Infrared people counter and camera people counter is available. If you want to have more information about the article or you want to share your opinion with us, contact us at [email protected]