Ever spent an hour in a retail store and abandoned the cart last minute on seeing the long queue at the POS? or couldn’t find a staff member to help you with product information, pricing details and discounts? Or waited an hour at the POS to make a return?
Today’s shoppers don’t want any of this when they enter a store to shop for things they need. I, myself have abandoned cart for there was a huge line and I didn’t have the time to wait.
Post pandemic, customer behavior is changed to a great extent and retail businesses need to keep up with the advances made in technology to make profit and improve customer loyalty. With e-commerce thriving and impending recession, the challenges for retail stores are skyrocketing.
At this juncture, retail businesses need to come up with solutions focused on enhancing customer experience by incorporating RFID, QR codes, BLE, etc.
RFID in a Retail Store:
The aforementioned problems aren’t unique and store owners know this well. Hiring more individuals to help with customers could be a nice idea but it’s not a cost effective one. RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) is an idea which is not only cost effective but fast as well.
• RFID at Point of Sale
RFID can be used to identify, trace, track an article inside the store but asset management is just one aspect of it. It can also be used to scan a whole cart with hundreds of articles at once and bill them quickly. There go your long queues. Yes! It is possible to tag articles with UHF RFID tags and to employ an UHF RFID reader that can scan hundreds of articles, without a clear line of sight, in a second.
RFID can also streamline the sale process at the POS as well. It can be used to create a RFID system where product codes, prices and availability of stock and more such information is available to every employee and one can help the customers with that information without having to go check with someone else.
• RFID for product information
RFID tags can be written multiple types and reused. Articles can be tagged with unique product codes which might contain the product information like date of manufacturing, expiration date, size, price, discounts etc.
It can also be used to ensure clearance of stock which is about to expire soon.
• RFID for quick returns:
Returning an article which is not required anymore shouldn’t be complicated and Shoppers don’t like waiting for an hour to return a piece of clothing, that’s a fact.
RFID can be used to make sure customers don’t have to wait for returns and the return amount is credited to the customer’s account soon.
Store specific RFID cards can be used for this purpose which can be provided to the shoppers.
• RFID to prevent ‘out of stock’ scenarios:
There is one thing a shopper hates more than waiting in a queue is unavailability of varied articles inside a store. ‘This item is out of stock!’ drives many retailers out of business as well. Customer experience inside a store is paramount and it builds customer loyalty.
To ensure that articles are replenished on time from the inventory or in inventory itself, RFID solutions can be implemented across the warehouse and store as well.
RFID to prevent theft and counterfeiting:
Shoplifting is bad for business. It’s easy to understand but you will be shocked to know that according to a Forbes report in 2021, shoplifting has become a $100B problem now.
Retailers often struggle to prevent shoplifting by customers and employees alike.
External theft, internal theft and process or control failures have resulted in huge losses and shrink in business. RFID can be used to address this issue as well. RFID barriers can sound alarms, and RFID cards can be used to grant access to employees and prevent unauthorized access.
RFID tags can also be used to prevent counterfeiting. RFID tags specific to brands can ensure originality and increase customer trust as well.
With RFID system in place, retailers can easily keep track of articles that are selling more or are in high demands. Retailers can replenish the out of stock articles on time and keep an inventory as well by using RFID.
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