For retail stores to maximize their revenue, they must not only increase sales, but also minimize losses. The two main causes of loss for retail stores are theft and poor waste management. Theft leads to the direct loss of inventory while poor waste management can result in perishable products going bad on the shelf before being marked down and ultimately replenished. Retail stores collectively lose billions of dollars per year due to theft and an estimated 5-7% of perishables are lost due to poor waste management.
All retail stores should have a reliable system in place that helps with loss prevention and waste management. ECS5 Media Suite is a point of sale (POS) software solution for retail stores that allows for the efficient management of customer communications, as well as planograms and inventory. It can also help retail stores manage perishable goods, stock renewal, and loss prevention and detection using RFID technology.
Putting RFID chips on the tags of perishable goods and high theft items allows ECS5 to monitor shelf life and inventory in real time so actions can be taken to prevent loss. ECS5 can also use RFID technology for complimentary upselling by showing targeted ads to customers based on what is in their cart or basket.
What is RFID Technology?
Radio frequency identification (RFID) is a type of wireless communication in which radio waves transmit data that uniquely identifies people or objects. Three components make an RFID system work; a scanning antenna and transceiver that are part of the RFID reader, and a transponder that is in the RFID tag. RFID readers can be either mobile or fixed devices that are connected to the network. The scanning antenna transmits electromagnetic waves that activate the transponder in the tag. The tag then sends radio waves back to the antenna that translates it into data that can be seen on the reader.
RFID tags have several benefits over barcodes as they can be scanned from inches or even feet away depending on the type of RFID tag, and RFID readers do not need a clear line of sight to read the tags. The data transmitted by an RFID tag can also be updated in real time.
How Does ECS5 Utilize RFID Technology?
ECS5 already integrates your customer communications across all forms of media, including print signage, electronic shelf labels, and multimedia displays, along with your inventory and planogram information. RFID technology can also be integrated into ECS5 and synced with the logic of the system to help with inventory management and targeted multimedia displays.
Using a combination of remote sensors and handheld RFID readers that can be integrated into the system, users can quickly access real time data from the RFID tags. RFID readers can be used to quickly scan the tags for data and users can also access real-time data from the sensors within the ECS5 dashboard.
With ECS5, you can leverage RFID technology to help with the following:
Loss Prevention
Theft always presents a challenge for retail stores as businesses can lose a lot of money due to theft from customers and employees. Including RFID chips on the tags of valuable items and high theft items helps improve loss prevention and detection as you can view real time inventory data from the tags using ECS5. If an item is stolen, you can detect exactly what is missing. You can also put anti-theft sensors that read RFID chips at the exits of your store to catch and deter thieves.
When stores have a problem with certain items being stolen often, such as expensive meat in a supermarket, they may minimize the amount of stock on the shelves. When this happens, the stock must be replenished often. ECS5 can help you monitor the stock on the shelves in real time using RFID technology so the shelves can be replenished when inventory is running low.
Waste Management
As mentioned above, a significant amount of perishable items end up being store losses due to poor waste management. It is important for stores to realize when perishable items are near their end-of-life date so they can be marked down and removed from the shelves once they expire.
ECS5 can read RFID chips on perishable items via remote sensors and handheld readers and alert employees when a certain item is nearing its expiration date. The RFID chips can also be used for dynamic pricing in which the price of an item is marked down automatically as it nears its expiration date. Marking down items that are nearing expiration increases the likelihood that they are sold, which reduces loss as these items still make a profit margin if they are bought at the lower price instead of being thrown away. Once the items are expired, you can get an accurate count of the items that have been removed and replenish the inventory.
Complimentary Upselling
Another advantage of integrating RFID tags with ECS5 is that ECS5 can leverage this technology for complimentary upselling. One of the strengths of the solution is that it can be used to create and implement multimedia messaging to TV screens and digital signage and displays throughout your store that can include high resolution images, video content, and animations. With RFID technology, ECS5 can take this one step further and display targeted ads to specific customers as they pass these displays.
Within ECS5, you can set a rotation of different ads for your digital displays. RFID readers on these displays can tell what items a passing customer has in their cart or basket and their demographic. With this information, the displays can show information for complimentary products which can result in the customers putting additional items in their basket.
Improve Waste Management, Loss Prevention, and Complimentary Upselling with ECS5
Integrating ECS5 with RFID technology can help stores minimize their losses and boost revenue by making it easier to manage loss prevention, on-shelf inventory, and waste management while targeting ads to customers in real time based on the items in their basket to help with complimentary upselling. You can integrate RFID technology seamlessly into ECS5 and immediately start reaping the benefits.
To learn more about how the ECS5 Media Suite can benefit your business by leveraging RFID technology, contact ECS Global.