RFID technology is reshaping the retail landscape. Today's retail industry has an opportunity to create a safer, more reliable, and more convenient experience for its customers. RFID systems involve placing RFID tags on products, scanning the tag information through a reader, and then processing it by an application to achieve inventory control and counting.

With supply chain visibility and inventory accuracy becoming more critical, RFID has become the foundation of today's omnichannel retailers. With RFID technology, retailers can automate their inventory data and increase accuracy by 30% while simultaneously reducing out-of-stock by 50%.

This article will highlight the key advantages of RFID technology in the retail industry and introduce the UROVO Retail Industry Solution.

An Overview of RFID Technology

RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) belongs to a group of technologies called Automatic Identification and Data Capture (AIDC) that use radio waves to track and identify tags attached to objects. You can use AIDC tools to identify items, collect data, and send data to computer systems with little or no human interaction.

RFID consists of two main parts: tags and readers. Each RFID tag has a processor and an antenna. Tags can be active and use a battery, or passive and use power from the reader. Similarly, readers can be handheld or stationary and vary in size and strength depending on their purpose.

In an era of retail transformation, leveraging smart technologies such as RFID is critical to success. RFID systems integrated with inventory can significantly improve the efficiency of retailers who need to track inventory accuracy. For example, you can use it to improve inventory accuracy and visibility to create a better shopping experience for customers.

Common Ways RFID Technology Helps Manage Retail Stores

• Improves Inventory Accuracy

The traditional inventory method requires a lot of labor and cannot guarantee accuracy. Therefore, RFID technology is necessary. RFID can process data and inventory counts in minutes, while RFID tags eliminate the need to scan barcodes individually and touch each object to count.

Inventory tracking is the most widely used RFID application in the retail industry. Accurate product location information can reduce the cost and complexity of managing inventory, and speed up picking, packing, and delivery. A case study featuring ten industry leaders revealed that a retailer's inventory accuracy increased from 65-75% to 93-99% due to RFID systems.

• Enhances Inventory Control

Inventory control is critical for today's retail stores because using RFID to manage inventory control can make everything easier and faster. With RFID technology, each item is recorded and has a unique ID. Retail auditing becomes more efficient and effective as large numbers of items can be read and recorded in seconds. As a result, stores can run efficiently and allow employees to focus on sales and customer service.

• Improves Loss Prevention

Retailers need to reduce shoplifting and employee fraud in stores. According to the data, total retail sales shrank by $61.7 billion in 2019 due to increased employee theft and shoplifting/ORC. Fortunately, RFID technology has been recognized as a promising solution for reducing sales shrinkage and theft.

The distinguishing feature of RFID is its data monitoring measures, which can instantly track the location of any item. For example, you can pair RFID movement tracking data with sales data to see if more items are leaving the store than sold during a particular period. As a result, you can identify shoplifting trends and build a case against the perpetrator with the authorities.

• Providing Real-Time Data

Analytics and data are the areas where e-commerce is ahead of brick-and-mortar retail. That's because retailers don't know the specifics of their stores and customers, and the statistics they collect are often historical. With RFID, however, the situation can change for the better. Quality data and analytics allow retailers to ensure that merchandise is sold in the right places. Additionally, for specific project data, RFID can produce more detailed insights, i.e., the selling situation of a single item in a particular store, even down to an exact size.

• Enhancing the shopping experience

RFID has many advantages in retail that are not limited to operational benefits and can also positively improve the customer experience. For example, with reliable and up-to-the-minute inventory information, stores can assist customers with their queries, supply information about other available items or sizes, and even cross-sell to customers.

UROVO Retail Store Solution: DT50P

UROVO helps retail enterprises achieve a full range of digital operations and management in production, supply chain, store sales, distribution, and customer experience. Among the retail solution, Urovo RFID handheld readers are equipped with high-performance UHF modules that can read many RFID tags up to 20 meters away. The DT50P is one of the UROVO RFID handheld readers, and the following are the main advantages of this product:

1. The DT50P has a built-in 5dBi high-sensitivity RFID antenna, which can cover a more comprehensive scanning range and quickly read multiple RFID tags up to 20m.

2. Using Self-jammer Cancellation (SJC) technology, the DT50P can efficiently deal with complex environments with metal interference. In addition, it can effectively reduce the shielding or superposition of blind spots and cooperate with the recognition technology to read high-density labels smoothly.

3. The ergonomic handle and antiskid and anti-fatigue designs ensure that users won't feel tired, even after prolonged use.

4. Using high heat dissipation materials, matching optimization algorithms, low power consumption, and fast heat dissipation, DT50P can support 4 hours of uninterrupted scanning.

5. Equipped with an professional code scanning module, it can quickly read 1D/2D/distorted/stained/old barcodes.

6. DT50P is IP67 dustproof and waterproof and has passed the 1.2m drop test to ensure reliable quality. It can also adapt to the operating temperature of -20~+60°C, even in harsh environments.

7. The DT50P hand-held RFID scanner is widely used in various industry scenarios such as clothing wholesale, jewelry management, retail inventory, asset inventory, and warehouse management.

Why Choose UROVO

UROVO is the world’s leading industry mobile application solution provider. Founded in 2006, the company has over 1300 employees and more than ten subsidiaries, with business throughout more than 100 countries and regions.

We are rooted in core technology and focus on innovative applications in the industry. UROVO provides digital solutions based on smart terminals for customers in logistics, retail, finance, medical care, manufacturing, government, transportation, and other industries.

Contact us to make your retail business smarter, more efficient, and more profitable.