RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) allows for better inventory control through faster and more accurate stock takes. RFID is a cutting-edge technology that employs “smart” tags that are connected to in-store products. These tags are then linked to stock information on a database, like product specifics, such as size, colour, and style of a shirt.

Hundreds of tags can be read per second, allowing thousands of tags to be scanned in a couple of minutes. Each tag has a unique ID and cannot be read again, guaranteeing that no duplicate counts are recorded.

How Anti-Theft Devices Can Benefit Retail Stores

The benefits of RFID go way beyond better inventory management. The benefits of RFID devices include:

  • Enhanced Stock Search: Employees can make use of handheld readers to search for specific items, helping customers to find stock on the shop floor or easily check the stock room or warehouse for specific products. Regular, smaller departmental stock takes ensure enhanced stock control. This efficiency leads to a better customer experience.
  • Anti-Theft: The same technology that makes retail stock management easier also makes shoplifting more challenging. RFID technologies eliminate the need for employees to personally observe clients, which can be uncomfortable for them because customers can now be scanned automatically when leaving the store and stolen items can be identified instantly; thus, reducing stock shrinkage.
  • Better Customer Experience: RFID has the potential to take your customer’s shopping experience to the next level. RFID and interactive technology are being used in some shops to improve the experience of shoppers trying on clothes in fitting rooms. A mirror equipped with interactive technology can detect objects based on their RFID tags and, for example, change the colour or design of clothing items worn by the customer. They don’t even have to go looking for accessories because the system can simulate them electronically and promotions can be offered to the customers there and then in association with the identified product which the customers brought into the fitting room with them.
  • Faster checkout: Retailers have long realized that lengthy queues reduce sales. But thankfully, with RFID technology, the checkout process is sped up significantly. At checkout points, store employees can quickly process items without having to find the barcode first, allowing the customers to pay immediately. In special cases, RFID technology can even be used to create self-checkout stores. In this scenario, the customers scan the products themselves, pay, and can then be on their way. If trying to leave the store without paying the unpaid RFID tag will alarm and send the product’s details which caused the alarm, to the mobile device of the security person at the exit, in order to assist in resolving the alarm situation.

Retail Security Systems South Africa

Retail security systems like RFID allow retailers worldwide to increase profits, decrease shrinkage, and enable store employees to focus more on what’s really important – the customers and their shopping experience.

Contact Milestone for all your RFID system needs.