With an impressive footfall of more than 10,000 shoppers every day, it was a struggle for the general manager of this luxury retailer to keep shelves stocked with every style, size and colour for every garment. Instead of helping customers, sales associates spent too much time hunting for missing goods, fetching pieces from the store room or calling to request out of stock items.

Tagging and tracking items with RFID technology has changed all that. Shelves are now replenished more accurately. Sales associates have more face to face time with customers. And it’s put an end to internal arguments about where something actually is.

Better stocked shelves and personal attention from sales associates means that customers are buying more items in a single transaction, lifting store sales and profitability.

RFID technology takes the guesswork out of keeping shelves stocked

With RFID tagging and tracking, the store experience is altogether better for customers and better for sales associates. The result is an increase of five per cent for both sales and margin.”Store manager, global luxury retailer

Global luxury retailer

Case study

ChallengeYou can’t sell what you haven’t got. The perennial problem for store retailers everywhere is how to make sure that every style or model is available in every colour and size, at all times.

This global luxury retailer can easily have several thousand customers through a single store every day. “Customers rightly expect us to provide everything in the colour or size they want. But with around 50,000 items for sale, it was physically difficult to replenish stock in good time” says the store’s general manager.

It might take four hours to count and replenish a single category of inventory such as T-shirts. Sales associates who should be helping customers were sidetracked by the need to fetch goods from the stock room.

Shelves were often replenished ‘by eye’, rather than from an accurate understanding of what was required. So a shelf or rack appeared full, but actually offered a restricted range. Missing items meant lost sales and disappointed customers.

The problem was compounded by a lack of synchronisation or common understanding with the regional team that supplied the store. “We were always brainstorming ways to improve, but based on the technology we already had” said the general manager.

SolutionThe company chose BT Trace for Retail, an item-level inventory management solution which uses RFID technology to track goods on the move and in store.

“RFID-enabled inventory management is one of the critical building blocks of a true omnichannel supply chain, and will help us blend our physical and online businesses in the future.”Director, global luxury retailer

Case study

Global luxury retailer

“BT was the right supplier for us. In addition to a global presence and financial stability, BT has proven RFID experience. It is technology independent and can bring other vendors together. Above all, BT understands retailing and the wider supply chain challenges. We took BT’s advice and started with a small number of stores in a pilot programme.”

The pilot involved five stores, and RFID tags were applied to merchandise in five departments. In total, more than 1.6 million items were retro-tagged for the pilot deployment.

Before the pilot got underway, the retailer worked hard to explain to employees why and how RFID-enabled item-level inventory management would work, and what it would mean for them. Lots of advance communication was followed up with posters, presentations and meetings with sales associates. Senior people were visible cheerleaders throughout, even joining in the practical work of tagging items for the pilot.

Following the success of the pilot, the retailer is in the first phase of a wider rollout of BT Trace for Retail across its estate. So far, another 5.5 million items have been tagged (including virtually 100 per cent of inventory in selected stores) and more than 300 store personnel trained to use the solution.

The retailer holds biweekly meetings where all the stores involved in deployment can talk about what they have learned and share best practice (such meetings started during the pilot and continue to deliver value during the wider rollout).

ValueRFID-enabled inventory management has transformed store performance. Using handheld readers, just two people can accurately count an inventory of 50,000 items in 45 minutes. Replenishment is now more exact. Sales associates are spending longer with customers and converting more engagements into sales. Customers are buying more items in a single transaction.

With real time visibility of inventory, the store manager can more easily adjust inventory allocation, as well as identify shrinkage. She comments: “With RFID tagging and tracking, the store experience is altogether better for customers and better for sales associates.”

Consequently, sales are up, by an average of five per cent across the pilot stores. Also gross margin has improved correspondingly by five per cent. A series of management reports give store managers and head office new insights and value.

Improved product knowledge along with mutual clarity over the location of items have put an end to internal disputes, reducing stress all round. Says the retailer: “BT’s proven expertise in RFID was incredibly powerful. The BT team had a lot of credibility and provided a lot of confidence. They gave it to us straight.”

“RFID-enabled inventory management is one of the critical building blocks of a true omnichannel supply chain, and will help us blend our physical and online businesses in the future.”

BT Trace for Retail boosts stock availability in store to lift sales

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RFID-enabled item-level inventory management BT Trace for Retail combines RFID technology and wireless connectivity in a solution that allows retailers to accurately track and monitor every item from the point it arrives at a warehouse/distribution centre to when the customer takes it home.

Using portable RFID readers, employees scan incoming tagged goods – at speeds of up to 12 to 15,000 items per hour – and the data is transmitted to a central inventory repository.

Employees can also use portable readers for rapid stocktaking on the sales floor. Store managers have easy-to-use mobile dashboard devices, which alert them when stock needs replenishing.

BT Trace for Retail can be provided as a managed service, which reduces risk, accelerates return on investment and gives the flexibility to respond to seasonal demand or other market pressures.

Reduce the risk with a BT pilot programme A BT pilot programme helps retailers to make the business case for implementing RFID-enabled inventory management.

The pilot lasts three months and provides:

• Access to the BT RFID ROI model to support the business case

• Professional services and consultancy from experienced practitioners in BT

• Equipping an agreed number of stores with RFID tags, typically a minimum of three stores on selected merchandise

• An agreed number of RFID readers for use on the sales floor

• Central reporting with easy data export to the stock management systems

• Employee training and support from BT and its partners

“We were always brainstorming ways to improve, but based on the technology we already had”Director, global luxury retailer

Case study

Global luxury retailer

Core services ¾ BT Trace for Retail

¾ BT Advise Quick Start

¾ BT Advise Pilot Deployment