The COVID-19 pandemic has caused disruptions in the way we do business. We have all had to change our strategies, hire more staff or in some cases let go of some staff.
Grocery stores and pharmacies have stayed open while most clothing retailers have had to shut their doors. One thing though has stayed constant – online sales have skyrocketed.
In March 2020 (at the beginning of the pandemic) a number of retailers announced that they had seen a 65% increase or more in online traffic and, over the past month or so, these numbers have gone up even further.
At present, a major issue that retailers are grappling with is inventory control and, with online sales increasing rapidly, ‘out of stock’ seems to be a pretty common phrase that customers are now seeing on shopping websites. Occupancy limits have also left many warehouses with fewer employees and shops with fewer salespeople.
We were not prepared then. But we can be prepared now.
RFID Solutions by Checkpoint Systems allows retailers to have real-time product information and hence gives them full control of their inventories.
RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) is one of the areas that has come into the spotlight as retailers started using technology to manage their supply chain. Using RFID, information collected from the tags is then transferred into a computer system, where the data can be stored in a database and analysed in real-time or at a later time as and when needed.
Having the ability to quickly shift around inventory and most importantly knowing where all the inventory is, is the key to a successful omnichannel business.
Inaccurate inventory data leads to lost sales and unnecessary costs. RFID provides up-to-date item level inventory, enabling more cost-effective shipping and more convenient store pickup options for the customer. Retailers that have implemented RFID based systems have commonly reported an increase of 1.5%-5.5% in their overall sales and 93% – 99% of stock accuracy.
Working with RFID can also improve inventory labour productivity and reduce cycle count time by as much as 96%. When it comes to stocktakes, retailers using RFID can count more than 20,000 products in an hour compared to 200 an hour for those not using the technology. With an upturn in online sales, businesses are already seeing an increase in return of goods and RFID-enabled returns processing can help to streamline this process, reducing return fraud, markdowns and out-of-shelf events.
As a technology provider to the retail industry, Checkpoint Systems have invested heavily in R&D over the last three years to embrace this technological RFID advancement and provides solutions that will assist to increase revenues, optimize inventory management, reduce discounting and eliminate out of shelf situation. All of these deliver improved financial performance, which in turn can help your business be successful and grow.
Talk to our experts at sales.info@checkpt.com or call us at 1300 369 338 to future-proof your business.
