Dive Brief:
- Consumers have voiced their frustration with supply chain and inventory management failures in retail stores by taking their business elsewhere, Women's Wear Daily reported Wednesday.
- As a result, the impetus for retailers to adopt RFID has become especially strong, particularly by apparel and footwear vendors in order to meet consumer demand.
- Stocking up on popular items, while effective enough in the past before consumers grew used to e-commerce levels of product availability, simply doesn't reach the same level of provision as RFID offers when trying to prevent merchandise shortages.
Dive Insight:
RFID technology is fueling sales growth across the retail map, enabling sellers to pinpoint exactly where inventory needs replenishment.
Target has been particularly successful with RFID technology, applying the tech to inventory replenishment. Apparel in particular has benefited, allowing the popular retailer to enhance operational efficiencies and better cost management.
Macy's is another retailer experiencing success with RFID. The department store intended to fit all inventory with RFID tags b y the end of 2016, an ambitious project that will likely pay off in terms of lean inventory as well as ease of inventory replenishment.
Previous reluctance among retailers to utilize RFID technology were largely due to added expenses. However, improvements to product availability leading to greater customer satisfaction have more than justified the price.
