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Tag: RFID

  • Asia-Pacific Retail Automation Market to Reach $5.07 Billion by 2029

    Asia-Pacific Retail Automation Market to Reach $5.07 Billion by 2029

    Retail automation spending across regional Asia-Pacific markets will reach $5.07 billion by 2029, up from $2.65 billion in 2024.

    The expansion represents a compound annual growth rate of 13.8 percent, outperforming the broader global retail automation sector’s projected 9.9 percent rate over the five-year forecast period.

    Rising wages across developing economies are pressing store operators to replace manual routines with self-checkout kiosks, automated inventory tracking, and warehouse robotics. Worldwide automation revenue is projected to climb from $27.63 billion in 2024 to $44.3 billion by 2029, with Asian markets taking up a growing share of enterprise procurement budgets.

    Warehouses and Non-Food Chains Lead Spending

    Warehouse installations form the largest share of automation deployments in the region, pushed by logistics operators sorting heavier e-commerce parcel flows. Non-food retail stores represent the fastest-growing buyer category as fashion, specialty, and electronics chains adopt electronic shelf labels, autonomous mobile robots, and automated storage systems to defend operating margins.

    Technology vendors competing for contracts include Zebra Technologies, IBM, SAP, Microsoft, and Saison Information Systems, alongside automation hardware groups such as Honeywell, ABB, and Siemens. Cheaper cloud systems and IoT sensors have lowered entry costs, enabling mid-tier chains to buy tools once restricted to massive supermarket operators.

    Shift from Pilot Trials to Fleet Deployments

    Regional merchants previously limited automated checkouts and radio-frequency identification tags to flagship concept locations. Higher store operating expenses have pushed those tests into broad network rollouts across hypermarkets, specialty outlets, and distribution centers.

    Technology vendors are focusing on integrated suites that connect front-of-store optical sensors and automated sortation networks directly to enterprise planning software, targeting retail operators upgrading their infrastructure before 2029.

  • Hyundai Develops Smartphone Based Digital Key

    Hyundai Develops Smartphone Based Digital Key

    Hyundai Motor Group announced the development of a Digital Key, which allows users to unlock and start a vehicle via their smartphone. Replacing a traditional physical key, the new Digital Key can be downloaded via an app and can be used by up to four authorised people. The Digital Key can be downloaded via a cell phone application and Near Field Communication (NFC) technology detects the presence of an authorized Digital Key-enabled cellphone in close proximity to the vehicle door. NFC is a form of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID), which boasts a high level of security. The NFC wireless data communication takes place only when the device and the reader are placed several centimetres apart.

    The NFC antenna for entry identification is located in the handles of the driver and front passenger’s doors, whilst one for starting the engine is located within the wireless charging pad. After unlocking the vehicle, the user can start the engine by placing the smartphone on the wireless charging pad in the centre console and pressing an engine Start/Stop button on the dashboard.

    The user’s preferred vehicle settings are stored in the vehicle. When the key is recognized those settings are adjusted automatically – including the position of mirrors, seats and the steering wheel, as well as controls for the audio, video and navigation (AVN) systems and head-up display.Hyundai’s Digital Key can be used to control selected vehicle systems remotely via their smartphone. Using Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) communication, users can lock and unlock the vehicle, activate the alarm and start the engine. In addition, once the vehicles with autonomous parking features are commercialized, such features are also expected to be remotely controlled.

    The level of access to different vehicle functions can be tailored to each user, for a defined period. The vehicle owner can pre-set the duration of vehicle use or limit the use to only certain features when renting the vehicle. For instance, it can even be used to enable a courier to open the trunk to deliver a parcel.

    For cases such as using a valet service or visiting a repair shop, where handing over a digital key is not feasible, conventional smart key and card type key are also provided. Hyundai Motor Group aims to gradually implement the technology in its new production vehicles, starting later this year.

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  • Online sales surge boosts Zara owner Inditex

    Online sales surge boosts Zara owner Inditex

    Surging online sales have boosted Zara parent’s Inditex’s net profit in the past fiscal year by 7 per cent.

    Inditex, which also owns brands including Pull & Bear, Bershka and Massimo Dutti, reported an increase in net profit for the 12 months ending January 31 to €3.37 billion (A$5.27 billion) from €3.16 billion a year earlier.

    Sales rose 9 per cent to 25.34 billion euros in the fiscal year, with revenue for online sales growing by 41 per cent.

    In FY17, Inditex invested €1.8 billion in further developing its integrated stores and online model and upgrading its technology. Specifically, the rollout of RFID technology has improved flexibility and response times by integrating stores and online inventories, the company said.

    Pablo Isla, chairman and CEO of Inditex, described it as a year of “solid growth”, and highlighted, “the unique strength” of their integrated stores and online model and its significant growth potential.

    He added that “the prescient investments made in technology and logistics in recent years,” coupled with space optimisation, had positioned the company for continued growth across all its markets.

    The group, which during 2017 opened its first stores in Belarus and launched its online sales platform in India, Vietnam, Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia, was founded in 1975 by Amancio Ortega and has become the world’s largest clothes retailer with eight brands.

    Inditex owns 7,475 shops worldwide, an increase of 183 stores from the previous year when factoring in shop closures, but 29 less than three months earlier.

    Florence Allday, beauty and fashion associate at Euromonitor International, said Inditex faces a period of uncertainty as the changing retail environment and globally volatile currencies make this rapidly evolving market sector even more competitive.

    The fashion conglomerate may be one of the most dynamic players in the industry, Allday said, but the past few months have seen Zara and its direct global competitors vie to remain in favour with their female, millennial demographic in a market that is fast-maturing and reaching saturation.

    Currently, Zara has the fourth largest global market share in the apparel and footwear category, behind Hennes & Mauritz (H&M), Adidas and Nike. Other significant competitors include Asos, Boohoo and Primark.

    Allday said rankings and shares in the global apparel and footwear market remained static in 2016, with sportswear giants taking the top two spots.

    Inditex ranked fourth, maintaining its positioning as one of the leading non-sportswear companies in the world. Inditex’s key rival is H&M, which slightly outperformed Inditex due to more dynamic store expansion and an aggressive pricing strategy. H&M also utilises far more visible marketing, including collaborations with high-profile designers that attract widespread fashion press.

    “Although Inditex does rank higher than H&M in the global footwear market the company will need to utilise its vertical operations and exploit its widespread geographic coverage, to overtake H&M in apparel, capitalising on the narrowing gap between the two rivals,” Allday said.

    “Further still, players such as Fast Retailing [Uniqlo parent] continue to move up the ranks, capturing consumers’ demand for value-orientated product offerings, threatening the dominance of Inditex and H&M.”

    Allday said despite Zara’s status as the world’s largest fast fashion retailer, its sales slowed last year due to a lack of distinction between seasonal collections, and general market saturation.

    “To continue to be a key player in the fast fashion arena, Zara needs to ensure that its constant, uninterrupted flow of new designs and products is matched by a digital retail experience that is equally seamless,” she said.

    “With competitors like Asos, Amazon and Missguided enjoying enormous sales and growth, thanks to their sleek online platforms, Zara must streamline its payment and delivery options to ensure that its online shoppers remain loyal. Consumer attitudes are shifting, preferring to pay more for quality over quantity.”

    “To ensure that it remains relevant, Zara must emphasise the quality and longevity of its garments and justify its low price points to ethically-conscious consumers.”

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  • Retail gets personal

    Retail gets personal

    In this year of the 400th anniversary of the passing of William Shakespeare, we’ll borrow some inspiration from the great bard and say: The store is dead – long live the store.

    For, despite the stellar rise of online shopping, it accounts for just 7.3 per cent of total global retail spending.

    The store’s “renaissance,” if it were needed, reflects the fact that shopping remains popular. It also comes on the back of investment from retailers keen to make the most of the store as a differentiator – the place where shoppers touch the brand. A big feature of this spending has been the drive to make the store central to an omnichannel shopping experience where shoppers can conveniently mix how they try, buy, and return items through online, in-store, and mobile channels.

    To achieve this versatility, retailers have deployed RFID and barcode labels to track and trace items across the supply chain, into the store, and back from the customer (via returns). By using such labels, which can be automatically recorded by RFID systems or handheld computers and scanners, retailers can capture what we call Enterprise Asset Intelligence (EAI). As we move forward, EAI will play a key role as retailers look to make the in-store experience ever more enjoyable and rewarding.

    Continuous improvement

    Smart labels and sensors can be attached to any object – associates, stock, vehicles, equipment, totes and pallets, and many more. The stream of data collected from the labels is connected over wireless and cell networks to your back office, providing visibility into every area of your operations. This opens boundless opportunities to manage processes more efficiently, improve the customer experience, and free your associates from time-consuming to spend more time in the shop floor. A couple of interesting examples include:

    • Being more responsive to customers: we spoke to one UK retailer recently who told us they have 100,000 people working to restock their stores at night. Indeed, the cost of their associates is 66 per cent of their store overheads. The interesting thing is this retailer, and others we speak with, is not looking to cut these costs: it’s looking to allocate them more wisely – to free staff to spend less time on operations and more with customers. This can be achieved by using smart labels to provide a continuous view over inventory and supporting teams with better technology – including voice-guided workflows through mobile and wearable devices – to help them manage replenishment more efficiently and spend more time providing attentive and personal experiences to shoppers.
    • Being more rewarding: Using your wireless network, you can connect with the sensors that most of us carry with us all the time – in our smartphones. If the customer agrees, every time they come into store their phone can register on to your system to allow you to offer a more personalized service. For example, you can send a welcome message and offer a wide range of promotions from money-off based on their preferences, to loyalty bonuses, to gifts for their birthday, and much more. You can also build in “help” features so associates’ mobile devices can alert them, and help them easily find shoppers who’ve asked for assistance.

    What really excites us about retail right now is that we’re getting back to those halcyon days: the days when your local shop keeper would know who you are, know what you want, and engage with you in compelling ways – ways that you’d value and that encouraged your loyalty. We can use technology to achieve similar things – to not only free staff to spend more time with customers but increasingly to offer customers more intriguing, engaging, and rewarding ways to shop.

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  • Retail loss for APAC retailers to peak this holiday season

    Retail loss for APAC retailers to peak this holiday season

    Retailers in the Asia-Pacific region will experience both their highest sales and shrink distributions during the holiday season, according to the 2016 Retail Holiday Season Global Forecast.

    The report boldly predicts that 32 percent of the losses of the region’s retailers will  be due to internal and external theft, with apparel, children’s toys, holiday foods, electronics and cosmetics emerging the favorites among thieves.

    Theft from internal sources (primarily via employee theft and other sales reducing activities) and external factors (primarily via shoplifting/organized retail crime), which is referred to as shrink by retailers, are also forecast to reach 28 percent of annual retail sales.

    The study, underwritten by an independent grant from Checkpoint SystemsInc., was carried out by Ernie Deyle, a retail loss prevention analyst, and provides an analytical view of business risks that major retailers face during this holiday season.

    The 13 markets covered in the report include North America, Europe and Asia, and include the US, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, UK, Australia, mainland China, Hong Kong and Japan.

    “Building holiday inventories earlier and specifically for high-risk items may lead to increased sales reduction pressures, such as markdowns and shrink throughout the fourth-quarter,” said Mark Gentle, Vice President — Merchandise Availability Solutions Asia Pacific, Checkpoint Systems.

    According to the study, Australia is expected to record the highest shrink loss for this holiday season among all the Asia-Pacific markets surveyed at 35 percent, followed by Japan (31 percent), mainland China (30 percent) and Hong Kong (30 percent). The rate is more than 30 percent higher than the first two quarters of the year.

    In the Asia-Pacific region, the cost of retail loss to shoppers in 2016, as absorbed or passed on from retailers, is expected to be $32 per person on average, of which one-third will be incurred during the holiday season. These increases in losses place an enormous burden on retailers and, ultimately, on honest consumers who pay for it in higher prices.

    “For most retailers, wholesalers and distributors, inventory — including the space to store it — is the largest single cost of doing business. While reducing inventory means lower costs, insufficient inventory leads to out of stock situations, lost sales and unhappy customers. Therefore balancing these two factors is critical to profitability and growth, particularly in omnichannel environments,” said Gentle.

    “The use of advanced data analytic tools, inventory management strategies, along with technologies such as RFID will provide retailers with enhanced visibility to track merchandise as it moves through the supply chain to distribution centers, retail backrooms, and store shelves, helping retailers reduce losses due to shrink and other causes, ultimately increasing the financial contribution of each item.”

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  • RFID market is growing

    RFID market is growing

    IDTechEx Research has tracked the RFID market since 1999. IDTechEx find that in 2015, the total RFID market is worth $10.1 billion, up from $9.5 billion in 2014 and $8.8 billion in 2013. This includes tags, readers and software/services for RFID cards, labels, fobs and all other form factors, for both passive and active RFID. IDTechEx forecast that to rise to $13.2 billion in 2020.

    In retail, RFID continues to be adopted for apparel tagging – that application alone will demand 4.6 billion RFID labels in 2016 – which still has some way to go with RFID penetrating about 15% of the total addressable market for apparel in 2016. RFID in the form of tickets used for transit will demand 800 million tags in 2016. The tagging of animals (such as pigs, sheep and pets) is substantial as it continues to be a legal requirement in many more territories, with 420 million tags being used for this sector in 2016.

    In total, IDTechEx expects that 8.9 billion tags will be sold in 2015 and 10.4 billion in 2016. Most of that growth is from passive UHF RFID (RAIN RFID) labels. However, in 2015 UHF (RAIN RFID) tag sales by value will only be 11% of the value of HF tag sales, mainly because HF tags where used for security (such as payments, access etc) have a higher price point versus the cheaper, usually disposable UHF (RAIN RFID) tags used for tagging things.

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  • Gieves & Hawkes exploring RFID route

    Gieves & Hawkes exploring RFID route

    The new Gieves & Hawkes store in The Mailbox, Birmingham is using RFID technology to help the retailer gain a clearer view of stock inventory and to aid the business’s loss prevention strategy.

    Further installations of the technology are being discussed with solutions provider Catalyst, but for now the menswear retailer is solely monitoring results in the West Midlands store, which opened last summer.

    Sam Thompson, regional IT manager for Gieves & Hawkes parent company Trinity Group, said: “The technology has been easy to deploy and the store appreciates the benefits it offers.

    “The data generated is useful in managing store stock levels.”

    Catalyst, which is owned by global supply chain organisation Li & Fung, operates a cloud-based data platform and is providing Hawes & Curtis with handheld readers for scanning products and overhead readers, which are invisible to the customer but offer the company’s staff item level intelligence. The tech range is showcased in the company’s London, New York and Hong Kong showrooms, allowing retailers to walk in and see the solutions in action in a mock-up store scenario.

    We visited the Catalyst London showroom in 2014 and witnessed how the readers can be combined with other technology such as smart changing room systems or digital screens, to boost the customer’s in-store experience.

    Catalyst works alongside Smartrac for the Gieves & Hawes project, with the latter’s UCode 7 Web RFID tags printed, encoded and applied to all garments delivered to the store. The tags are deactivated using Catalyst’s ePay readers at the till point, with the information fed straight into the retailer’s point of sale system, giving the business a real-time view of stock inventory.

    The RFID solution also provides an alternative to electronic article surveillance in the fight against theft.

     

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  • Checkpoint Systems to Showcase Intelligent RFID-based Merchandise Visibility Solutions at Retail Technology Show Asia 2016

    Checkpoint Systems to Showcase Intelligent RFID-based Merchandise Visibility Solutions at Retail Technology Show Asia 2016

    Visitors to Retail Technology Show Asia 2016, being held from 20-21 April in Singapore will have the opportunity to hear from  Checkpoint Systems, Inc. (NYSE: CKP) and see first-hand the latest merchandise visibility solutions that can help retailers reduce out-of-stocks and on-hand inventory throughout the supply chain all the way from the manufacturer to the store.

    Checkpoint System’s enhanced merchandise visibility solution with new labeling and RFID (radio frequency identification) technology enable manufacturers to apply RFID-based tags at the point of manufacture cost-effectively.  These RFID tags can be read throughout the supply chain, and enable each product to be tracked or located individually. Information about the product’s location is automatically captured and verified against expected quantities in real time at the manufacturing facility, warehouse or store. This information is used to optimize inventory levels and shelf availability, enabling retailers to meet customer demand, improve operations, enhance customer experience, cut costs and increase sales.

    Exhibiting at booth T05 at the Suntec Convention Centre, Checkpoint Systems will showcase its latest solutions, including:

    –          range of RFID-based tags and labels;

    –          S3i ShelfNet™, a scalable, wireless network that provides critical data and analytic intelligence such as inventory quantity in real time that enable retailers to gain new insights into shelf activity and understand customer demand;

    –          EVOLVE-Store series, involving a real-time app that provides real-time visibility on merchandise and shopper numbers by managing response times to alarm events;

    –          MetalPoint™ HyperGuard™ solution, a digital based software solution that can detect foil-lined clothing or bags used by organized retail crime operations and prevent theft by alerting staff. It can be seamlessly integrated into Checkpoint’s EVOLVE family of antenna.

    Mark Gentle, Vice President – Merchandise Availability Solutions, Asia Pacific at Checkpoint Systems, will deliver a speech titled “It’s all about the data – how Sensor Data Drives Responsive Retail” at the event. Speaking on 20 April, he will discuss how critical merchandise-related data that is collected from RFID sensors can be analyzed and used to enhance supply chain visibility and improve business processes for retailers.

     

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  • Retailer Uses RFID, Social Media and Cameras to Track Shopper Behavior

    Retailer Uses RFID, Social Media and Cameras to Track Shopper Behavior

    ISA Fashion Boutique International Ltd., a seller of international luxury brands in Hong Kong, mainland China and Macau, has deployed an RFID-based inventory-management system provided by Hong Kong IT services company PCCW Solutions. The system enables the retailer to track the locations of products, engage with customers, learn their preferences and reduce labor costs based on inventory counts. The solution, known as Infinitum Retail, includes IP cameras as well as ultrahigh-frequency (UHF) RFID readers. As a result of the improved inventory management, the retailer says that it plans to deploy the system this year at all 11 of its stores. Alpha Solution Ltd. installed the technology.

    Traditionally, RFID has had limitations since it can track a tagged product, but not necessarily link that item with a particular customer, explains Jacky Ting, PCCW Solutions’ digital practice leader. By itself, RFID cannot enable a store to forward product information and promotions to shoppers. However, by linking RFID data to closed-circuit television (CCTV) camera images and social-media sites such as Facebook, a retailer can identify where shopper traffic is heaviest (using a camera-based heat map), understand how an individual responds to a product (by tracking the expressions on his or her face) and monitor comments that its customers make on social media (with their permission), using the store’s Wi-Fi network.

    The reader built into an ISA store’s EAS gate can capture the ID number of a customer’s RFID-enabled loyalty card, prompting the Infinitum Retail software to send promotional offers to that individual’s phone, based on his or her previous purchasing behavior.

    Infinitum Retail aims to overcome a variety of problems that stores face, says Wing Lee, PCCW Solutions’ senior VP, such as understanding which products interest customers, and then approaching them with relevant offers. ISA Boutique uses camera images only for tracking shoppers’ locations within its stores, Lee notes, while it could opt to use facial analytics in the future to identify each customer’s age, race, gender and response to products based on facial expressions.

    In 2012, ISA Fashion first installed an RFID system for counting inventory and tracking product locations at one of its stores with the help of Alpha Solution (see ISA Boutique Tracks Inventory, Shopper Behavior Via RFID). The system, which is still in use, employs tiny RFID labels attached to jewelry, as well as readers installed in display cabinets, to track when goods are on display and when they are removed from a cabinet. After Infinitum Retail was released in October 2015, the retailer began using the system to track all of its products, which also include clothing, leather goods, eyewear and watches, at three shops and one warehouse in Hong Kong, as well as a single shop in mainland China. The new solution includes the use of electronic article surveillance (EAS) hard tags for non-jewelry products.

    Infinitum Retail consists of RFID readers built into the EAS gate at the door, as well as a feature known as iR-Furniture—RFID interrogators built into shelves to read tags in real time. The system also includes readers installed at checkout terminals. In the warehouse, readers are used to identify when goods are received and then shipped to a store.

    At the warehouse, an EAS hard tag with a built-in EPC Gen 2 ultrahigh-frequency (UHF) RFID inlay is attached to each product other than jewelry. The inlay is read at the warehouse for inventory purposes, and the cloud-based hosted software is automatically updated to indicate, for instance, if a tagged item has been shipped, as well as to which store and when this occurred.

  • RFID system boosts efficiency for Decks Singapore

    RFID system boosts efficiency for Decks Singapore

    Fashion retailer and apparel supplier Decks Singapore has implemented an RFID inventory and stock-taking system that saves time while ensuring greater accuracy.

    Previously, 600 worker-hours were involved in the company’s annual stock-take, with 88 per cent accuracy. With the new system, it can achieve 99.8 per cent accuracy in just five worker-hours.

    To achieve this greater efficiency and accuracy, Decks consulted Tokyo-listed auto-ID technology company Sato, which recommended the inventory system. It involves tagging apparel with RFID labels, with all incoming and outgoing items being scanned.

    “With the retail industry growing more competitive and the rise of eCommerce and mCommerce changing the way consumers shop, retailers have to act fast to keep up and stay ahead in the game,” says Decks MD Kelvyn Chee.

    “Besides stock-taking advantages, the new RFID system also helps us achieve greater inventory data accuracy, enabling us to ensure stock availability.”
    Sato Asia Pacific GM Akihiro Ito says his company will continue working with Decks to implement other retail technology such as Anti-Theft and Self-Checkout.
    Launched 19 years ago, Decks is a fashion apparel supplier for departmental stores in Singapore. It also has several retail boutiques in major Singapore shopping malls and has distribution channels in Southeast Asia.

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