While many have likely not heard of radio frequency identification (RFID), it’s likely most consumers are using it now. For instance, the newer ‘tap’ credit card feature — the one that allows you to skip the fuss of inserting your card into the credit card reader — is a more recent example of RFID technology. […]
The history of RFID utilisation in retailing is perhaps best described as chequered! From its initial development in the late 1990s, retailing was quickly identified as an area where it could potentially make a revolutionary change to business practices and operational efficiencies. Indeed, it was viewed as such as game changer that one aficionado claimed […]
As I discussed in an earlier blog on the evolution in the use of RFID in retailing – it is a technology that has been on a ‘long burn’ and only now after 20 plus years since it was first proposed as a way to enhance the efficiency and profitability of retailing, is it becoming […]
A recently published ECR Report, which focussed upon on the way in which retailers who have invested in RFID technologies are innovating in its use, highlighted the critical role it can play in enabling businesses to deliver ‘Omni-channel’ retailing. Even before the COVID-19 Pandemic wreaked havoc across global economies, the retail industry was experiencing considerable […]
Some technologies can often be on a very slow burn before they reach a tipping point of acceptability, value, and utilisation. In many respects, the use of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technologies in retailing is an archetype of this phenomenon – developing first in the late 1990s but only now becoming mainstream in some parts […]
It is now 5 years since the first Total Retail Loss (TRL) report was published, although that was essentially a bookend to a longer journey of reflection and review on how retail businesses were experiencing and responding to the issue of retail ‘loss’. As the original report highlighted, the term ‘shrinkage’ or ‘shrink’ has a […]
The Pareto principle is a well-known and often quoted concept – the 80/20 rule – 80% of consequences come from 20% of causes. Equally, it is widely acknowledged and understood that risk is not evenly distributed in time and space – certain places and particular times can be riskier than others, particularly when thinking about […]
I recently took part in a Datascan Roundtable with Adrian Thomas, President and CEO of Datascan, and David Erasmus, their Director for EMEA, to discuss developing issues around the issue of inventory counting and its impact upon retail sales and loss. For many years, the issue of inventory counting has been much debated – some […]
As part of the ECR Retail Loss Group’s regular sessions exploring the use of video technologies in retailing, the subject of utilising them to facilitate the collection of inventory data was recently the focus of attention. Presentations were made by representatives from Walgreens, the giant US pharmacy retailer, and Monoprix, a French grocery chain with […]
