Background While video technologies have long been utilised in retailing – some of the first installations of closed circuit television (CCTV) in a retail environment can be found in the 1970s – their role and indeed purpose has largely been limited by the nature of the technology deployed – analogue systems. This made them hard […]
Background One of the most significant challenges associated with managing retail ‘shrinkage’ is that for the most part, the root cause of why the loss has occurred remains largely unknown. Most of the data that comprises the shrinkage number in retail companies is derived from infrequent and periodic stock takes – counting or valuing the […]
The ever-changing nature of the retail sector has meant that keeping retail losses under control is not easy and constantly requires the development of new approaches, ideas and skill sets for those tasked to deal with it. What is clear is that many if not all organisations have struggled at some point to meet the […]
A relatively recent and growing trend within retailing is to increasingly offer an ‘omni-channel’ shopping environment – give the consumer maximum flexibility in how they can browse, select, pay and receive the products they wish to purchase – buy online and pickup in store being but one iteration of this model. But successfully offering this […]
For consumers, the growth in online retailing has few downsides – where once they were limited to visiting local retail stores to browse, select and purchase the products they wished to buy, now they literally have the retail world at their fingertips, offering a bewildering array of choices. In addition, retailers operating in this highly […]
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 […]
