- Contact Us
-
Our Sites
Our Sites
- Medici Capital
- Corporate website of Medici Capital.
- Practice4Sale
- Listing service for professional practices.
- Jobs4Careers
- Job posting service for employees and employers.
- Attain
- Business brokers specialising in professional practices.
- Medici Express
- Online valuation portal for Medici Capital customers.
- About Us
- Home
RFID Becomes One Step Closer For Australian Retail
The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) yesterday finalised its approval for 4 Watt RFID readers operating between 920 and 926MHz. Until this time, the ACMA had limited use of RFID to 1 Watt within the 918 to 926MHz band. Approval of this new, (and unlicensed), RFID technology paves the way for better use of RFID technology in retailing and warehousing environments by Australian retailers and distributors. This recent move now brings Australia in line with use of RFID across the world.
That begs the question, however, why is this such a significant improvement for the use of IT in retailing environments? To understand this, one must familiarise themselves with RFID in retailing.
What is RFID?
Radio-frequency identification RFID used radio frequencies to provide a communication stream between an RFID tag and an RFID reader. The radio frequency can relay product information like a bar code, however it has the advantage of allowing scans to occur from some distance away without the requirement of a line of site.
As such, RFID can provide a better means of scanning stock levels (both on shelves and in transit), processing customer purchases and improving the efficiency of processing acquisitions and sales of inventory.
Using RFID In Retail Environments
There are several key uses for RFID technologies in retail environments. In 2006, IBM released an article outlining some key uses of RFID in retail stores, an extract of which follows:
Companies can use RFID technology to enhance a customer's experience and boost customer loyalty. Such applications include:
- VIP care: Service people know when VIP customers enter the store and are able to provide the customers with a welcome message, shopping guidance, shopping suggestions, and so on. The goal of these services is to make VIP customers feel like true VIPs. Some top-grade electronics and clothing retailers have already begun providing such services.
- Intelligent shopping guide: Often, customers want to know where certain goods are located in a mall. PDAs, kiosks, and other electronic devices can provide customized, valuable information through an intelligent shopping guide service.
- RFID goods card: While shopping for certain electronic goods or large appliances, such as air conditioners, refrigerators, and microwave ovens, customers don't put the goods directly in the shopping basket. Instead, they simply select an RFID card. The cards are checked out before payment.
- RFID check-out channel: Currently, most check-out channels in supermarkets use bar code scanning.However, consider an RFID-enabled check-out channel, where you put your shopping cart in an appointed area and all the information, including types of goods, prices, and total amount, are checked and calculated in a few seconds. It also reduces the amount of labor required for the service people at the check-out channel, and it improves the efficiency and veracity.
Cited at: http://www-128.ibm.com/developerworks/library/wi-rfidretail/index.html?ca=drs-tp3606 on Friday 16th January 2009
To achieve these services, IBM suggests taking the following into consideration:
With these applications in mind, here are some suggestions and tips you can use during the delivery phase:
- Define the utilization scope: If you want to utilize RFID technology in your stores tomorrow, don't immediately implement the plan in all of your stores. Instead, choose one store, plan carefully, and perform aggressive pilot testing. In the pilot, you'll accumulate proficient experience about the device, the RFID system, integration with your existing system, and valuable customer feedback.
- Integrate with the point-of-sale (POS) system: These days, most stores use a POS system integrated with bar code scanners. If you want to build RFID-enabled check-out channels, you need to integrate the RFID system into the POS system. In most cases, local ISVs provide and maintain the old POS system. You can coordinate with your ISV to plan the integration, estimate the workload, and determine the budget.
- Integrate with your finance system, CRM system, store-level inventory management system, and other business systems: You can use RFID technology as a smart channel that gets information in real time. Most of the information is related to goods encoding, price, financial data, and customer information. Thus, you must integrate your RFID system with your existing back-end IT system, including your finance system, CRM system, and store-level inventory management system. Make sure your RFID experts coordinate with experts of these systems and plan the integration carefully.
- Do site survey carefully: An RFID system is not a pure software system, but rather a mix of software and hardware. The on-site environment can greatly influence the impression of the RFID system. Survey the site and do careful testing. System integrators and professional RFID device providers offer site surveys.
Cited at: http://www-128.ibm.com/developerworks/library/wi-rfidretail/index.html?ca=drs-tp3606 on Friday 16th January 2009
RFID is also known to improve the accuracy and process of stocktaking. Given the ability to scan numerous items simultaneously from a distance, the process of confirming what level of stocks are actually on the shelves can be streamlined. Hand-held scanners can allow staff to scan stock shelves for stock on the shelves, or to scan the shelves to identify mis-placed items of stock. And by using RFID readers on incoming/outgoing stock, stock levels can automatically be updated without the requirement to manually enter all changes in inventory. As the range of RFID technology improves, the ability to scan a wider area will improve the ability to conduct real-time stock takes on demand.
However, in the meantime, the hand-held scanner allows retailers to scan retail shelving in minutes. This means that retailers can stock take sections of the store while it is still operating; if an item happens to have been purchased between scanning of the shelves and uploading of data into the management system from the scanner, the user simply updates the stock take date.
What else can RFID do?
RFID Used to Keep Tabs on Liquor
Vegas Hotel-Casino Uses Tags to Keep Tabs on Liquor
By Claire Swedberg
At Treasure Island, RFID-enabled bottle spouts track the amount of liquor bartenders pour.
June 22, 2006 - Treasure Island (TI), a Las Vegas hotel and casino, has installed a system utilizing RFID to track the amount and type of liquor its bartenders pour. The new system, the Beverage Tracker, was supplied by Capton, a San Francisco-based provider of liquor-monitoring technology. The system has been in operation at two of the hotel's bars for the past month and will soon be added to two more.
The Beverage Tracker consists of RFID-enabled liquor spouts, an RFID interrogator (reader) and software. The spouts, which TI employees attach to every liquor bottle, contain a battery-powered 418 MHz RFID tag and a measuring device. Whenever a bartender pours a drink, the tipping of the bottle turns on both the tag and the measuring device, allowing the spout to measure the volume of liquor poured (in ounces) before the employee tips the bottle back up. The tag then transmits that information to the interrogator's antenna, attached to the ceiling above the bar.
The spout's tag has a maximum read range of up to 100 feet from the antenna. It transmits not only the unique identification number of its microchip, but also the brand and size of liquor bottle to which it is attached, as well as the amount of liquor poured. All of this data is transmitted in real time to the receiver linked to the bar's existing computer network via a wireless Internet connection. The time of the pour is recorded by the time the data reaches the computer network, about one second after the liquor was poured.
Cited: on Friday 16th January 2009
This certainly raises the question of whether or not RFID could be used as a monitoring tool for the measurement of dosages and ingredients for compounding. It would certainly have benefits in the health industry for ensuring management and monitoring of drugs.
RFID and Pricing
When working in Mobile Technology, I spoke with management team of a chain of liquor stores. At that stage, they were looking at developing these stores using a wide range of new technologies. One including RFID.
These stores were to use LCD-based price displays on the shelving of the store linked to their internal systems. At intervals during the day, the store could run promotions on their closed circuit marketing that would encourage purchase of particular lines. At the same time, the prices of these items on the shelves would change to match the promotion.
Each price tag was fitted with an RFID tag that would respond to the frequency of the fluorescent lights of the store — the frequency of the lights sending alerts to the RFID tags to change the pricing on the shelves.
What's Next
There are obvious advantages to the use of RFID technology, and the decision of the ACMA yesterday is a sure sign that Australia is moving closer towards use of these instruments in retail environments. However, before they become adoptable in todays stores, a number of factors will need to be considered:
- Availability of RFID tags;
- Costs associated with RFID tags — both at a product and packaging level and at a consumer level; and
- Integration with current point of sales systems and retail processes.
With the current state of RFID technology, and the success of recent trials in larger organisations in the USA, current trends suggest that the adoption of RFID is a matter of time rather than a question of whether or not the technology is valid. As retailers, take some time to consider the uses of RFID and how it will change the way you operate your pharmacy.
Share This
Tags
Survey
I am confident about the future of pharmacy
Medici Events
This event is a Conference event for Pharmacists
This event is a Discussions event for Women Pharmacists
This event is a Breakfast event for Pharmacists
This event is a Breakfast event for Pharmacists
This event is a Breakfast event for Pharmacists