ShoRoom™ Overhead Readers

 The Insight

As online retail sales increase, so does the need to fulfill orders from stores to meet demand. In making it possible for the customer to reserve and collect from stores within the hour, this too drives revenue through the physical stores, enabling other harmonized technologies to engage with customers to create brand loyalty. To ensure stock is available for collection, the stock file must not only be accurate, but items not on the sales floor must be quickly located.

The Solution

An array of overhead RFID readers is installed in the ceiling above the stock, cycling the stock count. The date is uploaded to a secure cloud server for cleaning and comparison with the inventory file of the store, generating a list of items to locate and replenish. Typically this automated list is sent once a day from retail operations to each store.

The Impact

In enabling near-time visibility of items in the stock room to an accuracy of greater than 98%, retailers can either reduce product density on the sales floor or increase the depth of range in store, allowing for greater colour ranges or styles. Reports are generated on a daily basis to identify which product lines are either not represented, or over represented on the sales floor without the need to manually scan each zone with an RFID Handheld Reader. Stock holding is optimized in store, with excess product returned to the central distribution centre.  

• Fully Automated Solution
• 96% reduction in items not correctly represented on sales floor
• Optimized inventory holding and space allocation on sales floor
• Increased fulfillment of online orders direct from store
• Greater profit through fewer markdowns