RFID Trims Costs for Retailer of Lacoste, CK, Burberry

To perform an inventory inside one if its retail stores, it used to take four employees up to four hours to manually scan each item's bar-coded label. With RFID, it takes two people just 20 minutes to complete an inventory count, using a customized mobile reading station. Designed by STS, the station includes an Alien ALR-8800 RFID interrogator mounted on a wheeled carrier. The station is moved through the aisles between store shelves, with one employee pushing the carrier and the other holding the interrogator's antenna to collect data from each item's RFID tag. Crocker says each retail store has anywhere from 5,000 to 10,000 items in inventory.

Because the older bar-code approach was so time-consuming and labor intensive, the retail stores used to take inventory only twice a year. Now, the process is monthly, and this has translated into more accurate inventory data and better-stocked shelves. STS's proprietary RFID middleware manages all of the EPC tag data and links it up to the Oracle database that Eren Holding uses to manage its logistics and retail operations.

STS has already worked with Alien on a number of apparel-related projects in Europe, including a system by which Turkish retailer LC Waikiki aims to manage inventory, replenish stock and prevent theft (see Turkish Retailer Uses Hybrid EAS-RFID Tags to Stop Theft, Improve Inventory Management).