RFID Brings Intelligence to Billabong Store in Brazil

When customers bring garments into the Smart Dressing Room, an RFID antenna captures the ID numbers on tags attached to those items. A touch screen on the dressing room mirror then displays products that coordinate with those brought into the room, as well as colors and sizes available in the store. A customer can then press a prompt on the screen to send a text message to the mobile phone of a staff member to request additional items.

At the cash register, an RFID antenna installed under the counter reads tags of items placed on the counter for the purpose of being purchased and sends that information to the VIP-Systems software, integrated with the store's inventory management system, which then updates sales data by moving the tag's ID number from the "unsold" category, to "sold." An Intelligent Deactivator function also allows a customer to have the tag deactivated by staff, using a kill command to turn off the tag's transmission functionality.

Finally, when the customer exits the store, an RFID antenna captures the tag ID numbers and checks their status in the inventory management system. If, by chance, the system determines that someone leaves with a product not paid for, the system will trigger an audible alarm and will record a video of the incident.

RFID antennas installed at the store's entrance capture the tag ID numbers of merchandise leaving the store, triggering an audible alarm and recording the incident on video if an item was not paid for.

"RFID technology is important for retailers," says Romano, who says those likely to benefit from RFID tagging include manufacturers, logistics providers, distribution centers, retailers and consumers.

The Billabong store, which opened at the Iguatemi Alphaville location about three months ago, has a young clientele with an interest in innovation, Chiaparini says. As a result, the store, Romano comments, "values innovation and understands that technology can provide a differentiated shopping experience." She adds that because the store is not big, "it's a perfect place to test the concept and then enhance the whole network," by making changes to any of the hardware or software functions based on the results of the test.