Retailers struggle with the structural limitations of traditional inventory management. This is especially critical for apparel retailers who gave challenges maintaining accurate inventory visibility at the item level due to manual stock processes, misplaced items and operational complexity across store environments.
Multiple major international fashion retailers operating large-format stores across multiple markets faced these issues and sought a solution from PervasID. The companies manages high volumes of seasonal inventory across sales floors and stockrooms while supporting omnichannel fulfillment models such as click-and-collect and ship-from-store.
Store teams had previously relied on periodic manual stock counts and handheld RFID scanning, resulting in inventory accuracy typically between 60–80 percent. This limited visibility created multiple operational challenges, including misplaced merchandise, lost sales due to unavailable stock, labour-intensive inventory checks and inefficiencies in omnichannel order fulfillment.
Addressing Inventory Issue
Additionally, the retailers lacked precise in-store location visibility. Even when items were recorded in inventory systems, staff often could not locate them quickly on the shop floor or in the stockroom. Associates frequently spent valuable time searching for products requested by customers or needed for online orders.
These issues reduced customer satisfaction, increased labor effort and led to missed sales opportunities. The retailers recognized that improving inventory accuracy and real-time visibility was critical to improving store operations and supporting its omnichannel strategy.
TrackMaster Usage
To address these challenges, the multiple retailers implemented PervasID TrackMaster 3X, an always-on passive RFID platform designed to provide continuous item-level inventory visibility.
PervasID designs and supplies passive RFID fixed-reader systems for automating inventory tracking, stocktaking and asset management processes. Its patented technology enables organizations across a wide range of markets to streamline operations by providing exceptional visibility of goods, assets and people, according to company officials.
By delivering highly accurate, always-on item-level tracking, PervasID solutions help businesses improve operational efficiency, reduce labor-intensive processes and enhance decision-making, according to executives. The company’s systems provide a combination of accuracy, speed and cost-effectiveness that supports large-scale deployments in complex environments such as retail stores and hospitals.
How it Works
TrackMaster 3X uses PervasID’s patented Distributed Antenna System (DAS) architecture and advance signal processing techniques, which distributes RF coverage across the entire store environment. This approach enables reliable RFID performance even in complex retail environments with dense shelving, fixtures and high product volumes— conditions that traditionally create difficulties for conventional RFID systems.
The system continuously reads tagged inventory throughout the store and stockroom, delivering near real-time visibility of each item’s location with approximately one-meter positional accuracy.
Edge AI processing analyses data locally, filtering high-frequency signals and enabling instant operational alerts such as misplaced merchandise detection, automated replenishment triggers, shrinkage anomalies, and picking guidance for omnichannel orders.
Retailer Sees Results
By moving from periodic stock counts to continuous monitoring, the store environment effectively becomes a sensing infrastructure, allowing retail teams to shift from manual inventory tasks to data-driven operational decision-making. Following deployment, the retailer achieved significant operational and commercial improvements. Key outcomes included:
- Near-100% inventory read accuracy across the store environment
- Faster product location and retrieval, improving customer service and fulfilment efficiency
- Up to 50% reduction in omnichannel order picking time
- 5–10% sales uplift driven by improved product availability
- 15–25% improvement in labour productivity through reduced manual inventory processes
- 10–30% shrink reduction enabled by continuous inventory monitoring
“What this deployment demonstrates is that always-on RFID fundamentally changes the way stores operate,” said Dr Sabesan Sithamparanathan OBE, Founder & President at PervasID. “Instead of relying on periodic snapshots of inventory, retailers gain a continuous, real-time understanding of where every item is and how it is moving. That level of visibility not only improves operational efficiency but directly translates into better product availability, faster fulfillment and ultimately a stronger customer experience.”
ROI in Under a Year
With accurate, real-time inventory visibility and location intelligence, store staff were able to quickly locate items for customers and online orders. This reduced time spent searching for products and improved the reliability of fulfillment operations. Management additionally gained new insights into inventory flow and merchandising performance, enabling more effective store operations and better allocation of labour resources.
The retailers realized a rapid financial return from the deployment. By combining increased sales, labor savings and shrink reduction, the system was able to deliver full return on investment within six to nine months of implementation.