Technology company Apptricity has joined forces with Shopify, a global e-commerce platform, to provide Apptricity’s Omni Inventory Solution for Shopify’s merchants, to help them gain visibility into their inventory at stores and warehouses, and during omnichannel transit. The Internet of Thing (IoT)-based solution from Apptricity can be integrated with Shopify’s Storefront app so that companies can digitize their inventory and thereby gain automated data regarding its location.
The system, Apptricity contends, can help businesses prevent out-of-stocks and achieve a more efficient process of picking and packing goods for omnichannel sales. The solution leverages a choice of wireless technologies based on a user’s specific needs, ranging from barcodes to RFID technology, Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), LTE or satellite. The solution was announced in March 2022, and Apptricity’s edge device, known as I-Connect, as well as its software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform to capture inventory or asset data which is then managed in the cloud, are expected to be available during the second quarter of this year.
Timothy Garcia
Apptricity is a Texas-based SaaS software company that makes edge device, along with BLE beacons that can accomplish transmission at a distance of 23 miles to I-Connect edge devices or to mobile phones. According to the company, the I-Connect devices leverage other wireless transmission technologies as well, to provide solutions for locating individuals, assets and inventory, often in wide areas such as construction sites or storage yards, or across hospitals or other large buildings. Its customers include Verizon, the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), hospitals, and consumer goods and food and beverage companies, says Timothy Garcia, Apptricity’s CEO.
Since the company’s launch, its solutions have focused on supply chain execution, enabling users to automate the data capture of inventory or assets, including in supply chains, during field servicing and throughout large facilities such as hospitals. Apptricity’s solution consists of edge devices that capture RFID or Bluetooth-based data and provide location information, along with data related to shelf life, expiration or warranty. “That goes into the cloud, into our SaaS system,” Garcia says, “and [the devices] are capable of getting real-time inventory or asset counts.”
With the Shopify partnership, Apptricity says it is bringing IoT connectivity to merchants that are often mid-sized companies unfamiliar with the technology. The system is designed to be customizable and affordable, Garcia says, “So at any given point, our technology allows any company to use any type of technology to be able to gain visibility into where their assets are located, where their inventory’s located, as well as shelf-life expiration—anything they want to have visibility from an operational standpoint.”
A company selling its products through Shopify would employ the Storefront app, with the inventory-management services driven by Apptricity’s technology. It could then decide what kind of sensors it would need to track its products. For instance, if a business were selling a product for which there were 50 stock-keeping units that were frequently sold through Shopify, it would start by deciding what kind of identification it needed. A high-value item might require a small BLE sensor from Apptricity, which would be applied to each product. The company would then use the Shopify API to create a register for all its products, linking those goods to BLE-based tag ID numbers.
The next step would be to acquire an edge device that could capture data from the tags. As long as the goods were onsite and within range of the edge device, the tags could transmit regular updates regarding the location of each item, as well as link that information to other relevant data, such as expiration or sell-by dates. When the company sold and shipped each product, the system could continue to identify its location, as long as the edge device was in use—for example, in delivery vans, at warehouses or at retailer sites. In that way, Garcia explains, “We’re allowing the seller to keep active inventory of what they have.”
The system could enable the business to create replenishment orders automatically based on inventory counts, in order to ensure that goods do not go out of stock. The technology could also help workers locate goods during picking, packing and shipping processes. “So we’re automating their inventory system,” Garcia states. The collected data could be shared with other members of the supply chain, including a store that was purchasing the product through Shopify, or the logistics provider that transports the goods between parties.
All data captured by the edge device is managed through Oracle Cloud to the Apptricity app, which integrates that information with a business’s existing management software. The companies expect the first adopters to be businesses that sell a relatively complex set of SKUs, from 50 to 500, via Shopify. The Apptricity app can also accomplish the tracking of returned goods, provided that the transmitting device—such as a BLE or RFID tag—can be captured as each item returns through the reverse supply chain. Apptricity reports that its solution is already in use by numerous large companies, healthcare organizations and government agencies.
For instance, the San Bernardino Department of Public Health uses the IoT system with BLE to identify the locations and conditions of its assets throughout its hospitals and clinics. The I-Connect software captures the locations of high-value medical equipment, such as IV pumps, ventilators and X-ray machines as they move around a hospital, for example. The location data is then linked to each asset’s related information, such as its maintenance history and cleaned status. In that way, the facilities can use the data to quickly locate any asset required for a patient, or to identify when that piece of equipment requires servicing or cleaning.
Another Apptricity customer, Verizon, employs the IoT technology to track the location and status of its inventory, such as phones and tablets, which Garcia says is collectively valued at approximately $12.9 billion. Each product has a BLE tag attached to it that transmits data every 15 minutes to I-Connect devices in Verizon stores, vehicles or warehouses. The Apptricity data ensure goods are stocked in stores, are in delivery vans, or are received or shipped from distribution centers. The system is deployed at 370 Verizon warehouses, in 7,000 vehicles, and at 400 stores so far.
For maintenance and service companies, the Apptricity asset or inventory data can be linked to work orders for each of a company’s technicians on a daily basis, to ensure that a vehicle has the inventory or tools required for each day’s calls, and to confirm that the expected assets or goods are returned at the end of the day. In the event of a discrepancy, the system issues an alert to drivers or managers to prevent errors or shrinkage. The technology is also being used by the DoD, with long-range transmissions tracking the locations of high-value assets and inventory.
In the past few years, retailers and brands have increasingly been leveraging the technology as well. For instance, a hardware retailer, which has asked to remain unnamed, is using the technology to provide “buy online, pickup in store” (BOPIS) service for its online customers. Without automated inventory data, Garcia says, stores found it challenging to have goods located and ready for pickup by online shoppers. “No one wants a situation where you buy something online, and then you show up at the store and you’re sitting there 15 to 20 minutes and they can’t find your order,” he states, “so you end up leaving and you ask for your money back.”
With the Apptricity solution, Garcia says, the retailer can access reliable inventory data so that a product can be sold for pickup at a specific store, based on the accurate inventory information, enabling employees to more easily locate and prepare it for pickup. Since the Shopify partnership was announced in March, the companies have been working with potential customers that would like to use the inventory-management technology.
Exhibitors at RFID Journal LIVE! 2022 will offer solutions for monitoring inventory and tracking assets. To learn more, visit the event’s website.