Key Takeaways
- Keonn and Impinj upgraded the AdvanTrack-600 overhead RFID solution to improve inventory speed, accuracy, and coverage across retail sales floors and back-of-store areas.
- In testing, the enhanced system cut the time to achieve over 90 percent back-of-store inventory accuracy from nearly an hour to under eight minutes.
Every year, retailers lose an estimated $1.7 trillion annually to inventory distortion‚ the combined impact of out-of-stocks and overstocks— as a direct result of inaccurate, periodic inventory processes that are slow, labor-intensive, and error-prone.
To reduce these losses while supporting increasing demands for just-in-time replenishment and omnichannel fulfillment, retailers are increasingly exploring automating their store operations with continuous overhead RFID reading solutions.
Keonn Technologies, a leader in advanced RFID systems for retail stores, recently upgraded its AdvanTrack-600 overhead solution, powered by the Impinj E710 reader IC with support for Gen2X. Leveraging Impinj Gen2X and Impinj E Family reader IC optimizations to enhance tag reading performance, the updated AdvanTrack-600 significantly improves item-level inventory accuracy and speed across both the sales floor and back-of-store.
Upgraded AdvanTrack-600 Improves Overhead RFID Performance in Retail Stores
Ramir De Porrata-Doria, Co-Founder and Managing Director, Keonn Technologies, noted the update is a result of these systems historically falling short of delivering the accuracy, coverage, and speed retailers demand, especially in challenging back-of-store conditions. Keonn’s hardware is already being used by retailers including H&M, Fabletics, Under Armour, River Island, Marks & Spencer and others
“Using Impinj’s innovations, our overhead readers are dramatically reducing inventory times and numbers of missing tags, differentiating our AdvanTrack series from competing solutions,” said De Porrata-Doria in a statement. “Gen2X capabilities are hugely impactful for inventory management efficiency and accuracy, improving scanning automation in retail stores, warehouses, and factories.”
Gen2X Enhancements Deliver Faster Inventory Counts and Fewer Missing Items
To support an ongoing enterprise deployment scenario, Keonn and Impinj recently tested a full-scale retail store layout with more than 9,000 tagged items and multiple AdvanTrack-600 systems. Historically, achieving the desired inventory accuracy at reasonable cycle times is challenging, especially in back-of-store where items are more densely packed, resulting in inventory blind spots and slower inventory refresh rates.
Keonn and Impinj upgraded the systems with support for Gen2X improvements in tag read range and inventory speeds, as well as optimizations to E Family reader ICs for overhead reading. In the past, achieving over 90% inventory accuracy in back-of-store operations took nearly an hour. Using the upgraded AdvanTrack-600 with support for Gen2X reduced the average time for over 90% inventory accuracy to under eight minutes – a greater than 7X improvement, according to officials from both compnaies.
In addition, the upgraded overhead solution reduced the number of missing items by over 50%, reducing back-of-store inventory blind spots. These improvements allow retailers to identify inventory issues sooner, replenish shelves faster, and maintain more accurate stock positions across stores. They also help reduce out-of-stocks and inventory shrink, lower excess inventory, and support better customer experiences through improved product availability, easier item location, and more effective omnichannel operations.
Better Coverage Helps Retailers Reduce Blind Spots and Inventory Distortion
Area coverage is another common concern as retailers explore overhead reading solutions. This becomes even more challenging as small next-generation tags are being introduced to reduce manufacturing costs and track smaller form factor items: Small tag replies are harder for readers to hear.
When a reader cannot hear tag replies, Gen2X increases reader listening range Reducing inventory distortion is a historic challenge for retailers, but offers massive rewards for those who successfully implement accurate real-time physical intelligence solutions. Achieving this requires continuous inventory solutions that perform reliably, even in the most challenging retail environments. Keonn expects to have 1,600 stores online by the end of 2026, with 80,000 devices deployed across more than 20 different retailers in five continents.
AdvanTrack-600 demonstrates how utilizing the Impinj Platform with support for Gen2X can help retailers significantly improve inventory speed, accuracy, and area coverage across both the sales floor and back-of-store.
“Gen2X gives retailers the visibility to track every physical item across their store in real time that periodic inventory simply can’t match,” said Vikas Dhurka, Impinj senior director of product management, reader ICs. “With support for Gen2X, Keonn’s AdvanTrack-600 is helping retailers continuously and accurately track thousands of items across the sales floor and back-of-store, including smaller, next-generation tags that have traditionally been more challenging to read.”