RFID technology is highly valued due to its quality and ability to adapt to supply chain management (SCM). It can rack assets like boxes, items, and other bigger units of measure within the supply chain operation. Due to these advantages, major retailers are now rethinking this technology, with the majority of them now looking for RFID to improve the visibility of their supply chains from the point of manufacture, transport, and in-store and to the exit door.

The attachment of an RFID tag that conforms to the GS1’s EPIC global standards allows each retailer to identify their supply chain and store uniquely by their attributes like their size, style, or color. This identification allows retailers to have control and visibility over their inventory. This enables them to reduce the out-of-stock products, increase the availability of products and services, and drive sales in-store and online. With the right RFID tag, retailers can manage inventory better by identifying missing items or tracking those that have been stolen. This ease of management can improve the accuracy of the inventory and shelf availability.

As supply chain challenges and customer demands continue rising, companies in this sector have realized that RFID can enhance the running of their internal operations and improve their businesses. Therefore, some players in this space are trying to harness the strengths of this technology to improve customer satisfaction. According to past studies, the RFID market was expected to grow by over $8.25 billion by the end of 2014. This is nearly 14% CAGR. Today, many companies rely on this technology in running their supply chain and logistics operations. The intense competition from big retail firms like Amazon has made it essential for organizations to offer a unique customer experience by taking advantage of new technologies. Here, RFID is playing a critical role in retailers finding better ways of transforming the customer experience. For example, in apparel retailing, the uptake of RFID technology among some biggest players in this segment has increased over the recent years. These retailers see a reduction in out-of-stocks while improving the on-shelf availability of apparel. This enhances the customer experience.

This technology makes the items traceable and keeps the errors to a minimum. It also increases stock control accuracy up to 95 percent and enhances efficiency to over 99 percent. Additionally, RFID-based inventory audits can also help identify items out of season and need to be removed from shelves. In apparel retail, for example, this technology helps identify the holiday fashion, which is then removed for shelves to give space for other fashion for different occasions. For pharmaceutical firms, the technology helps identify consumer products that have expiration dates. They also offer the possibility of personalized, interactive marketing messages, which makes it easy for customers to view products as they tour the store.

For retailers that have invested in RFID technologies, they are reaping big on the benefits of the in-stock control, profit margins, and enhanced customer experience. Those who have not invested in it have seen the importance of this technology when it comes to performance.