Today’s omnichannel sales environment requires retailers to reliably sell via their website, store, and apps. In addition, they are tasked with delivering products in stores and through direct shipment from either stores or warehouses. Practically, this means retailers need a sophisticated backend that maintains reliable stock information by location. RFID’s Wave Inventory System is proving itself the fastest and most accurate way to keep track of assets and inventory, reducing inventory count error from 25% to as little as 5%.
“Innovating the inventory space to reduce errors prevents costly consumer problems,” said SimplyRFID CEO Carl Brown. “Retailers work hard to earn customer confidence, and the Wave Inventory System can help maintain that loyalty while reducing employee workload.”
The importance of accurate inventory tracking was highlighted in Gartner’s November 2021 retail excellence report, which advised retailers to “Develop capabilities to improve product-level store inventory accuracy by amending counting processes and investing in RFID technologies.”
But achieving inventory accuracy at the individual product level is challenging. Typically conducted at three-month intervals, manual inventory counts result in 90 days of inaccurate information. Major retailers like Macy’s report an estimated “slippage” of 3% to 4% per month, which indicates a retailer’s inventory is 12% lower than expected. Manual counting products can also be labor-intensive and time-consuming, occupying employees for an entire day or more. Additionally, manual counts are often inaccurate by as much as 13%.
The Wave handheld RFID reader is a low-cost, fast way to take inventory. The Wave pulls inventory lists from SimplyRFiD Pogi for fast, and accurate, inventory. It records the expected inventory list, scans tags tracking differentials from the previous scan, and synchronizes all handheld scanners with management reports.
SimplyRFiD Pogi integrates to the retailer’s omnichannel systems like Blue Yonder, Shopify, Quickbooks, and New Store. A built-in feed called “In Stock” allows the retailer to quickly publish results by store location.
