How RFID has become a game changer for retail inventory management

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25th April 2023

How RFID has become a game changer for retail inventory management

Retail Gazette asks David Ivins, channel partner director for RFID software at Checkpoint Systems how RFID can be used in inventory management.

How is digital transformation changing retail?

If you were to look back to retail 10 years ago, data didn’t play as pivotal part as it does today.  

Now, retailers have data on all sorts of touch points to their business and access to analytical tools which can provide them with enormous insights – and predictions – about their operations.  

This increase in data-driven decision-making is due, in part, to consumers’ growing demands for more ways to access and purchase products anytime, anywhere.  

With so much data available and the growth of online and omnichannel markets, more and more retailers have started to deploy apps in retail stores which aid and assist their store associates to deliver great experiences.

In recent years, RFID has become the foundation of the digital transformation. RFID has typically delivered for those who have deployed it; 4% sales uplift, 99% inventory accuracy, 90% out-of-stocks reduction, and a 75% reduction in audit costs, according to Checkpoint data.

How has Checkpoint helped retailers transform in their business?

As a provider of RFID software for managing inventory, we quickly recognised that, although RFID has become an important technology for this new retail environment, it couldn’t remain an island in this sea of data.

Collaboration, integration, and adaptability are now key to successful inventory management.

This is why we reimagined our next generation of cloud-based software, ItemOptix™ for Retail, to be ready to support retailers of all sizes and needs.

With many other companies offering inventory management solutions, what differentiates ItemOptix™ for Retail?

ItemOptix™ for Retail is the next generation of SaaS-based RFID solutions that is both an out-of-the-box solution, which can be efficiently deployed with little effort, at scale, with an intuitive user experience, and uniquely an extensible software offering, which allows retailers or their integration partners to adapt it to meet their needs.

Additionally, we have built task management into our inventory management solution to help retailers manage and drive the transformation.

At the launch of ItemOptix™ for Retail at the NRF 2023: Retail’s Big Show in January in New York, and at Euroshop, the leading retail industry trade fair held in Dusseldorf in February, we were inundated with interest from across the industry, from retailers to technology companies.

What specific feedback did you receive about ItemOptix™ for Retail?

All the retailers we talked to at NRF and Euroshop were impressed by both the adaptability and the extensibility of our RFID software offering, the two things that really set us apart from our competitors.

Checkpoint Systems is the only RFID specialist offering retailers a complete ‘Platform as a Service’ package that, because it is ‘open’, can be integrated and adapted into an existing system.

For instance, store staff may have several applications running on personal digital assistants [PDAs] for barcode scanning, price lookups, or picking and packing online orders.

Now they must log into, and out of, different apps depending on what functionality they need at any one time.

ItemOptix™ consolidates all functionality within one app, making processes seamless, easier, and less time-consuming. It’s easy to use, easy to deploy, and easy to adapt.

In fact, this ability for software to easily integrate with other systems is fast becoming a fundamental requirement from retailers.

‘Collaboration’ is their new watchword. They want and expect more unified experiences, and the seamless ability to extend and adapt it to what they already have.

They also want more access to data to enable them to build their own dashboards and apply the latest technologies, such as machine learning and artificial intelligence, to give them clever insights on which to build sales.

Yes, they want an out-of-the-box solution, but they also expect some control over how they deploy it and what changes they can make to adapt it meet their business needs.

What are the three key benefits that you perceive ItemOptix™ for Retail offers?

Easy to use

Featuring an intuitive mobile app and portal reporting experience, which enables powerful RFID use cases designed to focus user’s attention on the task at hand and a set of focused reports, giving managers the visibility, they need to maintain high inventory accuracy.

Easy to deploy

Including self-service features to support faster onboarding and ongoing system management, and industry-standard REST APIs that make integration simple, giving customers greater control over their inventory and how they manage it.

Easy to adapt

Providing an extensible solution which allows customers and partners to adapt our RFID software to their needs allowing them to transform the look, customise the capabilities and/or consume what they want into their own mobile solution and, leverage our RFID platform back-end, to build their own inventory management solution.

For more information about how Checkpoint Systems’ ItemOptix™ for Retail can work for your business, please email [email protected]