Lucky Brand uses RFID-enabled touch screens to provide consumers with clothing information and help
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This summer, Lucky Brand, a jeans and general clothing retailer, opened two new stores in the United States. These two stores usedRFIDSystem, so that consumers can view the photos of the models wearing the clothing on the screen, understand the detailed information of the clothing products and check whether they are in stock. The British Electronic Commodity Anti-theft System (EAS) and retail technology company Catalyst provided the company with this system, which uses a touch screen with RFID function provided by Keonn technology and software running on a cloud server.
Lucky Brand and Catalyst’s parent company, Li & Fung Group, have cooperated. According to Roxanne Christenson, North American technical manager of Catalyst’s retail industry, Lucky Brand started working with Catalyst more than a year ago to develop RFID solutions in its two new stores (one in El Segundo and the other in Summerlin).
Since Lucky Brand does not store and sell all product lines in physical stores (these products can be purchased online), the company began to look for a solution to bridge the physical store and online products. At the same time, the company also wants to have sales assistants talk to customers and provide help when they need them to ensure that they don’t lose their human touch. Christenson said: “Lucky Brand cares about customers and the human factor in the shopping process.”
According to Lucky Brand CIO Jason Richard, the two new stores are twice the size of most Lucky Brand stores, with an area of 5,000 square feet. The company installed a huge display screen in these two stores. Richard said that the technology provides a new way to coach clients. He said: “This will allow consumers to stay longer in the store. This way we can offer other products for cross-selling.”
The in-store merchandise comes from multiple suppliers. When receiving the goods, the staff needs to use Zebra’s ZT410 encoding printer to print the RFID label, and then attach it to the existing hang tag of the product. Another worker uses a Catalyst handheld device with a built-in RFID AdvanScan reader to bind tags with unique ID numbers to specific product SKUs. Then, these products will be placed on the shelves in the store.
After choosing the product, consumers can place it a few feet near the 46-inch touch screen on the wall of the store. After the UHF RFID reader built into the touch screen reads the tag ID number, the product-related information will be displayed on the screen. This information includes photos or videos of models wearing the clothing, available sizes or colors of goods, availability of stock in the store, other recommended goods, etc.
If consumers want to view or try on clothes in the store or purchase online, they can enter their personal name according to the on-screen prompts to request help. After sending the request, the staff can view and respond in the Keonn app on the iPad. Then, the name of the employee who provided the response will be displayed on the screen.
If there is goods in the store, the staff will bring to the touch screen the clothes that consumers demand or have been following for a long time on the screen. In addition, if there is no stock in the store, the staff can use the iPad to place an order.
Christensen said that with the help of in-store sales staff, the system’s sales experience has added a “human touch.”
A small Keonn touch screen with a built-in reader is installed in the fitting room. To prevent misunderstandings, Lucky Brand painted a layer of paint in the fitting room that can shield the transmission of RF signals. When consumers bring clothing into the fitting room, the built-in reader on the touch screen will read each clothing label and display the clothing-related information on the screen.
If the consumer in the fitting room finds that the size is incorrect or wants to try on a similar style of clothing, he can press the button on the screen. After receiving the request, the staff will help consumers find the items they want or buy items that are out of stock in the store online.
In the future, Lucky Brand not only wants to use RFID tags on smart mirrors, but also hopes to use this technology for inventory management and business data analysis. Richard said that by then, the company can better understand the best-selling products, buy products with low conversion rates, and discover the reasons.
At the same time, the company also plans to use the system for inventory management in January 2016 and compare it with manual inventory counting.
(Exclusive manuscript of rfid world network, please indicate the source author for reprinting!)
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