chrispeng
Selling is not a simple job. If after a long period of sales, the customer finally intends to buy, and at this time you can’t find the size they want, it’s really a bit irritating.People go crazy. Now sales staff working at New Balance no longer have to face this problem. Using RFID technology, they can easily track the sneaker samples they sell. New Frank Cornelius, BalanceRFID project manager, said: “Now we have no more complaints related to sample tracking.”
With the full development of RFID sample tracking applications, New Balance is now launching another pilot project in the sales and buying field of the company headquarters in Massachusetts. The project is divided into two phases., Tracking the sports shoes bought and sold.
New BalanceStore
The first phase of the project started in July and lasted until September, when all 992 styles (the company’s most popular shoes) men’s shoe boxes on the store will be affixed with electronic tags.In order to evaluateEstimating the effect of using RFID technology and Vue software, the 992 women’s shoe box is not labeled, so that Cornelius and his team can use the inventory and sales level of women’s shoes as a measure.StoreThe 992 shoes sold are all factory defective.The store and the company’s defective product distribution center are located in the same building. Before sending the 992 defective products to the store, the personnel of the defective product distribution center willThe electronic label is affixed to the box. The label is the EPC UHF Gen 2 electronic label provided by Avery Dennison.
The RFID reader fixedly installed on the door of the store’s stock room is provided by Motorola. When 992 men’s shoes are sent from the distribution center to the stock room or from the stock room to the store, the reader readsTake the shoe box label. The reader sends all collected tag data to the software provided by Vue Technology.The software generates a 992 men’s shoe inventory andPerpetual inventory of stores. When the customer leaves the store, the Motorola reader installed at the exit reads the label on the sold 992 shoe box, and the Vue software adjusts the inventory accordingly.
In order to confirm the accuracy of the operation of the reader and Vue software, the store staff will use Motorola handheld readers to count the 992 men’s shoes in the store and the stock room every day.
992 men’s shoes have more than 12 sizes and 5 widths, so ensuring that the store stores all sizes of sample shoes is a tedious task, Cornelius said.But now the staffUse the handheld Motorola PDA to quickly obtain how many pairs of shoes there are in the store and the stock room, and what size and width they are. “The store is huge, we can’t have to go back and forth every time we sell a pair of shoes“Search for a look” Cornelius said. The use of RFID technology saves a lot of time for sales staff, customers do not have to wait for a long time, and the quality of customer service is improved. “We hope to save time.Time is spent on face-to-face communication and sales with customers, not on finding shoes. “Cornelius added.
The software also generates a replenishment report every day, telling the staff which size of 992 shoes needs to be restocked in time.
So far, the equipment and software have been running well.During the implementation of the project, Cornelius, Motorola, and Vue technicians encountered two challenges: One challenge was adjustmentThe reader antennas fixed on the door allow them to only read tags that pass through the narrow reading area of the door.The other is to modify the Vue software so that it can handle the 992 inventory listDigit number (SKU). The SKU number of the shoe includes information such as the size and model number, and the number is relatively large.
After the first phase of the project is successfully completed, the second phase will begin soon.At that time, all styles of men’s shoes will be affixed with electronic tags; similarly, in order to facilitate comparison, women’s shoes will notLabeling.
The purpose of the pilot project is to reduce labor and inventory and increase sales. Cornelius said New Balance has no intention to use RFID readers at the cashier at this stage to reduce salesManually participate in the steps in the process. Cornelius said that the store has an obvious notice telling shoppers that some shoes have electronic tags; but no customer has the electronic tags on the shoe boxes.objection. Cornelius believes that since shoppers have no connection with product information, there is no need to worry about any privacy issues.
