Indian jeweler B&BJ deploys RFID system to improve work efficiency and customer service
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Indian jewelry retailer Bhima & Brothers Jewellers (B&BJ) deployed an RFID system in its Mysore branch to track high-value inventory and provide customers with instant information about jewelry. The RFID system reduces the inventory management time required by the store from 36 man-hours to 1 hour, and reduces the time required to complete a sales transaction from 6 to 8 minutes to less than 1 minute.
Sundaresan Swaminathan, head of consumer industry and retail at IT company MphasiS, said, “The RFID system not only provides faster and more accurate inventory tracking, it can also help retailers improve customer service.”
According to Swaminathan, in mid-2008, B&BJ joined hands with MphasiS for the first time and asked it to develop a system that can improve store efficiency. Jewelers hope that the accuracy of their jewelry inventory is as high as 100%, and they can provide customers with correct product information. N. Gopalakrishnan, manager of B&BJ’s Mysore branch, said, “Retailers face some challenges. Normally, every two-story, 3,000-square-foot store performs inventory checks at the end of the working day. Every store has inventory. There are about 10,000 copies. Due to the large quantity, inventory counting is limited to the most expensive items. Stores need to track high-priced items and also need to calculate the average weight of gold in the store. “It is undoubtedly quite challenging to achieve it by manual operation. Sexual.
In addition, store management needs more time to communicate with customers. Before installing the RFID system, when a customer is interested in a certain piece of jewelry, the salesperson takes the product to the store’s storage room, looking for product details, such as weight, mountain transparency, etc., to assist consumers in deciding whether to buy. This process takes too much time.
B&BJ’s branch in Mysore deployed the RFID system in February 2009. The RFID hardware includes a 13.56 MHz high frequency (HF) passive tag, provided by ASSA ABLOY Identification Technology (AAITG), which complies with the ISO 15693 standard and has a 6 cm (2.4 inch) read range. The store deployment also includes two handheld RFID readers provided by Feig Electronic and two PDAs provided by Omnikey, built-in RFID readers, and an AAITG desktop reader installed in two point-of-sale terminals in each store. All 4 handheld devices use Bluetooth connections to transmit data to the back-end server.
At the beginning and end of every day, Feig’s handheld reader needs to be used twice to check the inventory of the store. The employee scans the reader across each display to capture the unique ID code of the product tag. MphasiS RFID middleware transmits data to the retailer’s existing inventory tracking system, which uses Microsoft’s Visual Basic 6.0 and Access 2007 database platform. The ID code of each tag corresponds to the related product, including the type of jewelry, along with its weight and size. All this information is stored in B&BJ’s inventory tracking software. The installation and integration of the entire system is completed by e-Xseed Technologies & Devices.
When a customer wants to inquire about the relevant information of a specific product, the salesperson can use Omnikey’s PDA to read the tag ID code of the product and calculate the price based on the gold price of the day. When the customer is ready to purchase, the required goods are brought to the counter for checkout. The RFID system captures its unique ID code and provides price information to the sales terminal. The salesperson completes the checkout process based on this information. Then the MphasiS software updates B&BJ’s inventory records to record that the jewelry has been sold. The sales staff then unloaded the RFID tags of the sold goods for reuse.
Vijay Maladkar, MphasiS product delivery manager, said, “The RFID system took about 4 months to develop before installation. The company has conducted extensive investigations and believes that the MphasiS system can be operated on the end-user’s existing back-end software. We I hope to build a unique framework. The goal of MphasiS is to create an RFID solution that is compatible with various hardware systems, back-end inventory management and charging systems. If customers have an existing inventory management system, they can integrate RFID systems.”
Maladkar added, “B&BJ’s deployment of RFID systems faces many challenges. These include investigating whether RFID hardware can provide reliable read rates, even in the case of metal displays. The cooperation with B&BJ and e-Xseed Technologies makes it possible to achieve this without changes. Deploy an RFID system.” From the end user’s point of view, the design is very intuitive, and sales staff can operate without extensive training.
In the future, B&BJ hopes to deploy a membership card system that integrates RFID functions so that its old customers can enjoy more personalized services and enjoy preferential discounts based on transaction history. Eventually, B&BJ Jeweler plans to deploy RFID systems in all branches.
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