chrispeng
Lululemon, a global sportswear company, reported that the company has increased its in-store revenue by using RFID systems in all stores to track product reception, display and sales in stores. According to Jonathan Aitken, the company’s RFID project manager, the system has increased the company’s inventory accuracy to 98%, ensuring that the store’s products are constantly in stock, which is also a reason for the increase in revenue. Lululemon CFO Stuart Haselden said that the company’s accurate RFID inventory data also increased online revenue by 8%.
By adopting RFID technology, Lululemon is trying to reduce the time employees spend on inventory counting and increase the visibility of store inventory, so that in-store and online consumers can find the items and their locations. The system uses Tyco Retail Solutions’ TrueVUE enterprise software and RFID Sensormatic readers, Avery Dennison RFID printers and tags, TSL’s handheld RFID readers, and Zebra’s RFID reader antennas, as well as RFID readers at the checkout counter. Device.
To date, Lulumon has attached tags to 3.5 million items in three distribution centers and a third-party warehouse. Suppliers attached 6.7 million items.
In 2013, the company’s two stores deployed the RFID system as a pilot for the first time, and the company spent 11 months studying the effects of the technology. Due to the success of the pilot project, the company expanded the technology to 12 other locations in 2014. Starting in April 2015, the company quickly deployed the system in stores in North America and Hong Kong within 4 months. At present, RFID is the standard configuration for newly opened stores in North America.
Doug Wilson, a Tyco account manager, said: “Lululemon opened 300 new stores in September. This is a very fast pace, so how to keep up with customer service and store replenishment is also a big challenge.”
Each Lululemon store is unique. Therefore, the RFID deployment of each store is slightly different, especially in terms of RFID blocking. Some stores use RF shielding paint, some use RFID to shield the ceiling, but most use a back room that “looks like the International Space Station”.
Initially, Tyco developed a professional service plan that needs to consider all parts of hardware, software and services. As part of this plan, Tyco plans to deploy RFID technology in all stores. He said: “As part of this phase, we designed and recorded the identification values of all use cases, and worked with the Lululemon team to develop the technical architecture and software configuration.”
Most clothing and accessories, including yoga mats, have tags attached to factories that use Avery’s RFID printers and cloud-based printing services.
Due to the short order turnaround time, label details are generated when the item is received, so most Lululemon manufacturers print labels on site.
The supplier connects online and downloads the WWMT tag label information and the RFID EPC identification number sequence, and then uses it on the Avery RFID printer. Robert Pernice said: “Many factories are still using Avery Dennison’s service department to complete RFID information collection, but this obviously cannot meet the required turnaround speed.”
Soon, the RFID project was deployed throughout the supply chain, including RFID label printing and encoding facilities in 30 factories in 15 countries. Pernice said: “This scale is unprecedented.” Avery Dennison cooperates with the regulatory authorities of each country to ensure that the radio frequency transmission of the RFID printer meets the country’s standards.
Employees at the Lululemon distribution center attached tags to all items received. Employees download the label information from the Avery Dennison system and encode and print it.
The distribution center usually does not read the label. When the store receives the goods, the employees will read the goods. To this end, employees are equipped with a TSL handheld reader connected to an iPod running the TrueVue application to read the tag information and send the EPC code to the TrueVue software in the data center. Then, Tyco Software will update the status of the item.
When the items are moved from the back room to the store, employees use Tyco Sensormatic RFID readers with Zebra antennas to read them and display them on the computer screen.
Staff also use handheld TSL readers for inventory counting every week. The whole process takes about half an hour.
After the consumer purchases the item, the employee will use the DS9808-R RFID reader at the checkout counter to read the EPC number and barcode, and then the system will update the item status to sold.
When the RFID project was first installed, Lululemon had to overcome some physical challenges to ensure accurate reading. Each store has an area of approximately 3,000 square feet, and the density of goods storage is very large. In addition, the company’s product replacement speed is also very frequent, with an average life cycle of less than 45 days.
Each store is also equipped with a small warehouse. In order to meet the use of RFID in the environment of high-density goods, the retailer has carried out some redesigns and changed the folding and hanging methods of goods in each store to ensure that RFID reading is more accurate and simple.
During the pilot period, the company discovered that at the store’s POS terminal, the product would be unintentionally placed on the IDX-9000 reader, causing the item to be removed from the inventory. Therefore, Lululemon integrates POS software on the RFID system so that TrueVue can distinguish between purchased items and misplaced items.
After the use of the RFID system, the inventory accuracy has increased to 98%, which is a significant improvement. He said: “Now we understand the precise inventory situation in the store, which can also satisfy our multi-channel sales strategy.”
Aitken said that this month, the company’s mobile team will begin to update Lululemon’s iPhone application to provide omni-channel functionality. Using the latest version of the software, when consumers use the app to purchase, the RFID database will show the detailed inventory of items in nearby stores. Consumers can choose to buy online, pick up the goods at the nearest store or request delivery.
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