Kissing Your Stock-Outs Goodbye, and Other Reasons to Explore RFID

Sure, you know it’s embarrassing to explain to a customer why the item they saw advertised —-or even worse, called to ask about and was informed was in the store—is nowhere to be found. Besides the pain of disappointing a customer, there’s a significant dollar loss attached to that missing item. You’ve not only missed out on that immediate sales opportunity, you may have lost any chances for future business with that customer—or with that customer’s circle of friends. Today’s consumers have high expectations and they are connected via social media, mobile phones and dozens of apps that can let them broadcast their discontent to their entire sphere of influence via Twitter, Facebook and other sites—while they are standing in your store. Within seconds, the negative experience of one unhappy customer is multiplied exponentially. Add to that, the time your sales staff spent looking for the missing merchandise or trying to switch the customer to another purchase, and the cost mounts even higher.

Now imagine that the merchandise your customer wanted

but couldn’t find is actually sitting in the back room unpacked or unnoticed. Remember OOS means both Out-of-Sight and Out-of-Stock.

Isn’t it time to say good-bye to those OOS incidents—forever—and get a clear view

of where your inventory is at all times?

Looking at the numbers only, data from a recent study conducted by IHL Group, a global research and advisory firm, indicates that retailers lose the equivalent of $124 for every man, woman and child on the planet due to inventory distortion, a figure totaling over $818 billion annually. Out-of-Stocks account for 56% of the $818 Billion figure, or $456.3 billion. Do you know how much distortion and OOS are costing you?

Category-leading retailers like Macy’s, Lord & Taylor and Bloomingdale’s have learned how to manage their extensive inventories (and inventory challenges) by leveraging item-level RFID. Imagine trying to monitor and track the location and “activity” of every shoe (and its mate) for the amount of shoes packed into Macy’s 63,000 square foot shoe department in one store in NYC. Using RFID, Macy’s staff can keep tabs on every shoe with accurate data regarding its size, color, style number and other data, including if it ended up in the wrong box, was taken into another department or left the store on a customer’s foot.

By alerting you to where every piece of merchandise is, in real time, RFID can help your retail business:

• Minimize stock-outs, and boost sales by 4 – 15%
• Elevate inventory accuracy to 98 – 99.9%
• Minimize shrink and control margin bleed
• Capture vital Loss Intelligence for maximum control of theft/fraud
• Improve vital processes such as reordering and forecasting
• Reduce time, labor and expense for inventory processes
• Substantially enhance the customer experience

Today, you don’t have to be a big store to capture “big data” about your inventory and its movement throughout the store, and throughout the supply chain. Truecount’s RFID Essentials makes it easy and affordable to access the same tools the “big guys” use to increase sales, boost profit margins and keep customers happy.

To learn even more, and gain an immediate competitive edge, contact success@truecount.com and request a quote or a consultation. You can also find more information at http://www.truecount.com/solutions/essentials/.

How is your operation dealing with OOS? What other challenges are keeping you (and your sales staff) up at night? Truecount wants to know, so drop us a line or leave your comments in the Comment Box below. Now, get ready to kiss those Stocks-Out farewell.