“In order to remain competitive with e-commerce retailers and other brick and mortar rivals, physical stores will soon be adopting IoT and AI-enabled inventory tools as the standard, rather than the exception.”

With the increasing pressure of achieving optimal operational efficiency within physical stores, retailers must be able to achieve near-perfect inventory accuracy.

Two technologies are helping retailers get closer to that goal. RFID has proven beneficial and now artificial intelligence (AI) is becoming more powerful. These technologies can in fact enable a “transformation of the industry,” according to ABI Research.

“Stores which have limited intelligence on the location and quantity of stock at the individual item level cannot expect to adequately serve their customers or successfully execute a competitive omnichannel retail strategy,” commented Nick Finill, senior analyst at ABI Research.

For many retailers using traditional inventory counting methods in the apparel, fashion, and soft goods sector, inventory accuracy can drop to around 65%, resulting in a poor experience for shoppers and lost sales. Using RFID technology, these retailers can reach near-perfect inventory intelligence at more regular intervals, leading to improved customer satisfaction, reduced shrinkage, and improved sales velocity. In most cases, fashion retailers employing RFID can increase annual revenues by at least 3%.

RFID deployments in the fashion retail sector have demonstrated clear ROI for retailers deploying the technology at scale. ABI Research calculates that an apparel store with annual sales of just under $6 million can realistically achieve a 44% ROI within the first year, with returns increasing to over 200% in the third year.

Source: Inventory Management Key in Digital Transformation of Brick and Mortar