Retailers in an Omni-channel Environment Increasingly Deploy RFID for Customer Experience Management

Companies need to incorporate advanced technologies such as data analytics and cloud to attract new-age retailers, finds Frost & Sullivan

The rise of the Internet of Things (IoT) has caused a sea change in the buying patterns of customers and, by extension, the market strategies of retailers. E-commerce and m-commerce have virtually transformed every store into a distribution center and retailers need to adopt technologies such as radio frequency identification (RFID), videos, cameras, and data analytics to keep track of inventory in each outlet and, eventually, enhance customer experience management.

“Retailers are looking to empower their mobile workforce to enrich customers’ purchase experience, and this will augment investments in technologies such as handheld readers and smart point-of-sale (PoS) solutions,” said Ram Ravi, Industry Analyst for Industrials at Frost & Sullivan. “RFID sales will get a further boost from the intensifying focus on loss prevention, inventory management, and customer behavior analysis.”

Frost & Sullivan’s recent study, Analysis of Growth & Security of the Global RFID Market in Retail, Forecast to 2022, thoroughly examines the competitive structure and presents the market shares of the leading companies. The study includes forecasts, product analyses, market drivers and restraints, industry challenges, and key growth opportunities for the RFID tags, readers, and middleware segments.

“To cater to the changing retail environment, system integrators need to develop partnerships with data analytics and cloud service vendors,” noted Ravi. “The growing interest in item-level tagging in the retail industry will further augment RFID demand.”

RFID vendors are leveraging the rise of IoT and pursuing opportunities addressing retailers’ pain points by:

–Investing in technology to enhance shopper experience by empowering the mobile workforce and incorporating big data analytics to analyze customer behavior patterns and enable targeted marketing. Retailers will also apply this technology to boost employee efficiency.
–Focusing on strengthening security to enhance privacy.
–Ensuring a successful implementation by focusing on performance-related parameters such as antenna design, chip size and storage size.
–Shifting focus from in-store inventory management to total stock visibility to meet the requirements of omni-channel retailing.

Analysis of Growth & Security of the Global RFID Market in Retail, Forecast to 2022 is part of Frost & Sullivan’s global Automatic Identification & Security Growth Partnership Service program.

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