Checkpoint Systems introduces 'RFID-out-of-the-box' for merchandise visibility

Checkpoint Systems, Inc. global supplier of shrink management, merchandise visibility and apparel labelling solutions for the retail industry and its supply chain has announced an 'out-of-the-box' Handheld Visibility Solution for closed-loop apparel retailers and department stores to easily prove the return on investment and obtain a starting point for a global merchandise visibility deployment.

Apparel retailers face a variety of challenges that impact sales and margins daily, including global apparel out-of-stocks averaging eight percent or more, perpetual inventory that is inaccurate 35-65 percent of the time, and reduced sales due to out-of-stocks.

RFID solutions, such as Checkpoint's Merchandise Visibility Solution, can help retailers reduce out-of-stocks while increasing sales and maximising shelf availability - and many apparel retailers are looking for cost-effective ways to start achieving these benefits and deploy globally in a low-risk way.

"We created Checkpoint's Handheld Visibility Solution for apparel retailers who want to prove the value of merchandise visibility to reduce out-of-stocks and increase sales," notes Per Levin, Checkpoint Systems' Worldwide President, Merchandise Visibility. "This solution is designed as an ideal first step for retailers who want to work with a partner that has the capabilities to implement a global rollout, including source tagging, in-store deployment and support, hardware, and software."

"In this initial phase to help prove the value of RFID, the solution can be deployed without impacting retailers' IT systems or networks, and also minimises the impact on store operations, resulting in rapid time-to-productivity," explains Prasad Putta, Checkpoint Systems' Executive Vice President, Merchandise Visibility.

The Handheld Solution is designed to quickly, easily and reliably enable store receiving, inventory counting, and tracking of items sold, among other store-based processes. Based on RFID technology, it affords retailers the ability to track inventory at the item level both in the back room and on the sales floor, helping to improve inventory accuracy, reduce out-of-stocks, improve replenishment, increase store efficiency and increase sales, all key metrics to help justify a full Merchandise Visibility implementation.

The Handheld Visibility Solution is easily configured to each retailer's unique needs, and typically includes:

Handheld RFID reader
Laptop computer
RFID software
RFID tags (hard tags and labels)
Service and support

It also includes the methodology to help retailers in developing the business case to prove the ROI to senior management and develop the implementation roadmap to enable a phased global deployment. "Retailers have asked us for a faster and easier way to get started with Merchandise Visibility," notes Levin. "They want some of the functionality to help prove the value, but without the need to burden their IT organizations with application integration. We are excited to respond with the Handheld Visibility Solution."