They said it could not be done!
Using standard RFID tags and labels to trigger store exit alarms has long been the
holy grail for retail Loss Prevention departments, but RFID has always been thought
of as second best when compared to Electronic Article Surveillance (EAS). However,
while highly successful in its heyday, today’s thieves have come to treat EAS alarm
gates with contempt. Even worse, there are so many false alarms that customers
and store employees no longer take any notice when the buzzer sounds.
With retail theft growing and now amounting to a multi $ billion-dollar loss, the
1960s EAS technology is no longer viewed as a valuable theft deterrent, and with
tags costing as much as 2 cents each, the return on investment for EAS alarms is
coming into question. In the past, the consensus was that RFID is not robust
enough to trigger alarms across a busy store exit. BSN’s iTheft now meets that
challenge.
By using unique features, contained in the Impinj M700 chipset, linked to BSN’s
Trysor® cloud-based software, the iTheft solution can trigger alarms at a similar
rate to EAS. In addition to triggering the alarm, iTheft takes advantage of RFID
technology and can provide reports on the identity of the items being stolen. These
stolen items can then be automatically deducted from a stock inventory list,
ensuring that the store’s stock on-hand is accurate and that the missing items can
be re-plenished.
“The greatest benefit of iTheft is the increased ROI in a retail RFID system, and this
should lead to RFID being introduced to a greater set of product categories” said
Philip Calderbank, BSN’s RFID Consultant. “BSN RFID tags that are already used in
other apparel & footwear applications, such as item visibility in the store, or supply
chain, can now be used for Loss Prevention. There is no additional cost of the RFID
tag, and so the savings against a store’s existing EAS tag cost can be as high as
100%.”
BSN will profile iTheft at the National Retail Federation ‘Big Show’. Held at the Jacob
K. Javits Center, Jan 15-17 – Booth 5699.
Contact: Joelle Power
joellefarrell@gzbsn.com
About BSN
Head Quartered in Guangzhou, and with operations around the world, BSN offers a
local service in Packaging, TRIMS, Labels, and RFID ‘item level’ tracking solutions.
Founded in 1988, BSN now supplies more than 500 Apparel, Footwear and Supply
Chain organizations, located in 16 countries.
Through its technology division, BSN designs and produces RFID inlays and
software solutions. Building on its rapid success in this area, the company recently
opened a purpose-built ‘state-of-the-art’ RFID design and production Technology
Center.
