Industry Overviews:
EDUCATION – US University
The Background :
- Large US University
- 24,220 Students
- Operates a school bookstore for supplies and gifts
- The store stocks over 2,450 different items
- $8 million worth of supplies and books sold annually
The Challenge :
- RFID project for the Book Store
- High value items were tagged
- RFID Portal including reader, motion sensor and antenna at entrance/exit point of the store.
- Tagged items were tracked after sale, leaving store.
The Process:
For the pilot, high value items were tagged to verify the process, including software packages, text books over $50, videos and dvds, and all college sweatshirts. During the semester long pilot the store checkout clerks continued to scan all purchases using their existing hand-held bar code reader. At the end of the semester, the information from the bar code reader and the RFID reader was compared.
The Results:
The RFID reader detected 99% of the tagged products taken out of the store. The pilot showed to obtain 100% of the reads a second antenna would need to be installed on the other side of the entrance/ext portal as well as at the end of the check out line. Based on the results, the University has decided to put RFID tags on the remainder of text books and other gift items that are valued at $20 or more – lower priced items will not be tagged. As part of this new pilot, work rules will be put in place to reduce shrinkage. An additional integration layer was added to alert store employees to theft. Any tag that passes through the portal that has not been paid for (at the point of sale) will set off an alarm.
- Improved point of sale
- Reduced shrinkage
- Improved visibility to inventory
