Most retailers gain their profit solely from merchandise sales, which makes having real-time visibility across inventory a crucial component to success. From on-the-floor to the fitting room, inventory analytics can help retailers maintain a consistent in-stock position on the selling floor, ultimately boosting satisfaction and topline sales. RFID-enabled technology has paved the way to make inventory accuracy and visibility possible across various store functions. The following will outline how technologies, combined with retail analytics, can lead to better on-floor merchandise availability and happier customers.

Satisfaction Starts on the Floor

Visibility is necessary on the sales floor for a clear view to what inventory you have on hand, and in which store to achieve unified commerce fulfillment. For true on-floor visibility it’s best to use a combination of methods to achieve bottom line results. Blending RFID Cycle Counting, interactive restocking and inventory analytics can inform retailers of exactly what merchandise is accessible on the sales floor. This joint strategy not only identifies areas in need of restocking, but it also directs associates to follow inventory standards for merchandising and displays, an important factor in ensuring a positive customer experience.

Through mobile inventory readers, store associates can quickly find out what items need to be brought from the stock room to the sales floor to alleviate out-of-stocks. The same handheld devices enabled with RFID technology can help associates locate a specific style, colour and size down to the item level, maximising store performance and further enhancing customer satisfaction. With increased visibility on the sales floor, retailers can ensure display effectiveness and product availability, which leads to more customers bringing product into the fitting room.

Fitting Room: The Final Stage of Inventory Visibility

For apparel retailers, the fitting room area is where shoppers turn into buyers. This area requires inventory visibility in five dimensions for a retailer to see an uptick in sales. Using RFID sensors, data can be captured to deliver insights and value into:

1. Customer engagement – Personalised service and recommendations can be made with the right insights into fitting room selections and associates can be alerted to high-value customers, ultimately helping to turn shoppers into buyers.
2. Merchandising – Merchandise similarities can be discovered by being able to see items that are frequently taken to the fitting room together and in the event products are frequently tried on and not purchased, possible issues can be uncovered.
3. Operations – Maintenance of fitting room standards and merchandise left in the fitting room can be monitored through inventory analytics to help avoid out-of-stocks.
4. Loss Prevention – Sales associates can gain visibility into possible theft situations when high- value items, multiples of an item and non-apparel items are taken into the fitting room.
5. Staffing – Customer service can be optimised by maintaining associate-to-shopper ratios and ensuring staffing aligns with peak fitting room activity by day and hour.

By enabling visibility across inventory, retailers can use inventory analytics gain insights to help effectively react to apparent loss, manage inventory and enhance overall store operations. These insights help retailers drive a better customer experience and higher sales.