The increasing demand for product transparency by consumers is now accompanied by the rise of the shopping ecosystem, making sustainable sourcing essential.
In this day and age, consumers are increasingly valuing transparency in the origin of products, the entire production process, and whether or not they have inventory in nearby stores, and retailers are exploring new and innovative solutions to meet these expectations. One technology that has great potential to achieve this goal is radio frequency identification. In recent years, supply chains have experienced a variety of issues, from severe delays to shortages of production materials, and retailers need a solution that provides them with transparency to identify and address these bottlenecks. By giving employees a clearer view of inventory, orders, and deliveries, they can provide better service to customers and enhance their in-store experience.
As RFID technology continues to evolve and become more widely used, retailers across multiple industries have begun to harness its potential to meet consumer expectations and enhance their brand reputation.
Solve problems and improve efficiency through RFID technology
Organizations such as malls often face complex challenges in managing their supply chains, inventory, and operational processes, with 57% citing supply chain disruption as one of their biggest obstacles. RFID technology enables real-time tracking, monitoring, and data collection, enabling businesses to gain valuable insights into the product lifecycle. In 2022, 95% of retail CEOs said they plan to increase their investment in digital solutions to support omnichannel retail, make supply chains more efficient, and help improve the customer experience.
In addition, RFID improves the efficiency of inventory management, order fulfillment, and shipping processes. With RFID tags and card readers, tasks that previously took hours can now be completed in minutes. Streamlined operations save time and reduce operating costs, thereby increasing profitability and organizational sustainability.
Why do consumers care about supply chain visibility?
Customer expectations, consumer rights and supply chain legislative and legal demands have combined to lead to a growing need for detailed supply chain visibility as today's consumers want to know the story of the products they buy, where and how they are made, and whether workers are being fairly paid and treated.
Meeting regulatory requirements should be a top priority for supply chain visibility, so we're seeing new laws and regulations being introduced to help improve labor conditions, environmental impact, and product quality. While legal requirements are often seen as barriers to businesses, they can also inspire innovation and alternative ways of working.
It can be seen that in the present, consumer expectations have changed, people pay more and more attention to product transparency, with the rise of shopping ecology, retailers must not only pay attention to the quality and source of products, but also need to share all kinds of information in the supply chain with consumers, so that consumers can understand the story behind the products. This can be achieved through secure track and trace, information visualization, without traceability, sustainable goods whose future is doomed to constant decline.
RFID can even help identify leaks and anomalies in packaging, which can help identify vulnerabilities in supply chains and transportation networks, and enable quality assurance of goods from manual to constant monitoring. Ensuring a positive shopping experience in a world that relies on supply chain standardization also guarantees inventory visibility for retailers, as RFID enables inventory levels to be accessed at all stages of the supply chain.
Optimize supply chain traceability
All products can be issued a (anti-counterfeit) unique product identity, also known as a digital product passport. The cloud platform based on the EPCIS standard (Electronic Product Code Information Service) can track and trace the origin of each product and query whether its identity is real.
Data ownership within the supply chain is essential to ensure direct communication between goods and customers. Of course, data is usually still in closed storage. Using standards like EPCIS, supply chain traceability can be structured and optimized, enabling transparent data to provide shareable evidence of a product's origins. While retailers are working to achieve this, improving the efficiency of data collection and integration remains a challenge.
This is the impact of EPCIS as a standard for creating and sharing inventory locations and visualizing them in a supply chain or value network. Once integrated, it will provide a common language to capture and share so-called EPCIS information through supply chain processes so that customers understand the nature of products, where they come from, who makes them, and the processes of their supply chain, as well as the production and transportation processes.
Improve brand awareness and customer perception
The positive impact of RFID on operational efficiency, sustainability efforts, and data applications is bound to be reflected in the brand reputation of retail goods. Consumers prefer brands that demonstrate supply chain transparency, efficiency and environmental responsibility, and actively buy and use brands that operate this way.
By optimizing RFID-driven supply chain processes, organizations such as malls can fulfill orders faster, reduce errors, and provide a better customer service experience. This increases customer satisfaction, fosters brand loyalty, and leads to positive word-of-mouth feedback.
RFID has the potential to revolutionize and empower businesses and consumers by providing end-to-end visibility, authenticity verification, and enhanced consumer interaction, from supply chain optimization to quality assurance and sustainability. Unleashing the potential of this technology will help revolutionize product transparency and drive deeper interactions between business and consumers.
