Dive into your creative stream
RFID has been around for several years and my first introduction to it was several years ago when I had the pleasure of working with some visionaries at Simon Property Group. We were looking at RFID to track kids in the malls for their parents. RFID has come a long way since then and I am still amazed it hasn't really caught on.
If you read my last post on OPEN E-Commerce and you take that approach, implementing RFID in your retail locations and showing immediate ROI on it is within easy reach.
I read a really good blog post on the subject here: How to Implement RFID in a Store Quickly. They go over, in detail, how your employees can even install the system. They mention the big thing in retail which is reduced shrinkage. At the touch of a button, you can know where every item in your inventory is.
What would really make the ROI extreme though?
If your store is setup with a wireless internet connection (this can be done very easily even with a Verizon myfi), installing small, netbook type computers into the dressing rooms with the RFID sensor at the door will pay for itself in spades.
Scenario: Customer walks into the dressing room with some size 4 jeans and 2 medium t-shirts. The RFID will automatically sense how many items and what items are present. This can be displayed on the screen with ratings and reviews (which could also be added right there in the dressing room) as well as recommended cross sell and upsell items.
Lots of information can be garnered just from what a customer takes into the dressing room. For instance, we know she is a woman, looking for casual wear and she is a size 4. By feeding this information into an engine such as ATG recommendations, the system will use it's Artificial Intellegence (AI) features to call out what things would go with the items best. All of this information will also help you on-line as the additional information feeding into the recommendations engine will create better recommendations.
Talk about wow-ing your customers and making sure they know that you care about them and are giving them the most OPEN and transparent information they can get.
If you are in Retail, it's about moving the dial and nothing will move the dial like this will!