MS mode, a European fashion brand, is deploying RFID technology in its 185 retail stores to enhance the consumer experience
MS mode is launching a solution in 185 stores to understand the inventory level of each store, so as to better serve online customers and provide them with offline appointments to try on the products selected by online stores.
MS mode, a European fashion brand owned by cool investments, plans to deploy RFID solutions to improve inventory accuracy, which will be used to track merchandise in 185 stores. The technology will initially be available in three stores and will be available in all stores by October 2021. Nedap’s ID cloud solution is mainly used to ensure that each store can transfer inventory to meet the omni channel sales demand during and after the epidemic.
MS mode company hopes to provide better service for online customers through this technology, and let customers place orders in the nearest offline store according to the principle of proximity. At the same time, customers can check the goods in the store in advance before they patronize the offline stores, and then book to try on or buy these goods. Once the solution is fully deployed by the end of this year, it will become what nedap calls the largest RFID promotion project in Benelux.
Robert, project manager of MS mode? Jane? MS mode customers have become omnichannel shoppers, says Robert Jan Haitink. Before the outbreak of the epidemic, more and more consumers have begun to shop online. They will browse the products in the online stores before going to the stores to try them on. During the epidemic period, the behavior of online shopping has further changed. Customers will not only browse the goods online before they arrive at offline stores, but also directly buy them. Haitingke said that with the relaxation of the blockade across Europe, customers will soon patronize offline stores, and the sociality of shopping is still a major driver of store traffic.
MS mode stores are located in the Benelux region, as well as in France and Spain. During the epidemic period, according to the regulations of various countries, shops are either temporarily closed, or the number of customers is limited, or customers can make an appointment for shopping, which has a significant impact on the passenger flow. “Fortunately, more and more customers are shopping online in our online stores,” he said. We will do our best to continue to serve our customers and keep them as safe as possible during this difficult period. ”
Another brand of cool investments, Dutch fashion retailer America today, has been using RFID to track inventory. Based on its successful experience, Ms mode now chooses to promote this technology without pilot. This launch will start with the early testing of some processes and procedures in three stores, so that store personnel can easily adapt to the technology of the whole company. “We want to apply these experiences to all of our stores,” hettingk said
The solutions adopted by MS mode include nedap’s ID cloud standard package, handheld reader and passive UHF RFID tag. In order to uniquely identify each product, the label is attached to the product during production, and then read when the product arrives at the store. ‘every site is equipped with a handheld reader to read tag data,’ says Bruno Bakker, nedap’s global business development manager.
When the tag is read, the ID cloud platform will update the status of the goods received in the store. Then, the system forwards the data to the MS mode application developed by the brand, and accurately determines which inventory should be sent to which stores and channels when and according to the algorithm. Labels are also read during weekly inventory and store receipt.
In addition, Barker said that the replenishment function in ID cloud will enable store employees to replenish their sales areas according to the available inventory in the warehouse, and provide priority replenishment suggestions. ID cloud uses a self-learning algorithm to generate replenishment suggestions, taking into account the size inventory observed in the designated store. For example, if the sales volume of products of size M increases, the system will remind the sales staff to store more products of this size in their sales area.
The main goal of MS mode is to make RFID system run in all its stores. MS mode will explore whether RFID can be deployed in its distribution center to realize the automatic receiving and warehousing of goods. “In the near future, we will look at whether we can improve the customer experience through the use of smart mirrors, mobile payments and self checkout, and whether we can use RFID to enhance loss prevention,” hettingk said
The program starts in the Benelux market and will be launched in stores in other countries. The first deployment is expected to come into operation in September 2021 and be fully launched in November. Nedap will train store managers and employees through its “Trainer” concept. In this model, nedap works with what it calls the “champion store” to use the technology of the first three stores to provide training, and then the team trains the whole company. ” After that, Barker said, champion stores will train regional stores, and regional stores will train other stores in their own area.
