Item Level Tagging for Apparel and Footwear: Feasibility Assessment Under the direction of: Bill Hardgrave (faculty) Deb Armstrong (faculty) David Cromhout (lab) Note: this document is copyrighted ( 2007) and confidential; do not distribute or cite without explicit permission.

Project Overview Assess the feasibility of using passive UHF tags on item-level apparel and footwear –Primarily apparel/footwear –Primarily store level Phase I: use cases and feasibility assessment –May 1 through August 1 Phase II: extension of phase I and/or field trials –August 15 through December 15 Today’s discussion: Phase I

Use Cases Product lifecycle management Trace through supply chain Inventory management Cycle counting / PI accuracy Misplaced stock Shrinkage Where is it disappearing? Use as security device Dressing room management Putback mountain Point of sale XPrice change management

Items Readers Static Mobile Test Scenario II: -smart shelf -point of sale Test Scenario I: -clothes on rounder, on z-bar, in box, on shelf, on peg board, in pile - shoes on shelf Test Scenario III: - z-bar; boxes on handcart, hand-carried, on conveyor, on steel cart Not tested Test Scenarios

Test Scenarios / Use Cases Product Life Cycle Management Inventory Management Shrinkage Dressing Room Management Point of Sale Test scenario I: mr/si Clothes on rounder, z-bar, shelf, etc. Test scenario II: sr/si Smart shelf, point of sale Test scenario III: sr/mi z-bar, handcart, conveyor, etc.

Premise 3 tag types 4 mobile readers: 3 handheld, 1 non- handheld 3 static readers Tags placed over existing price tags Fixtures merchandised by retailing group on campus Realistic environment

Items Readers Static Mobile Test Scenario II: -smart shelf -point of sale Test Scenario I: -clothes on rounder, on z-bar, in box, on shelf, on peg board, in pile - shoes on shelf Test Scenario III: - z-bar; boxes on handcart, hand-carried, on conveyor, on steel cart Not tested Test Scenarios

Test Scenario I Test Description: Rounder Mobile readers used to read clothes on rounder Varied number of clothes, tag, reader Findings: achieve 100% up to 160 items

Test Scenario I Test Description: z-bar Mobile readers used to read clothes on z-bar Varied number of clothes, tag, reader Findings: achieve 100% up to 127 items

Test Scenario I Test Description: box Mobile readers used to read clothes in box Varied number of clothes, tag, reader Findings: achieve 100% up to 50 items

Test Scenario I Test Description: shelf Mobile readers used to read clothes on shelf Varied tag, reader; items fixed Findings: achieve almost 100% with 145 items

Test Scenario I Test Description: peg board Mobile readers used to read clothes on pegs Varied tag, reader; items fixed Findings: achieve 100% with 44 items

Test Scenario I Test Description: putback mountain Mobile readers used to read clothes in putback mountain Varied number of clothes, tag, reader Findings: achieve 100% with 75 items

Test Scenario I Test Description: shoes on shelf Mobile readers used to read shoes on shelf Varied tag, reader; items fixed Findings: achieve 100% with 39 pairs of shoes

Test Scenario I Test Description: non- handheld strapped to handcart Varied fixtures, tag; items fixed on fixture Findings: achieve 100% on multiple fixture types (fourway, etc.) up to 107 items

Uses Cases / Insights Inventory management: Cycle counting, items in wrong place, find merchandise Dressing room: return to shelf Demonstrated effectiveness Efficiency (o n rounder w/ 97 pieces): –9 minutes with barcode –2.5 minutes with RFID

Items Readers Static Mobile Test Scenario II: -smart shelf -point of sale Test Scenario I: -clothes on rounder, on z-bar, in box, on shelf, on peg board, in pile - shoes on shelf Test Scenario III: - z-bar; boxes on handcart, hand-carried, on conveyor, on steel cart Not tested Test Scenarios

Test Scenario II Test Description: Smart shelf Ran several purchasing scenarios Findings: smart shelf performed very well in keeping a real-time inventory

Test Scenario II Test Description: Point of sale Varied number of clothes, tag Findings: read tags in field perfectly; did not read tags outside field

Uses Cases / Insights Inventory management: Cycle counting in real time, items in wrong place, find merchandise Shrinkage: e.g., detect missing items from cabinet Point of sale: works well Demonstrated effectiveness

Items Readers Static Mobile Test Scenario II: -smart shelf -point of sale Test Scenario I: -clothes on rounder, on z-bar, in box, on shelf, on peg board, in pile - shoes on shelf Test Scenario III: - z-bar; boxes on handcart, hand-carried, on conveyor, on steel cart Not tested Test Scenarios

Test Scenario III Test Description: z-bar transport Static portals (10 feet) Varied number of clothes, tag, reader Findings: achieve 100% with 64 items

Test Scenario III Test Description: boxes on handcart Static portals (10 feet) Varied number of clothes, tag, reader Findings: achieve 100% with 67 items

Test Scenario III Test Description: boxes on steel cart Static portals (10 feet) Varied tag, reader Findings: achieve 100% with 72 items

Test Scenario III Test Description: hand- carried boxes Static portals (10 feet) Varied number of clothes, tag, reader Findings: achieve 100% with 30 items

Test Scenario III Test Description: boxes on conveyor Static portals Varied tag, reader, speed of conveyor; items fixed Findings: achieve 100% with 36 items at 200fpm (degrades with speed)

Test Scenario III Test Description: mixed pallet of CPG items Static portals Mixed pallet of 118 items from 10 categories Findings: read rates near 90%

Uses Cases / Insights Product lifecycle management: trace movement of product through supply chain Dressing room management: movement in and out of dressing rooms Shrinkage: alert of exactly what is stolen; discovery of shrinkage locations Demonstrated effectiveness Tag shadowing

Overall Insights Wide range of read rates based on tag / reader combo Tag type especially important Tag place probably plays a role; perhaps a need for guidelines or standards? Read rates degrade with number of items Type of clothes did not matter (caveat: with the suite of clothes we had in stock)

Next Steps Expand Phase I to include additional tests and/or products –and/or – (Phase II) Pilot test specific uses cases / test scenarios in one or more stores or DCs Phase III: examination of real costs/benefits

Bill Hardgrave For copies of white papers, visit Keyword: RFID