What is Smart Shield?
The Detego Smart Shield is a cutting-edge feature that determines the location of individual RFID tags, by using machine learning algorithms. This allows the Detego Platform to differentiate between the backroom and sales floor of a store, without the need for expensive physical shielding installations.
It’s vital that a stocktake tells you not only exactly what is in a store, but where the items are too. The two locations that need differentiating in stores are typically the backroom and the salesfloor. Store staff, and the Detego platform itself, need to be able to see exactly what’s on the sales floor so they can identify when items and specific sizes are running low so they can be replenished from the backroom. If this isn’t done, you can end up with products in stock but not available to purchase on the shop floor – a costly and easily avoidable mistake.
What problem does it solve?
RFID is able to read items from several feet away, and even through objects like boxes and walls – this is what makes it such an excellent technology for managing inventory. What this means, however, is that a staff member doing an RFID-based stocktake in the backroom could accidentally pick up signals from the sales floor, and therefore allocate items to the incorrect location.
The old solution to this problem involved using a physical shield that blocks RFID signals, often in the form of metal sheets or metallic paint. Making physical modifications to a store such as these is both expensive, costing up to $5000 per store, and time-consuming. When it comes to large scale rollouts of hundreds of stores, the added costs and manhours can be a major barrier to entry for RFID.
With the Detego platform, the need for physical shielding is removed entirely, significantly reducing the cost and time to implement RFID in stores. The Smart Shield feature is available out-of-the-box, meaning retailers can implement the cloud-hosted software in stores with very little fuss. This is what makes the Detego platform the most ‘plug and play’ RFID software on the market.
How does it work?
Every RFID tag creates a specific time and signal stamp when being read by an RFID reader – up to several times per second. Detego collects this data (created during stocktakes) and applies machine learning algorithms to determine the most probable location of individual tags.
Explanation of Smart Shield
The Detego Smart Shield in Action
The Smart Shield feature makes a massive difference for retailers undergoing RFID store rollouts at scale. These benefits include:
- Determines the location of individual items, with no need for physical shielding between separate stock locations
- Help optimise other processes and features, such as stock replenishment advice
- Allows for faster roll-out and reduces up-front costs, as no physical shielding is required
A Detego customer utilising Smart Shield recently rolled-out the platform in record speed, achieving 100 stores per month and with a stock accuracy of greater than 98%. This speed of implementation is far beyond anything seen before Smart Shield and allows retailers to get up and running quickly to unlock the benefits of the platform, driving an instant return on investment throughout their store network. By achieving high stock accuracy and on-floor availability in stores, Detego customers typically see between 3-10% revenue increase per store.
Cloud-hosted RFID software
Stock accuracy, on-floor availability, and omnichannel applications in stores.
Detego Store is a cloud-hosted RFID solution which digitises stock management processes, making them more efficient and more accurate. Implemented within hours, our multi-user app can provide intelligent stock takes and a smart in-store replenishment process. Later, you can scale the solution to offer omnichannel services and effectively manage your entire store operations with real-time, item-level inventory visibility and analytics.
London, UK, 20/04/2020 — Detego, a market leader for RFID software solutions for fashion & sports retailers, has announced their new factory solution which ensures that factory shipments are validated on an item-level to prevent shipping errors and provide complete traceability throughout the supply chain. The cloud-hosted solution is part of Detego’s end-to-end RFID software platform which also includes leading products to manage warehouses, stores, smart displays and AI-powered analytics.
Detego developed the solution based on the growing demand for item-level inventory visibility throughout the supply chain, as more retailers continue to adopt RFID technology at the heart of their operations. Detego’s proven success with deployments of RFID software within fashion and sportswear retail stores and distribution centres has naturally continued upstream to the factory where there is a strong business case for traceability and accuracy of shipments. The factory solution provides retailers with the ability to track individual products from source-to-store by verifying outbound carton shipments, helping to prevent shipping errors to distribution centres, reducing human mistakes and improving operational efficiencies.
“Retailers are now adopting RFID throughout their entire supply chain to realise the full potential of the technology, from the factory to the consumer. Detego’s factory solution helps to maximise operational efficiencies at the source whilst providing more visibility of inventory from the very beginning. We now find ourselves in the unique position of being able to offer the only proven end-to-end RFID platform on the market, from factory, to DC, to stores and even consumer engagement in the stores” says Kim Berknov, Executive Chairman of Detego.
The solution is delivered as a cloud-hosted mobile application which integrates directly with a range of RFID hardware as well as the factory’s ERP system. Detego offers the solution with different modules allowing for a range of processes to be performed in the factory, such as verifying shipment contents against target lists or verifying RFID tags have been encoded and printed correctly. These processes ensure 100% accuracy of shipments helping to prevent costly errors at source and provide more confidence in retailers supply chain operations to ultimately improve customer experience.
As the factory solution is part of the wider Detego platform, retailers will now be able to track every ‘read event’ relating to an individual item/EPC (Electronic Product Code), from the moment it leaves the factory all the way to being sold in the store. This will further help prevent shrinkage in the supply chain, whilst providing complete transparency of an individual item’s delivery time to distribution centres, stores or Direct-To-Consumers (DTC).
With factories in China now back in action, Detego’s new solution is perfect to ensure the visibility of these shipments are on time and accurate to prevent any further costs to retailers in these difficult times.
About Detego
Detego, a global retail software provider, was founded in 2011 and is headquartered in London, UK, with offices in Graz, Austria and Moscow, Russia. The company develops and delivers a cloud-hosted RFID platform that digitises your traditional stock management processes, making them more efficient and more accurate to prevent out-of-stock situations and ensure optimal product availability for retailers. The modular platform covers the entire value chain from the factory to the store, and even consumer engagement in the store. By doing so, retailers can unlock the power of RFID to provide customers with a consistently good shopping experience across all channels. Detego’s software is complimented by managed services and software-as-a-service (SaaS), along with attractive financing models. Detego‘s customers include international fashion brands, retailers and department stores. Detego is already being used in over 1,750 stores and 15 distribution centres. More information can be found at www.detego.com
Press contact:
Detego Ltd
10-11 Park Place
London, SW1A 1LP
United Kingdom
Luke Sinclair – Marketing
Tel: +44 (0) 7464 207099
l.sinclair@detego.com
London, UK, 25/03/2020 — Retail RFID software specialists, Detego, have announced a new solution to support retailers and help them maintain business continuity during the ongoing effects of COVID-19. The solution, available to retailers using RFID, will allow brands to adapt to the increased pressure on their DC / DTC operations as eCommerce becomes their primary sales channel. With it, retailers will be able to utilise efficient RFID processes to drastically increase the speed of handling returns directly from consumers back into their Distribution Centers.
Detego, who partners with several major fashion retail brands, aims to alleviate some of the pressure on retailers due to the COVID-19 epidemic by solidifying their eCommerce operations and returns process for increased demand. With retail sales down and brick-and-mortar stores being heavily affected by closures and social distancing measures, Detego is anticipating an unprecedented shift to online shopping. Whilst the majority of retailers run eCommerce operations alongside their physical stores, this is typically only around 10-15% of their overall retail sales. For omnichannel retailers, eCommerce has now become the primary sales channel for the foreseeable future. There is already early evidence of this, with preliminary data from Quantum Metric showing that eCommerce associated with Brick and Mortar retailers saw an average revenue weekly growth rate increase of 52%.
This sudden shift to eCommerce will pose significant challenges for many retail distribution centres, as supply chains and operational systems may struggle or even buckle under the increased pressure. The primary challenge that comes with increased online sales is the subsequent increase in returns. While shoppers return only 10% of what they buy in stores, they send back up to 50% of what they buy online. The major capacity concern will be in the increased rate of online orders and will most likely present bottlenecks and stockouts in the returns process.
“The new returns module (part of Detego’s end-to-end RFID platform) strengthens distribution centres by utilising fast and efficient inbound RFID reading of cartons/boxes to verify against a target list based on the returned item from the customer”, – mentioned Nikolay
Vakulich, Product Manager at Detego.
The SaaS-enabled solution integrates with all standard RFID hardware and WMS (Warehouse Management Systems) to count, verify, display, track and manage inventory moving from the DC/DTC to consumer or wholesaler as well as processing all returns back to the DC / DTC. Additional functionality will also allow retailers to use a ‘quality grading’ system and display product imagery to more effectively identify and sort inbound returns.
RFID-enabled retailers utilising the solution can achieve greater flexibility in ordering and fulfilment due to forecasting of incoming returns/shipments and up to 90% faster processing times. This not only prevents bottlenecks occurring in the supply chain due to unprocessed returns, but it ensures stock is made available as soon as possible upon being returned, reducing out-of-stocks on the webshop. This is in addition to 100% shipping accuracy and verifying the legitimacy of returns using unique digital identity provided by RFID tags.
About Detego
Detego, a global retail software provider, was founded in 2011 and is headquartered in London, UK, with offices in Graz, Austria and Moscow, Russia. The company develops and delivers a cloud-hosted RFID platform that digitises your traditional stock management processes, making them more efficient and more accurate to prevent out-of-stock situations and ensure optimal product availability for retailers. The modular platform covers the entire value chain from the factory to the store, and even consumer engagement in the store. By doing so, retailers can unlock the power of RFID to provide customers with a consistently good shopping experience across all channels. Detego’s software is complimented by managed services and software-as-a-service (SaaS), along with attractive financing models. Detego‘s customers include international fashion brands, retailers and department stores. Detego is already being used in over 1,750 stores and 15 distribution centres. More information can be found at www.detego.com
Press contact:
Detego Ltd
United Kingdom
Marketing
Tel: +44 (0) 7464 207099
marketing@detego.com
Detego takes RFID-based stock management to the next level with advanced localization capabilities.
Introducing ‘Smart Shield’ – Detego defies the laws of physics with breakthrough in RFID tag localization
London, UK, 04.04.2019 — Detego, the leader in business intelligence for fashion retailers, has released the latest innovation for their RFID-based inventory management software with a feature they call ‘Smart Shield’. This new technological advancement utilizes machine learning to determine the relative location of individual RFID tags, a feature which will drastically improve costs and process efficiencies for retailers implementing RFID.
Over the course of recent years, Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology has been applied in many different business domains to solve, for example, the issue of monitoring stock. Retailers in particular use the knowledge of item locations to understand in which area of the store they can find articles, for example, the backroom or sales floor. By having this knowledge, retailers achieve optimal product availability for their customers through an efficient replenishment process. When applied correctly, RFID technology provides the benefit of up to 99% stock accuracy and on-floor availability. However, until now there have always been limitations with the ability to understand an item’s exact location, due to the long-distance read signal achieved by modern RFID systems. The most common “best-practice” methods that can ensure such high figures are currently known to involve a physical method of shielding between individual stock locations, whether this is using foil or metallic paint. However, this common and costly method of shielding has left retailers and Detego wondering what else could be done to lower the hurdles on the initial steps of the RFID journey.
Every individual RFID tag creates a specific time & signal stamp when it is read by an RFID reader – up to several times per second. By collecting this data and applying smart algorithms within their software, Detego takes RFID-based merchandise management to the next level by adding an additional location element. Within this tag localization initiative, Detego establishes their ‘Smart Shield’ feature which can be utilized with just a handheld reader. With this advancement, retailers will no longer need to spend additional time and resources to put up physical shielding. Instead, they can roll-out RFID projects at a fraction of the time and cost. A newly-published research paper exploring the potential of this ground-breaking technology will be presented at this year’s 2019 IEEE International Conference on RFID.
“When RFID was developed, the concept of individual tag localization was always considered as ‘the holy grail’. Our latest innovations around this topic with our ‘Smart Shield’ feature is on par with traditional methods like physical shielding. By removing this barrier, a much faster and affordable implementation into brick-and-mortar stores has been made possible. However, this is just one element within our far more general localization initiative that will bring a variety of exciting new features for our customers.” says Detego CTO, Dr Michael Goller.
Detego says the new capability to ‘localize’ specific RFID tags has benefits far beyond the ‘Smart Shield’ feature. Through the machine learning infrastructure in place that enables individual tag localization, Detego can improve store operations in the following ways:
- Replenishment advice and picking lists for e-com processes can be optimised through location-based sorting to make the process more efficient for the store associate when in the backroom.
- Staff will now additionally be supported in finding items to further enhance customer service.
“Utilizing the information about relative locations of items can drastically increase staff efficiency and business process efficiency across various functions relating to logistics, warehousing and retail. Together with features that will significantly lower the costs for a roll-out, retailers will experience an even faster time to market and will have the ability to enable franchise/wholesaler partners with full RFID capabilities at low costs.” says Detego CTO, Dr. Michael Goller.
Having pioneered and tested this exciting new technology, Detego’s ‘Smart Shield’ is now readily available as part of their global SaaS platform. The first retailers are already beginning to successfully utilise the new system, seeing an increase in process efficiency across both the backroom and the shop floor. But perhaps the biggest development enabled by the ‘Smart Shield’ is the greater ease with which retailers can now implement RFID systems in stores. As this relatively-young technology continues to improve, developments like the ‘Smart shield’ are further steps towards RFID becoming part of the status-quo in the fashion retail landscape, as advancements such as this discover new use cases for the technology whilst simultaneously reducing the cost and time required for implementation.
All store assistants are busy at the moment and another customer enters the store. She has only one question: “Is the skirt in the shop window also available in XS?”– It’s not going to take long, however, nobody is available to assist. She briefly looks around on the sales floor…finds nothing and therefore leaves the store.
Increase service quality in the store with Artificial Intelligence
With digital sales assistants, fashion retailers no longer have to keep consumers waiting but offer them a convenient service. The in-store chatbot serves consumers via smartphone by answering initial questions such as: Is the article still available in my size? Where can I find it? How expensive is it? What accessories go with it? If an article is out of stock, Detega makes suggestions, e.g. to have the desired article shipped from another store to the customer´s preferred store or even directly to her home.
Recommendations for more consumer engagement
If a store assistant recommends additional articles to a customer, it could easily backfire as unwanted assistance can be considered intrusive and the customer might avoid visiting the store in future. However, if an in-store chatbot recommends an article that the customer clearly perceives as a possible additional purchase, he/she will have no problem considering the recommendation or rejecting it by simply swiping it away and look at other articles that he/she likes better. Chatbots enable a non-binding yet personalised dialogue – just as customers are familiar with online shopping.
The use of in-store chatbots. Benefits for retailers:
Detega…
- starts a dialogue with the consumer via smartphone as desired
- notifies store personnel to bring certain articles to consumers
- pushes purchases through „live“ discounts
- brings online shopping experience into the store
- activates cross-selling potential by letting customers browse through the entire product range
- recommends articles that are actually available in the store
- supports as well as unburdens store personnel
- deepens the brand experience
- compiles data on customer clusters and their preferred article combinations
- continues to interact with customers after they leave the store to inform them about special offers, etc.
- offers after-sales services to customers such as reservations in the store
The use of in-store chatbots. Benefits for customers:
Detega…
- helps with the decision-making process using information
- provides useful product recommendations such as: popular items, bestsellers, reduced articles and product variants
- accurate product recommendations due to Artificial Intelligence
- offers self-service via customers‘ smartphone
- offers online shopping experience in-store
- answers immediately – customers are not kept waiting
- gives information in real-time
- notifies the store personnel to bring desired articles directly to the customer
- allows customers to browse through the full product range
- guarantees an unforgettable shopping experience
- passes on customers to sales personnel when required
‘At the Point-of-Sale, the chatbot serves digitally-oriented target groups via their smartphones and passes them on to the sales personnel for individual service whenever the sales process requires it.’
Did we spark your interest?
Detego, a market leader in business intelligence and real-time analytics for the fashion retail industry, is launching new software to actively support retailers in their consumer engagement strategies. As part of its omni-channel retailing software suite, Detego InChannels bridges the gap between online and bricks-and-mortar retailing by using more digital touchpoints in stores. These include digitally connected “smart fitting rooms” and interactive screens on the sales floor, as well as the introduction of a new Detego chatbot that accompanies customers throughout the entire buying process at any time on a customer’s smartphone.
Detego’s pioneering Smart Fitting Rooms technology allow customers to directly communicate with store personnel via interactive screens in the fitting room and request other products or sizes be brought to them (or even be delivered to other locations). A global sportswear retailer is currently rolling out the concept across its store estate, including arming its staff with iWatches to help guide them with more informative, real-time information.
The software provides reliable data on the number of articles that have been tried-on and sold or not (with fitting room conversion rates unique to the system). Social media feeds built into Detego InChannels also give customers the ability to post recommendations or put together outfits that can be shared within their community. This helps boost levels of engagement with customers, particularly in stores, increasing interaction across a broader range of products.
By using Detego InChannels, retailers are able to get a much deeper understanding of consumer behaviour across various different channels. Detego claims that its software’s more precise and intelligent product recommendations – based on using real-time data on product availability – can increase sales and reduce the number of unnecessary markdowns. For instance, only articles that are currently in-stock are flagged up and the intelligent system can even be used to encourage more sales of otherwise slower-selling or higher margin items. The AI capabilities of Detego’s software also mean that the recommendations get better and better as the logic behind the self-learning system continually improves and increases its functionality.
“Retailers have to adapt their store processes to the expectations of a new, digital customer using more modern-day technologies that bring the customer, store and online worlds together for good,” says Uwe Hennig, CEO at Detego.
Detego, a specialist in real-time business intelligence for the fashion retail industry, is launching Detego InStore 4.2, making it the first vendor to offer in-store software with comprehensive functionalities for omni-channel retailing. Many international fashion retailers, including G-Star and Marc O’Polo, already use Detego InStore for providing real-time transparency on individual items across multiple channels. Following the introduction of Detego software and RFID tags on every item of clothing, a recent pilot with one global fashion brand revealed that it was able to boost sales and improve inventory management across its mobile, store and online business. Other live projects have shown Detego’s software to increase merchandise inventory accuracy from an industry average of around 75 percent to up to 99 percent. The latest release features a number of standard applications for omni-channel retailing, including ‘click & reserve’, ‘ship-from-store’ and ‘return-to-store’, enabling fashion retailers to more effectively manage popular services like same-day deliveries.
“Detego InStore bridges the gap between online and offline retailing and allows fashion retailers to support their customers at every touchpoint, along the entire customer journey,” says Uwe Hennig, CEO at Detego. “It means that stocks will be used more intelligently and omni-channel retailing strategies can be implemented in a more cost-efficient way.”
The cloud-based Detego retail software differs from many rivals by providing item-level visibility of merchandise, whatever the channel, as well as offering a complete in-store solution with comprehensive omni-channel applications (including hardware, service components and updates), all for a monthly subscription fee, rather than large upfront investment. The software is particularly geared towards fashion retailers because of the need to closely monitor so many ranges, styles, colours and sizes, as well as the inherent costs of over-supply and discounting. Detego says that franchisees and consession stores are also built into the software’s omni-channel set-up to ensure a positive brand experience across all channels for customers.
“Consumers no longer distinguish between online and offline, or brand-owned and franchise stores, but rather expect a seamless shopping experience across all channels,” says Hennig. “And this can be achieved without the constraint of increasing stocks in stores.”
Intelligent article management software Detego has today released a real-time analysis tool for fashion retailers—Detego InReports. This tool brings a new analysis platform that can coordinate the demands of the sales floor and logistics chain, helping retailers access current information such as the merchandise inventory and availability of items on the sales floor.
With bricks-and-mortar fashion retailers competing with online stores, retailers are forced to keep up with the pace set by customers, which means that product line management is essential. Detego recognises that the multi-channel strategy necessitates transparency, targeted merchandise distribution and increased merchandise availability, and is able to solve these issues using their new InReports technology.
Michael Goller PhD, CTO of Detego notes: “We developed Detego InReports as a tool for our customers so they can be better equipped for the ever more dynamic market and the growing demands of it. More than anything else, retailers with a network of several hundred stores need transparency and data that they can depend on in order to be able to react quickly. Detego InReports enables retailers to have this information at their fingertips”.
Increase Sales, Reduce Inventory, Manage Stores
Detego InReports analyses the crucial key performance indicators of individual locations, including merchandise inventory and availability, in addition to the time spent on the sales floor), making it possible to effectively assess and analyse the performance of individual stores. The high quality of the information on hand allows for more precise management of the flow of merchandise, as well as a reduction in the in-stock inventory kept available in all channels and loss prevention. This results in a simpler way to better adapt what is on offer to customers, and subsequently improving the profitability of stores. Detego offers textile retailers a faster way to react to market changes and trends that is based on overall inventory transparency, which translates to increased merchandise turnover and sales volume.