Dillards Launches RFID Trial By Rattling Off Things They Promise To Not Do
Written by Evan SchumanOctober 4th, 2007
In a sign of the times for beleaguered RFID, when $8 billion apparel and home furnishing chain Dillards announced Tuesday that it was beginning an RFID pilot, it spent most of its short statement detailing various restrictions on its trial efforts. It’s sort of like announcing a brand-new hire by telling employees all of the things you won’t permit the new person to do.
The item-level RFID/Electronic Product Code (EPC) trial will feature “tags designed to be removed at the time of purchase. They are not required in the event that the customer wishes to return the garment. No link will be made between the garment information held by the tag and the customer’s personal information,” said the retailer’s ultra-happy news release.
-Marc
October 5th, 2007 at 11:30 am
I think with RFID Item Level Tagging Dillards is missing alot of key features that the tagging process was design to do. If they take the tag off at the point of sale then when there is a return how can they show that the product was actually purchase at the Dillards. Brand Protection/Counterfieting will still be a major factor that the store will not be able to combact. The stores will benefit better from end to end RFID solution. They are missing the point as far as product return fraud. At the RFID item level tagging process, when a customer returns a product it can be identifed to know whether it was actually purchased or not by reading the information written into the tag at the point of sale. When a customer returns the product at the service counter a reader will be able to read the tag to make sure that it is a good return. There will be no personal information written in the tag just information that shows that the product was actually paid for. (Authentication)
October 5th, 2007 at 2:19 pm
I see the key benefit being the cost savings Dillards will receive will be from inventory management, not return/counterfit problems.
October 15th, 2007 at 7:51 pm
Large organizations must always consider what affects the “bottom line”. Fraud and illegal representation along with inventory management will have key roles. The entire industry will benifit from a solution that addresses all key features. I feel Dillard’s will be forced to re-visit this subject again in the very near future.
December 8th, 2007 at 2:45 pm
I’m sure that Dillards is currently concerned with the inventory management process involved with RFID.
Dillards uses POP (proof of purchase)labels that are affixed to all merchandise at the POS. The POP label allows Dillards not only to tell if the item was sold, but who sold it, where, when, and how it was paid for. No private information is retained, no tracking of items in customers homes.