Fashion retail group Inditex unveiled a new Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology for sales management that will power its stores.
Pablo Isla, Chairman and CEO of Inditex, announced the move at a recent shareholders meeting where he reported the Grooup’s strong growth in 2013, a year in which the store network reached 6,340 stores in 87 markets, 2,200 of which already meet the Group’s eco-efficiency criteria. He also emphasized that top line expansion reached 50 percent, with the addition of over one millions square metros of sales floorspace in the last four years.
In light of this growth, the (RFID) project would allow the individual tracking of garments, from the logistics platforms until their ultimate sale. Already in operation in over 700 Zara stores, the innovative technology will be rolled out further across its chains to make distribution more efficient and make in-store garment management more accurate. Inditex expects it to be installed in all Zara stores by 2016.
“Implementation of this next-generation technology is one of the most significant changes in how the Group’s stores operate," Isla said.
The RFID system codes each garment in the logistics centres, which means that when shipments reach the stores twice weekly, the system immediately pinpoints which sizes and
models need replenishing. The immediate identification of size availability either in-store, in nearby stores or online is expected to help customer service as well.