Tesco has dropped plans to introduce item-level radio
frequency identification tagging following a pilot scheme. It will
focus instead on pallet-level tagging.
The supermarket said it could not make a business case for
tagging high-value items such as DVDs and computer games, unless
its suppliers attached the tags before they entered the
supermarket's warehouses.
Speaking at the British Retail Consortium's RFID conference,
Tesco group IT director Colin Cobain said, "With entertainment
products, tagging is not done at source by the manufacturers and we
did not find an efficient way of doing it in our warehouses."
However, Tesco still benefited from running the item-level RFID
tagging trial.
Cobain said the company had changed the replenishment schedule
for DVDs and games across its 1,252-strong chain of stores in the
UK.
Item-level tagging allowed Tesco staff to see how many
high-value goods they had in-store in real time, and during the
trial it was found that shelves were being restocked about 1.5
hours later than was optimal.
During the trial, Tesco's store managers and head office staff
could monitor product availability through a web application.
In a new trial to be launched later this year, Tesco will begin
pallet-level RFID tagging.
Tesco RFID advice
Retailers planning RFID trials should remove the project from
the control of their IT departments, according to Tesco.
"Do not have it led by IT; make sure your supply chain
colleagues are the leaders of this," said Tesco group IT director
Colin Cobain.
Companies should identify specific problems with their supply
chains that RFID may solve. They should not start with the
technology and then look for projects where tags may help, he
said.