Marks & Spencer has
confirmed that it will use
radio frequency identification tags on
in-store items across 120 shops nationwide by the middle of May,
as it steps up its use of the technology to improve in-store
stock levels.
Forty-two stores are currently using the tags, in what is
already the world's biggest item-level use of RFID. Since the
project began at the beginning of 2006, Marks & Spencer has
tagged 49 million items of clothing.
Once RFID tagging is established in all 120 stores, the retailer
intends to expand the range of items it tags from six clothing
types to 13.
Although Marks & Spencer has never quantified the effect of
tagging on its sales, chief executive Stuart Rose named RFID as one
of the initiatives that have led to the retailer's recovery.
In its last set of financial results, M&S reported sales for
the six months to the end of September of £3.9bn, up 11% on the
same period in 2005.
It currently tags men's suits, men's trousers, men's jackets,
women's casual trousers, women's skirts and women's suits.
M&S ready to start national roll-out of item level RFID
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