South African retailer house of Busby deployed RFID solution and achieved remarkable results

South African retailer House of Busby deployed an RFID-based solution in a store in Johannesburg to improve inventory visibility and reduce the time spent on inventory. The solution is provided by Milestone Integrated Systems, using Keonn’s EPC ultra-high frequency (UHF) RFID reader and AdvanCloud software to manage the collected reading data.

Since the deployment of the system, the store’s inventory count time has been reduced from 120 working hours to 30 minutes. The retailer also uses the technology at the exit to confirm whether there are unpaid products leaving the store. Because the overhead reader can read tags within a few meters, the store does not need to install additional hardware.

The company’s general manager Neels Lourens said that Milestone Integrated Systems is headquartered in Johannesburg and provides loss prevention management solutions for South African SMEs. Founded in 1986, House of Busby is both a retailer and a wholesaler. The company mainly sells handbags and suitcases, and also provides brand management for companies such as Guess, Aldo, Forever New, Karen Millen, Call it Spring and Kipling.

Since the system was put into use, Sandton has attached passive UHF RFID tags to approximately 7,000 items including clothing, jewelry, watches, handbags, wallets and sunglasses. These products use two types of UHF RFID tags: hard tags and jewelry tags. The tags are all provided by Century RFID.

When the store receives the item and displays it, the employee uses the Keonn AdvanStation RFID reader to encode the tag. The desktop card reader has a built-in barcode scanner and UHF RFID reader. The user can use the device to scan the QR code to read the item’s SKU information and read the tag ID number, and the item’s barcode and RFID number will be bound on the cloud software.

During inventory counting, employees use AdvanScan handheld readers to scan. Employees only need to open the AdvanScan application on the device, click the inventory check as prompted, walk in the warehouse, and then read the item IDs on the surrounding shelves, and the reader will transmit the data to it via WiFi network or cellular network Cloud software.

An AdvanPay reader/writer is also installed at the cash register. When customers check out in the store, they only need to place the item tag on the reader for reading, and the read tag ID information will be transmitted to the software to update its status.

At the exit of the store, Milestone installed an AdvanSafe overhead loss-proof reader. When a person leaves the store with unchecked items, the AdvanCloud software will trigger an alarm.

Lourens said that since the use of this technology, the manpower spent on inventory counting has been greatly reduced. He said:“Before installing RFID, inventory counting took 2 working days, but now, this time is reduced to half an hour.”This is equivalent to reducing operating costs, while also improving inventory accuracy and indirectly increasing store profits. . House of Busby is considering installing the RFID solution in other stores.