RFID Technology

Zara Menlo was under renovation for the whole summer of 2014. When it reopened in November that same year, it made massive changes to its layout and processes. The biggest change was the implementation of the radio frequency identification, or RFID, technology. The small black sensor attached to the garment was not only a security alarm, but a chip embedded with the information of the garment itself. When customers go to the register to check out, the cashier just has to take the sensor off the garment in order for it to be rung up on the register. Prior to the RFID system, employees would do a manual count of the hundreds of products in the store’s inventory. Now, the information comes encoded on the sensors when products are received for shipment and is automatically added to the store’s inventory when the boxes are scanned into the store using the PDA (personal digital assistant). The RFID system allows employees to see if an item is located on the floor or in the stockroom. The floor and the stockrooms are constantly scanned to ensure that the 25R application (a stocktake app on the iPod used in stores) is updated for accurate replenishment reports. When a customer buys a product from the floor, the 25R app notifies a stock associate that the item needs to be replenished if it is available in the stockroom. Employees can also relay more accurate information to customers who may be looking for a specific item by looking it up in the 25R app and seeing if there is any on the store's floor or stockroom, other locations in the US, and the online store. This new system has improved and reduced the time it takes to process shipments, take inventory, replenish merchandise, and assist customers. All Zara locations have successfully transitioned to using the RFID technology and Inditex is in the process of implementing it into their other brands' locations.