Grupo Ã"°xito, one of the largest retail chains in Colombia, has launched a major pilot in which the company is placing EPCGen 2 passive ultrahigh-frequency (UHF) RFID tags on every item at a new electronics store-known as Ã"°xito Techno-in an innovative effort to determine if radio frequency identification can improve the traceability of products across the supply chain, while also reducing shrinkage, by tracking items from distribution center to point of sale. The deployment will remain in the pilot stage through at least the end of this month, the company reports, after which the results will be analyzed.
"Ã"°xito has always been a company that uses technology to achieve a competitive advantage," says Luis Fernando Castañeda, Ã"°xito's head of loss prevention. "We heard about the benefits RFID was bringing retailers in Europe and the United States, including improved inventory accuracy and reduced shrinkage, so the company decided to put some resources into better understanding how RFID could improve the way we do business."
