Macy's announced that all "size-intensive replenishment" items are being tagged, representing about 30 percent of their total annual sales. Marks & Spencer is tagging all apparel and home goods products at all of its stores. American Apparel is rolling out RFID to all of its stores. JCP has backpedaled from its announced intention to tag 100 percent of products"”for the time being it will be tagging only shoes, bras and denim"”but don't be surprised if that list grows later this year.
Last year, well over one billion apparel items were tagged and that number is expected to rise substantially this year. Though there are a variety of use cases and goals, the primary driver for most of these large-scale implementations is to improve inventory accuracy, thereby reducing out-of-stocks and increasing sales.
Much of what has been written about these implementations has focused on the central issues and impact to the retailer, at the store. But these initiatives also represent a flurry of new mandates for many suppliers.
