UK Clothing Retailer Plans RFID Expansion

Computerworld | March 8, 2005
By Laura Rohde

The current trial involves inventories of men's suits, but women's undergarments will be added next year, said Marks & Spencer spokeswoman Olivia Ross. "We are looking to test RFID with size-complex items, and for bras alone, there could be over 40 sizes."

London-based retailer Marks & Spencer Group plans to broaden its trial of radio frequency identification (RFID) technology, expanding the test of a clothing inventory system from nine stores to 53 in the second quarter of next year.

"The feedback so far from our staff has been very positive in that the RFID tags have clearly improved our stocktaking process," Marks & Spencer spokeswoman Olivia Ross said last week.

"What takes up to eight hours a week to do manually can be done with RFID tags in about an hour."

She added that employees simply wave scanners over racks of clothes equipped with the tags.

The current trial involves inventories of men's suits, but women's undergarments will be added next year, Ross said.

"We are looking to test RFID with size-complex items, and for bras alone, there could be over 40 sizes," she explained.

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