Marks & Spencer (M&S) is reporting 100% radio frequency identification (RFID) adoption across its apparel and general merchandise supply chain after having begun its initial use of the tracking technology over a decade ago.
As the largest UK clothing retailer, M&S wanted to achieve the goal of being ‘the store in which you can always find your size’. So consistent and accurate product availability both instore and online was paramount.
Traditionally, M&S relied on optical scanners to track inventory – using barcodes to scan each item within centimetres of the scanner and scanning a maximum of 400-600 items per hour. However the manual process can be prone to error, while the information gathered did not support manual restocking operational insights or rapid cycle counts.