Coccinelle, the high-end children's clothing retailer, optimises its inventory accuracy using RFID* - allowing for a decrease of more than 60% in its web shop cancellations. Nedap supplies the RFID Point-of-Sale (POS) and the hand-held readers for this, along with the associated iOS app. For automatic processing of inventory transactions, Nedap's RFID solution is linked to Softwear's ERP and cash register system.

Out-of-stock due to inventory differences
The total inventory in the six Coccinelle stores and in the distribution centre is also the web shop's inventory. In the past, differences between the administrative inventory in the ERP system and the actual inventories often led to customers being disappointed by sold-out products. To ensure customer satisfaction and improve inventory accuracy, Coccinelle decided to introduce RFID technology.

Increased inventory accuracy with RFID
All products are given RFID labels in the distribution centre so that all shipped items can be registered using !D Hand, an advanced RFID hand-held reader; this information can be processed automatically in the ERP system and the product is then registered as "sent".

At the cash register, the RFID labels of items sold are read by an RFID POS reader that is also linked to the cash register system. In addition, store employees quickly take inventory twice each week using !D Hand. The results of these counts are processed automatically in the ERP system. Because of the 99.9% registration accuracy of goods received and the store counts, any differences between the administrative inventory and the actual inventory can be traced and corrected extremely quickly.

The increased inventory accuracy has a positive effect on sales and on employee productivity, since they always have insight into which products are available and where these products are.
Marc Bakker, Coccinelle's Managing Director, explains it as follows: "Our goal was to reduce "out-of-stocks" in our web shop without having to make concessions in product assortment quantities. After an intensive period, we have arrived at a level of extreme inventory accuracy in the physical shops, and this results in considerably fewer cancellations in our web shop.

In addition to this advantage, we've taken significant steps forward in terms of efficiency in our DC because the RFID process has enabled us to put a stop to a number of actions and since a large number of transactions can now be executed more quickly. In the future, together with Nedap, we'll focus on expanding functionalities that further optimise processes; and we're tentatively discovering the advantages RFID offers from a marketing standpoint. In summary, it was an intensive exercise that turned out to be more than worth the trouble. And what's more: we'd no longer consider working without RFID".

During the RFID Round Table sessions at EuroShop 2014 in Düsseldorf, Marc Bakker will speak with other retailers at the Nedap Retail stand (hall 6, stand B09) about the use and advantages of RFID in fashion retail stores. On-line registration is required for these sessions. Click http://www.nedap-retail.com/nedap_retail/events/meet_coccinelle.aspx for more information.