If you’re a store owner needing to re-stock then the chances are your ‘shopping experience’ is a
little different from what most of us know. In a typical outing, retail store owners can purchase well over a
thousand items at their chosen wholesale outlet. Processing those thousand items takes time and patience. In
fact, it’s not unusual to spend over one hour at the checkout. Luckily, thanks to a collaborative
effort between NXP and iTAG Technologies, mega volume shoppers in South America will soon be shopping three times
more efficiently! The technology behind the improvements is RFID – Radio Frequency Identification, and
it’s being deployed by Brazilian childcare and fashion wholesaler, BRASCOL.
iTAG Technologies, the leader in South America for inventory management systems and point-of-sale (POS) solutions,
has implemented a new POS system with BRASCOL. The system relies on RFID technology (UCODE7 UHF IC supplied by
NXP Semiconductors) to quickly and accurately identify shopping cart contents, volume and cost. With the old
checkout system BRASCOL customers used to waste precious time waiting for their large shopping carts to be
processed. The new system reduces the checkout wait time to a staggering 20 minutes – versus at least
one hour using the previous method. A BRASCOL shopper can quickly check their spend against budget by wheeling
their cart over to one of the RFID reader systems located throughout the stores, When the customer is
satisfied with their purchases then they simply park the cart in the new RFID-enabled POS cabinet and make their
payment. In the world of large volume purchases it doesn’t get must easier or quicker than this!
RFID reader found located inside the BRASCOL store –here customers can quickly see what is in their
cart and how much they have spent.
Point-of-Sale: Products are taken inside the RFID Reader for automated checkout for the customer, inventory
automatically updated for the Retailer – checkout complete in minutes.
Now, the really great news with this technology is that it’s not just BRASCOL’s customers that benefit
from the new super-efficient POS system, but the- retailer does too. The POS is linked directly to
BRASCOL’s inventory list, therefore ensuring that products are tracked and replenished quickly, and ensuring that
the right products are available at the right time. The benefits the system is bringing also means that no
product is too low in value for tagging – BRASCOL has immediately gone to 100% products tagged regardless of
selling price of the product.
Inventory management made easy by using RFID.
Sergio Gambim, iTAG CEO explains, “Intelligent labels with RFID have achieved the required competitive level
to justify implementation even when the cost of the tagged product is low. The gains we see in process efficiency
pays for the investment and companies can achieve sustainable growth ambitions through RFID implementation.”
“The South American market offers huge opportunities and we see many emerging RFID-based applications on the
horizon. Working with iTAG is an exciting proposition and they are undoubtedly the right leader and partner for
NXP’s Identification business unit in South America,” said Carlos Paschoal Jr, GM NXP RFID South
America. “Together we can continue to show the market, the value RFID can bring and how quickly a
return-on-investment can be realized.”
Carlos Paschoal Jr and Sergio Gambim inside one of BRASCOL’s high volume retail
outlets, showing RFID Tags on the masses of products found inside the store.
The adoption of high tech solutions is accelerating quickly and as a result, the entire region is becoming a hotbed
of RFID activity. NXP, with its leadership position in RFID solutions, is playing a pivotal role and we look
forward to sharing more updates with you in the months ahead.
About the Authors:
Mr. Sergio Gambim, iTAG CEO, has been focused on tags and system solutions since 1995, initially working with bar
code and moving to RFID technology in 2008. ITAG offers vertical solution to its customers including SW, HW
(Readers and reading cabinets), tags and full implementation system solution. iTAG becomes the 1st RFID
Brazilian company specialized on textile industry which generates EPC GEN2 code, approved by GS1.
Carlos Paschoal Jr. has been working in the semiconductor industry for over 20 years in South America and Europe.
Carlos holds a graduate degree in electronic engineering with post-graduation in Business Administration and Finance
education from INSEAD Institute. Carlos currently manages the identification business unit for NXP Semiconductors in
South American.