RFID Equipped Shopping Carts; More Than Theft Prevention
What would you do if one of your $150-$200 ticket items added up to a loss of thousands of dollars every year?
An early solution was proposed by California Shopping Cart Retrieval Corporation (CSCRC), which takes on the responsibility of rounding up shopping carts for various retailers for a negotiated management fee. For example, many shoppers that live within walking distance from a store may take their cart all the way home with them. CSCRC will round up all those missing carts, or rather abducted carts, and return them to the store. They have 2,500 retail clients in California and Las Vegas and are responsible for returning approximately $8.5 million carts per year. Yes, that would be a potential loss of $170 million for the group or an average of $68,000 per client.
California Shopping Cart Retrieval Corporation is attempting to keep up with technology to better serve their clients and make their job more efficient. Their goal now is to prevent the shopping carts from going missing in the first place – introducing RFID to their niche service. CSRCR does not necessarily own this market, there are many RFID providers, such Dynamic Computer Corporation, that have the technology and expertise to implement a RFID tracking system for retail shipping carts.
As a basic program, the RFID tagged shopping cart can track the movement inside the store as well as in the parking lot. It can also trip a wheel-locking mechanism that stops the cart once it crosses a designated boundary. If the wheels won’t move beyond a certain point, the cart is rendered useless to those that used to take advantage of its functionality all the way home.
Where Can RFID Tagged Carts Go from Here?
If Microsoft has anything to say about it, RFID tagged grocery carts will have shoppers logging in via an on-cart scanner, utilize a virtual shopping list, receive printable coupon offers and much more. You might think it is all about enhancing the customer experience. While that is the primary goal, retailers will also be able to better track inventory, shopper behavior, loyalty trends and promotional efforts.
Think this all a bit too George Jetson-esk? MediaCarts are due to pilot in 2008.
If you think you may need more control over your assets and/or inventory, contact Dynamic Computer Corporation today to schedule an informational conference call!
An early solution was proposed by California Shopping Cart Retrieval Corporation (CSCRC), which takes on the responsibility of rounding up shopping carts for various retailers for a negotiated management fee. For example, many shoppers that live within walking distance from a store may take their cart all the way home with them. CSCRC will round up all those missing carts, or rather abducted carts, and return them to the store. They have 2,500 retail clients in California and Las Vegas and are responsible for returning approximately $8.5 million carts per year. Yes, that would be a potential loss of $170 million for the group or an average of $68,000 per client.
California Shopping Cart Retrieval Corporation is attempting to keep up with technology to better serve their clients and make their job more efficient. Their goal now is to prevent the shopping carts from going missing in the first place – introducing RFID to their niche service. CSRCR does not necessarily own this market, there are many RFID providers, such Dynamic Computer Corporation, that have the technology and expertise to implement a RFID tracking system for retail shipping carts.
As a basic program, the RFID tagged shopping cart can track the movement inside the store as well as in the parking lot. It can also trip a wheel-locking mechanism that stops the cart once it crosses a designated boundary. If the wheels won’t move beyond a certain point, the cart is rendered useless to those that used to take advantage of its functionality all the way home.
Where Can RFID Tagged Carts Go from Here?
If Microsoft has anything to say about it, RFID tagged grocery carts will have shoppers logging in via an on-cart scanner, utilize a virtual shopping list, receive printable coupon offers and much more. You might think it is all about enhancing the customer experience. While that is the primary goal, retailers will also be able to better track inventory, shopper behavior, loyalty trends and promotional efforts.
Think this all a bit too George Jetson-esk? MediaCarts are due to pilot in 2008.
If you think you may need more control over your assets and/or inventory, contact Dynamic Computer Corporation today to schedule an informational conference call!
248-473-2200
posted by Mika Lofton at
10:24 AM
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