Leading French Retailer Expands RF Source Tagging For Its U Brand Textile Products

Système U takes aim at reducing apparel shrink.

As one of France’s leading retailers of a wide variety of merchandise, Système U has a long history of innovation in order to stay ahead of consumer tastes. The company’s network of more than 1,400 hypermarkets, supermarkets and proximity stores commands 10 percent of the French retail market, and has ambitious goals to expand its presence and service to shoppers.

Shrink is a significant problem in France, representing an annual loss of $6.6 billion (4.9billion Euros), or 1.4 percent of French retail sales, according to the 2011 Global Retail Theft Barometer. Système U has been a pioneer among French retailers in protecting wines and alcoholic spirits in their supermarket stores, using Radio Frequency-based EAS antennas and source tagging solutions.

That’s why Système U decided to start a source tagging program for its own U brand distributor, in partnership with Checkpoint Systems.

The new program, which will roll out in Système U stores this summer, was undertaken as a result of audits in several different-sized supermarkets and hypermarkets. Those audits revealed that some stores do not protect all their textile products because of a lack of time and resources, while others have dedicated staff to apply hard tags and manage the hard tags stock. Some stores were also waiting for automatic/industrialized and global solutions.

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