The Marriage Of LP And Inventory Visibility

By Matt Pillar, chief editor

November 2015 Innovative Retail Technologies

Dual EAS/RFID technology adoption is on the rise, helping retailers protect and maintain their inventory.

Retailers are adopting dual technology EAS/RFID (electronic article surveillance/radio frequency identification) hard tags at a double-digit growth pace, according to Kim Warne, director of global marketing at Tyco Retail Solutions and Su Doyle, industry program manager at Checkpoint Systems. Dual technology tags contain either AM (acousto-magnetic) or RF (Radio Frequency) EAS and RFID elements, which are applied and encoded at the source to provide EAS anti-theft protection along with RFID for inventory counting, location, and tracking.

Warne says combining EAS and RFID technology in this way provides several unique benefits, including: 

• Reduced handling and labor through a single carrier for both EAS and RFID
• Streamlined processing at the POS, as integrated EAS/RFID detachers read product information as tags are removed – eliminating the need for scanning bar codes
• Enhanced shrink protection, as tags cannot be removed without recording a sale, thus addressing employee theft or sweethearting.