Super-charging Replenishment with RFID
By the end of 2006, 25 percent of Wal-Mart's stores and clubs have made use of radio frequency identification (RFID) technology. The total number of suppliers working with Wal-Mart on its RFID program has grown to over 600.* (footnote Retailwire 9/12/06) While not yet mainstream, RFID has evolved from the pilot project phase to limited production deployments for many CPG suppliers. This trend will continue to grow in breadth and depth.
For suppliers today, retail point-of-sale (POS) data still remains the most timely, granular information source for immediate identification and prioritization of retail execution issues. But, as the availability of RFID data generated by case/pallet level tags grows, CPG suppliers have an opportunity to leverage both of these rich data sources to drive dramatic improvements to their replenishment and fulfillment processes. i2 enables suppliers to unlock the revenue potential that this new volume of RFID data has to offer.
With i2's intelligent, predictive analysis of RFID and POS data, CPG suppliers achieve early, actionable insight into store/SKU-level issues that, if left unaddressed, will impact revenue and service. The granularity and frequency of information achieved with RFID enhances the power of i2 applications. For example:
- i2's Stores Not Scanning application provides immediate insight that pinpoints locations showing on-hand inventory and apparent demand, yet no sales are reported, which may indicate store anomalies like missing end-caps, mis-stocked items, or shrink. Leveraging RFID data, product can be tracked from the backroom to the floor, giving teams more accurate insight into where product is located. By providing early insight into an anomaly, teams can take action before revenue is impacted and arm merchandising teams with the specific information they need to investigate problem locations or items.
- Promotion Variance - This application monitors store-level performance of promoted SKUs, identifying in real-time the locations where sales lift is not trending as expected. With the case-level time and location information that RFID delivers for these SKUs, i2 can validate the receipt of the promotional inventory and whether the cases make it out of the back room. This additional visibility gives decision-makers a more complete understanding of the issues and more accurate guided resolution strategies for taking action.
- Electronic Proof of Delivery (ePOD) - This application utilizes RFID data from the retailers' distribution centers and stores to provide electronic proof of delivery that orders have arrived as expected and exposes situations in which orders did not arrive. With immediate insight into the actual status of an order arrival, teams can take actions to minimize the impact of late orders or missed deliveries. In addition, ePOD can provide evidence that orders have arrived as expected and can be invoiced accordingly.
- Invoice Reconciliation - By leveraging RFID scans at the distribution center and store, this application immediately identifies mismatches between item, price, or quantity invoiced by supplier with payment received from retailer. Early notification of short payments gives teams more opportunity to gather evidence and more options to capture lost revenue.
As RFID adoption continues to grow, i2 enables supplier organizations to take full advantage of this highly valuable real-time data source - today. Each i2 application is designed to accept RFID data directly from the appropriate supply chain management application or RFID middleware, depending on our customers' unique business requirements and specific RFID deployment strategies.
Want to learn more? Contact Us, call +1-800-800-3288, or contact your nearest i2 sales office.
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