The respected UK retailer M&S is successful with more than 1,500 stores and over 100 websites worldwide. Its 70,000 employees working in stores, support centers, warehouses and along the supply chain serve nearly 30 million customers annually.

Given these large numbers, M&S had long been looking for a solution to more accurately track inventory levels through the use of radio frequency identification (RFID), while reducing errors. The company also wanted to ensure cost-efficient operations. For this reason, M&S sought a provider that could integrate new RFID data and processes into their existing systems.

As a provider, RAS offers such technical solutions. Together with DENSO WAVE EUROPE and Chainlane, the requirements of M&S could be met. The project was so successful that RAS and M&S were honored with a Retail Knowledge Fraud Award in the category "The Most Innovative Physical Solution": https://www.retailassetsolutions.com/latest-news/ras-are-winners-of-the-most-innovative-physical-solution-at-the-fraud-awards-2020/. The awards recognize outstanding achievements by vendors and companies operating in the retail industry.

M&S tested the RAS "Hybrid RFID + Barcode" solution, which enables the display of a combined inventory record file and dashboard, thanks to Chainlane's software. Chainlane and DENSO have been collaborative partners since 2019, bringing the online experience to physical stores by combining DENSO's efficient RFID technology with RFKeeper's mobile and cloud-based applications.

Initially, five M&S test stores participated in the project. An inventory was taken using RFID and then the results were compared to a traditional barcode inventory. As the results showed an overwhelming increase in inventory accuracy, another trial was initiated in five other stores. This confirmed the success of the first pilot.

In the third phase, 70 stores participated and benefited from RFID technology and its advantages. During the project, the SP1 RFID reader from DENSO in combination with the BHT-1800which resulted in a significant improvement in inventory accuracy compared to traditional barcode inventory. DENSO's innovative RFID scanner can read up to 700 tags per second. It also masters distances of up to 13 meters. With the highest reading performance in the industry, M&S employees were able to benefit significantly. The mobile touchscreen computer BHT-1800 is equipped with DENSO's largest display to date: a 5'' screen that provides enough space for state-of-the-art scanning with Android applications. The mobile computer is ideal for M&S, as its advantages are most evident where large amounts of data need to be captured.

By combining the SP1 RFID reader and the BHT-1800 with Chainlane's RFID solutions and RAS inventory management system, more than 200 M&S stores have benefited from the new technology. This has allowed M&S to save resources, reduce external inventory costs and enable faster inventories. In addition, M&S has achieved its original goal of significantly increasing inventory accuracy.

Overall, M&S benefits from a more accurate and efficient system thanks to DENSO, Chainlane and RAS. Accuracy has been increased by nearly 100 percent, with costs less than half those of traditional inventory. With today's retail challenges, it is more important than ever for M&S to be competitive in the omnichannel retail market. With RFID, DENSO and its partners, M&S can meet the challenges with an optimized strategy - now and in the future.