Displays

OATSystems Releases Promotional Display Execution Solution

OATSystems (www.oatsystems.com) announced at RFID World 2007 its Real-Time Promotion Execution Solution (RPE), which dramatically boosts the results of in-store promotions by monitoring when promotional displays reach stores and sales floors.

In-store product promotions are manufactured displays that feature promoted products, and are typically shipped directly to retailers' stores from the manufacturer. However, operational challenges prevent these displays from reaching the sales floor at the beginning of the promotional period. Industry statistics show that between 15-40% of stores fail to move displays to the sales floor on time.

OAT's RFID Mobile Tag solution allows manufacturers to apply tags to promotional displays, which are then read by in-store RFID readers to record when they reach the backroom of the store and again when the displays reach the sales floor. When a display's tag is read, data is sent to consumer product goods firms and retailers showing whether the display has reached the sales floor on time, ensuring promoted products are where customers expect them to be.

Also announced at RFID World 2007, Kimberly-Clark Corporation has begun using the new RFID application as part of a pilot program with one of its retail customers. Kimberly-Clark has also signed an enterprise license agreement to purchase the OATSystems' OAT Foundation Suite – a complete RFID solution from encoding tags, managing tag readers and gathering and analyzing electronic product code data. This system is expected to increase efficiencies within Kimberly-Clark's entire global supply chain and specifically to improve promotion management, goods movement within distribution center, proof of delivery, and shipment reconciliations.

Kimberly-Clark will be using the ADASA Mobile Tagging Station, which includes the PAD3500 mobile encoder that can be worn on a belt, and commissions thousands of Gen 2 electronic product tags per hour, a laptop running OAT software, and a Symbol RFID and barcode handheld device. The OAT Mobile Tag solution includes software to manage the electronic product code number allocation and the business process including coding, applying, verifying tags and shipment, and exchanging data between remote facilities and corporate headquarters.

RFID Enabled Jewelry and Eyewear Displays by RSI

RSI ID Technologies (www.rsiidtech.com) announces the release of two specialty RFID enabled retail displays: The Pressiza Jewelry and Eyewear displays. These displays combine item-level RFID tracking and RFID based access cards to maximize loss prevention and provide retailers with unprecedented asset visibility, allowing them to account for every item on the sales floor in real time.

Employees can access the Pressiza Jewelry and Eyewear displays by using an RFID access card, which – based on the privileges set for each individual – either grants or denies access. When access is granted, the employee's ID number is stores in the database and all merchandise removed from the display is connected to the employee's ID number. Employees can then release liability by completing a sale or returning the items to the display and removing the ID card.

Custom software is configured to track the number of items shown by each employee, the frequency and duration of reach item's removal, and the number of sales generated. "The item-level RFID tags provide a wealth of information," says Wolf Bielas, co-founder and CEO of RSI. "This allows the retailer to not only protect against lost or stolen goods, but to be more responsive to customer needs, provide better customer service, and increase employee accountability and productivity."

To meet the size requirements of traditional jewelry and eyewear hang tags, RSI developed custom item-level tags that are both small and robust enough to account for high-risk, high-value items. Because traditional UHF readers cannot read the smaller item-level tags, RSI designed and integrated a custom near-field antenna for each display.