Case Study: Retail Giant In Latin America Finds A Perfect Fit With Motorola RFID

By Motorola

The Falabella Group is a retail giant in Latin America, operating department stores, home improvement stores and supermarkets in Chile, Peru, Argentina and Colombia. The 118-year-old corporation employs more than 59,000 people in 175 locations and aspires to become the region's largest, most successful retailer by combining quality and world-class management with a commitment to local communities.

When the second generation of RFID (the Gen 2 RFID Standard) demonstrated high reliability, Falabella was ready to begin planning their own pilot RFID deployment program. Their objectives were clearly defined and tightly aligned to their present business needs:

• Perform daily inventory cycle counts.
• Maintain over 98% RFID reading accuracy.
• Identify and measure the cost and benefits of RFID.

Falabella planned a four-month pilot program in one of its Santiago department stores, close to corporate headquarters. To ensure careful monitoring and control of the test program and to ensure project buy-in across distinct business operations, the retailer had committed to weekly RFID pilot project meetings between the technology integration group and business/store operations.

For the pilot, the retailer limited RFID tagging to two popular lines of men's apparel, including tailored garments, pants, shirts, sweaters and other higher value items. Some 7,000 items would be tagged and 2,500 on-hand items would be inventoried daily.