New research from the University of Arkansas' RFID Research Center shows that radio frequency identification technology has a potential role to play in theft deterrence in the apparel and footwear business.
The study sought to find how well RFID would act in an electronic article surveillance (EAS) capacity. Like regular EAS, which sets off an alarm as a tagged item passes through a door's sensors, RFID signaled when an item was leaving the store illegally. The RFID tagged items also provided additional information not available with EAS including the specific items and quantity removed.
"When something is stolen, the store gets a double hit. They know something is being stolen but, they don't know what it is," Bill Hardgrave, director of the RFID Research Center, told RFID Journal.
"Overall, we were pleased with what we saw, but the research is far from over," he added. "RFID did well against [traditional] EAS."
The University of Arkansas testing simulated typical shoplifting scenarios in stores and tracked items using a variety of technologies including RF and acousto-magnetic (AM) EAS technologies and EPC Gen 2 tags.
Researchers along with ADT and Checkpoint Systems tested EAS technology and RFID systems in "noncooperative environment" scenarios including using various techniques to shield tags such as holding them under the arm or placing them inside a hat or foil bag.
A combination of EAS and RFID appears to give retailers the best chance of putting a crimp in store shrink.
"I think we will see combinations of those technologies at least in the near term," said Dr. Hardgrave.
One area not tested was the susceptibility of RFID tags to be removed without being disabled.
Randy Dunn, director of RFID sales and marketing at ADT, said a solution that combines a RFID chip placed inside an EAS tag may make it difficult enough to discourage shoplifters from attempting to tamper with the combination technology.
Discussion Questions: Do you see a significant opportunity for RFID technology to help curtail shoplifting in retail stores? Do you think it likely that RFID will displace EAS by stores seeking to reduce shoplifting or will a combination of EAS and RFID become the preferred solution?