Siman Group streamlines stock management with RFID

A leading Central American department store retailer using RFID technology to perform item-level inventory tracking.

Siman Group has been deploying item-level RFID solutions from SML, including Inspire RFID tags and Clarity enterprise software. Having initially sought a new inventory management approach as it continues expanding across the Central American market, the retailer began its RFID implementation with a pilot in its El Salvador department store, which helped identify its item-level inventory accuracy rate as 65%.

The retailer then rolled out the SML solution out across its chain of 15 department stores across El Salvador, Costa Rica, Guatemala, and Nicaragua. This has enabled Siman Group to transform how it tracks inventory across the chain, as well as support omnichannel customer offering such as buy-online-pick-up-in-store (BOPIS), and click & collect.

In addition, Siman is now able to perform weekly stock counts of over 250,000 items per store, instead of the previous counts that it conducted manually twice per year.

“The impact of the item-level RFID technology has been immediate. Across our stores we had an inflated view of our inventory levels, often leading to frustrations for customers and staff when products weren’t available,” said Alejandro Choussy, regional logistics manager at Siman. “These issues have been completely eradicated with SML’s expertise, and we now have inventory accuracy levels of 95% and still climbing, allowing for smoother operations not only in-store but throughout our supply chain.”

“We’re pleased to see the significant impact that item-level RFID has had across Siman Group’s business. RFID technology is tried and tested and has the power to completely revolutionize retailers’ approach to inventory management, as well as increase customer satisfaction immensely,” said Dean Frew, CTO and senior VP of RFID Solutions at SML Group. We’re looking forward to seeing what’s next for Siman Group as they achieve more with RFID.”

Siman owns and operates department stores and e-commerce sites in El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Guatemala under the 101-year-old Siman brand, and represents the Prisma Moda and Mac Cosmetics brands.

Lululemon optimizes product availability via RFID

Lululemon Athletica is also deploying a new RFID platform in hopes of obtaining real-time product information. The athleisure, accessories and footwear brand is rolling out the Nedap iD Cloud RFID solution in an effort to maximize the availability of products at its more than 600 global stores. Lululemon is utilizing Nedap RFID technology in an effort to provide real-time inventory data so that stores can have the right product assortment available on their floors.

This capability, in turn, will help support a seamless customer experience across brick-and-mortar and digital channels.