Cisco Stores Showcase RFID for the Future of Retail

The software company has deployed UHF RFID technology from Keonn to enhance the customer experience, gain inventory accuracy and prevent loss at its San Jose Tech Lab, as well as at its mobile stores that open worldwide on a temporary basis.

Hardware and software company  Cisco has deployed an RFID solution at its technology-rich  Cisco Store at its corporate headquarters, as well as in a traveling store that pops up wherever Cisco conferences take place. The system, consisting of an RFID-enabled robot and fixed RFID readers, is designed to collect accurate inventory data, detect when products leave the store and provide fitting rooms with intelligence to help customers access content regarding the products they try on.

The solution, provided by RFID company  Keonn, is now live at the company's Cisco Store in San Jose, Calif., as well as at the traveling stores. It enables automated inventory data capture in real time, and with that information, the retailer can ensure that products are available for shoppers whether they enter a physical store or shop online. The system is designed to enhance the customer experience in fitting rooms, through access to content about a garment and related products, as well as through analytics about merchandise that is tried on or purchased. Thus, the company can be sure the most popular products are available for customers.

The Cisco Score at Cisco Live Europe

Cisco stores sell its own Cisco-branded merchandise and apparel. The company's retail model is unique, in that it comes in two distinct formats: the traveling stores and the permanent headquarters-based location. Both are live retail sites where shoppers can purchase Cisco merchandise, and each format showcases technology from Cisco and its partners that allow customers to learn about and interact with the technology in a live environment.

The San Jose site was launched in 2018, when Cisco revamped a small, outdated retail space and reimagined the shopping experience by implementing technologies intended to enable the retail store of the future. The vision, according to Cisco, is to provide its employees with a store that has personality. The company wanted to be able to offer fun merchandise and a shopping experience, while also piloting new technologies.

Cisco Store also manages a temporary traveling store that pops up at the Cisco Live US and Cisco Live Europe conferences. To date, the pop-ups have been featured twice, according to Brian Domine, Cisco Store's tech expert—once in Barcelona, Spain, and again in San Diego, Calif. At the San Jose store, all merchandise is tagged as it is received. A Keonn AdvanPrinter prints passive EPC UHF RFID tags, which can be adhered directly to an item or be attached to a hangtag. The unique ID number encoded on each tag is linked to its corresponding product's description or stock-keeping unit, and is stored in the AdvanCloud software.

At the traveling stores, tags are applied to goods before they reach their temporary site. An RFID-reading AdvanMat serves as an electronic article surveillance system at the doorway for each temporary installation, Domine says, which can be adjusted according to the site specifications at each travel show location. As individuals carry tagged items out the door, they pass over the mat, which reads the tag ID numbers and can prompt an audible alert, as well as transmit the details of what has been removed, based on the tag IDs, to the inventory-management software. In that way, the company can restock all items being removed.

The firm uses an AdvanShelf reader in the back of the San Jose store to monitor inventory in its stock room, Domine explains, "so we know what is available but not out on the floor." In the store front, the company has installed an AdvanSafe overhead RFID reader, which captures tag IDs in real-time near the store's entrance to prevent theft and update inventory levels if an item is stolen. The company also employs Keonn's RFID reading Robot, known as Robin. The robot can be deployed to move around the store space, or throughout a low-ceiling warehouse, to read the tags attached to all items, thereby capturing a full inventory count without requiring staff members to walk through the space carrying a handheld reader.

The robot operates autonomously, says Craig Schlecht, Keonn's VP of sales for North America. "The user indicates when inventories should be taken," he explains, "and the robot starts when it is scheduled." Once the full count is completed, he adds, the robot goes back to its docking station to recharge. "Robin also reads each tagged item in two dimensions, x and y," Schlecht says. "This information can be processed to generate a planogram of the items inside a space."

The inventory data generated by Robin's counts can help employees detect misplaced items, as well as accelerate picking and return management, by identifying exactly where within the store each item's tag was interrogated. The robot's speed is synchronized with tag reads in order to maximize the read rate, Schlecht explains. The robot comes with eight RFID reading antennas, four on each side, to achieve high read rates and location accuracy, as well as Keonn's AdvanReader 160 RFID reader.

The first time Robin is operated within a new space, an employee moves the device across the area using Keonn's interface app. During this first step, the reader does not operate. The navigation process allows Robin to create a map of the space. This mapping process only needs to be performed again if the space's layout changes significantly. The user schedules when the robot should perform inventory counts. At the Cisco store space, which is relatively small, the device can accomplish a full inventory count within just a few minutes.

In the fitting rooms, AdvanFitting-300 readers are in use—one at the San Jose site and two for the traveling stores. Individuals first select the garments they wish to try on, then bring those items into the fitting room. The reader, installed behind the mirror, captures tag IDs to detect each apparel item brought into the fitting room. A customer can use the mirror's touchscreen to view information about each product (provided by Keonn's AdvanLook system), see which accessories or garments would accompany it well, and select a prompt to request another size or other items to try on.

Sales associates receive alerts indicating what is needed in the fitting rooms via Keonn's app. All interaction events between shoppers and the AdvanLook/AdvanFitting system are recorded and stored in AdvanCloud, and that data can be exported or queried in order to generate reports. The AdvanLook user interface can be customized for each retailer by using HTML5 and JavaScript, Schlecht reports. "New content [such as] images, videos, product descriptions, cross-selling rules, etc., are easily uploaded to AdvanCloud," he states.

AdvanCloud automatically downloads the content to all AdvanLook/AdvanFitting units installed at the stores. Content import and data export can be executed remotely via a Web services application programming interface that can be integrated with other systems. In addition, AdvanCloud controls and manages the tablets that store personnel use to receive requests from shoppers and answer these requests.

The cloud-based AdvanCloud platform remotely manages everything from printing and encoding to fitting rooms, loss prevention and inventory data, Schlecht says. It can also accommodate point-of-sale systems, handheld readers and pedestals, though Cisco is not currently employing those features. The company considers its merchandise stores an opportunity to experiment with the retail environment of the future, Domine says, as it features a variety of technologies, including RFID. In the future, Cisco hopes to have tags applied to merchandise by suppliers before they arrive at the store.