The hottest smart label American retailers have a

Smart tags: there is a magic weapon for American retailers to break the cashier bottleneck

imagine this scenario: you just put your purchases in the shopping cart, push them to the door, swipe your credit card, and you can leave on the road; Or a clerk with a hand-held scanner will give you the shopping list while you are waiting. Now many retail stores are experimenting with various new technologies, trying to change the situation of queuing in front of the cashier in the 21st century. In this century, online shopping provided by Internet rivals does not need to queue up to pay or even refund, so retailers are facing unprecedented pressure. They must eliminate this bottleneck and obtain valuable sales space. Many retailers also realize that customers' aversion to long queues and inefficient cashiers can pose a threat to their business. Research shows that 83% of women and 91% of men said they would stop shopping at a market because of the long queue. Wal Mart Stores Inc. has tried a variety of new technologies for this purpose. Kevin Turner, CIO of the company, said that an IBM advertisement about the future of e-commerce more or less reflects his dream: a person fills his coat with goods and walks straight out of the store. It looks like he's stealing, but in fact, a small monitor has scanned his items, made a receipt and made a remittance from his credit card. At the end, a security guard chased out of the gate and handed him the receipt. IBM predicts that it will take five years to realize such a scenario. Turner believes that "technology already exists, but it is too expensive at present." At present, the best thing to do in the rapid cash register is the "smart packaging" technology. The labels on all products can send out radio or electromagnetic signals, he added. The computer identification signals at the exit make a list after recording the price. The principle of this label is similar to that of bar code, but it contains more information and can be sent to a longer distance. The name of the experimental phase is "EPC". Procter & gambleco. of the United States and other consumer goods production companies are cooperating as smart label design standards. The new auto ID center of Massachusetts Institute of technology is in charge of this work. For consumer product manufacturers, smart tags attract them not only to speed up the cash register, but also to firmly grasp the production and inventory through the information from the tags and collect more detailed sales records. The label can also be used as a security device to prevent theft and counterfeiting. With this smart tag, there is also a smart shelf. This kind of shelf can be identified and transmitted to the store manager and manufacturer through the Internet. When the inventory is insufficient, they will be notified. The manufacturer can produce and replenish the inventory without the store manager counting the inventory. At present, this kind of label costs 2-3 cents each. If manufacturers want to participate, they must relax the technical points and utilization of the experimental machine. It is necessary to reduce the price to less than one cent, which may be achieved in three years. Before the unified standards were formulated, companies engaged in consumer products were developing a transitional monitor that could identify various labels. At the same time, optimalrobotics Corp. said it had installed more than 350 of its own cashier systems in supermarkets and chain stores in the United States. Customers push the shopping cart to a machine like an ATM machine, scan the purchased items by themselves, and then pack them by themselves. The machine calculates the price, takes money from the credit card and spits out the receipt. After a branch of Wal Mart chain company uses this system, one cashier can look after four machines, which reduces labor costs and alleviates the problem of labor shortage in the company. Wal Mart chain has also taken other steps to save time in front of the cash register minute by minute. Mr. Turner said, "what we have done is only superficial improvement. The key is to promote accelerated progress in the field of technology." (Dow Jones, USA)