In a retail environment rife with theft, labor shortages, supply chain issues, and more, source tagging can significantly impact a company’s bottom line. Source tagging not only allows merchandise to arrive secured and shelf-ready, but it also actively reduces shrink from the point of manufacturing to and throughout the store. Tagging at the source provides significant labor savings and enables open merchandising for maximum product availability, increased revenue, and improved customer experience.
“Source tagging has numerous benefits,” said Sensormatic Solutions Vice President of Global Business Development Manish Prasad. “Source tagging is a process that applies EAS and RFID tags or labels to merchandise at the point of manufacture or packaging. The primary benefits are realized in merchandising, operations, and loss prevention. Source tagging is the most beneficial thing a retailer can do. It’s not very often that you can get streamlined operations, reduced costs, and increased sales with one solution.”
Sensormatic has a comprehensive portfolio of source tagging solutions that help secure even the hardest-to-protect merchandise and seamlessly integrate into existing supplier and retailer operations. From fragrance to wine and spirits, high-end luxury apparel, health, beauty, and DIY, Sensormatic’s source tagging solutions ensure omnichannel availability while maintaining the integrity of the product, brand, and packaging design.
Source tagging is also more customer-friendly than other security solutions, as others can make it difficult for a customer to access a product.
“It’s all about the customer experience,” Prasad said. “With source tagging, every effort is made to ensure a positive shopping experience for consumers. We want the customers to feel valued and can freely engage with the product/solution. With source tagging, retailers can minimize locking up products and boost on-shelf availability. The customer gets to touch and feel the product, and important product information is available to read.”
Sensormatic utilizes a variety of innovative technologies such as acousto-magnetic (AM), radio frequency (RF), and radio frequency identification (RFID) in an array of sensor formats, including adhesive labels, embedded, sew-in and microwavable options, recirculating hard tags, and custom value-added reseller (VAR) options. These technologies prevent products from leaving the store unpaid, ensure inventory availability, traceability, and brand protection, and determine where gaps in the supply chain might be causing loss.
“RFID is essential for the omnichannel supply chain,” Prasad said. “With source tagging, I can pinpoint inefficiencies from the point of manufacture to shipping and distribution centers until the customer leaves the store. RFID Source Tagging provides significant data points and visibility, creating a strong ROI including cost savings, operational efficiencies, and revenue improvement.”
Additionally, source tagging plays a significant role in preventing in-store theft. “When a product is tagged, it alerts associates when someone walks out of the store with an item they didn’t pay for,” Prasad added. “Retailers can ensure merchandise is protected from theft from manufacturing to point of sale. There’s no question if an item left the store—thanks to RFID, retailers can know what enters and exits the store with detailed information.”
And since the products will arrive at the store already tagged, source tagging doesn’t become another task for already stretched-thin store associates.
“Efficient use of labor is crucial for business, and in today’s competitive marketplace, source tagging provides great relief for retailers,” Prasad said. “Point of manufacture source tagging is the most efficient way to tag—it’s the best use of labor and process and related algorithms. We have a global supply chain; in most cases, source tagging can be done in comparatively low-cost countries, enabling store associates to spend time engaging with customers. It should be mentioned that Sensormatic labels and tags applied at the source are applied with certified and consistent placement, ensuring maximum effectiveness and proper deactivation at POS.
Implementing source tagging can feel intimidating, but with over 50 years of experience designing innovative electronic article surveillance (EAS) solutions for the retail industry, Sensormatic is a trusted partner that you can rely on. Sensormatic source tagging programs have effectively protected over 70 billion items—and billions of dollars—over the past decade.
“There’s so much happening in any store that a new program can be daunting,” Prasad explained. “Retailers need to find a partner who specializes in source tagging. And what makes a good partner? A team of global source tagging experts who have source tagged billions of items and managed intricate programs that can support the global supply chain. Additionally, we need a partner with omnichannel expertise to provide bespoke solutions and value-added products. But by doing all that, you’re still not done—you need additional supplier support for proper certification of how a product should be tagged and how that changes if the packaging changes. You want someone who understands the whole ecosystem and has 24/7 support. We at Sensormatic get very excited about these areas and take pride in offering to its customers worldwide.”
Ready to optimize labor, protect merchandise, and mitigate shrinkage with source tagging? Start a conversation with Sensormatic today at https://www.sensormatic.com/contact.
