Dutch Bookseller Creates Item-Level RFID System

Can trace books from warehouse to store shelves

By Marc L. Songini

May 8, 2006 12:00 PM ET

Computerworld - Dutch book retailer Boekhandels Groep Nederland BV (BGN) late last month launched an item-based radio frequency identification (RFID) tag system at a new store in Almere, Netherlands.

Eventually, BGN will deploy the system throughout its 42 stores, which collectively carry about 2.2 million books on their shelves. Some 38,400 books have been tagged at the new store, and the company plans to expand the program next to a retail store set to open this October in the Dutch city of Maastricht.

Jan Vink, IT director at Utrecht, Netherlands-based BGN, said that the RFID system is budgeted at $650,000 and that each of the passive tags being affixed to books will cost about 12 cents.

The software used for the project's transaction processing, data processing and integration requirements was licensed from Progress Software Corp. in Bedford, Mass.

The system will track a book's shipment status from the warehouse until it arrives at the store. Vink said the expected benefits include cutting the time it takes to fulfill orders and making it easier to locate books on store shelves.

100% Reliability

BGN has been planning the system since 2003, and work on the project began about two months ago. The company had waited until the latest generation of RFID technology was developed and could guarantee 100% reliability for tracking processes, Vink said.

BGN has long used bar-code technology to track books. But with the bar-code system, it takes store workers five to seven minutes to scan all the items in a box of 50 books. Using the RFID technology, each box can be scanned in five seconds, Vink said.

The new system also cuts the delivery time for out-of-stock books in half, to two days.

Brian Hume, an analyst at Martec International Inc. in Atlanta, said the item-based RFID system can make every part of a retail book business more efficient. For example, he said, the system can reduce lost sales in stores due to book misplacement or theft and help finance department personnel in invoicing tasks.

"The smart thing this company has done is to examine all their supply chain and in-store processes and use the technology to optimize them," Hume said.

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