Have you been thinking about which technology solutions can have the biggest ROI on your store’s operations? Are you doing research but not finding financial answers to key questions like expected ROI, payback, and adequate investment levels?

Come and explore an easy-to-use online estimator that can help you evaluate whether or not to invest in RFID (Radio-Frequency Identification) inventory solutions — the game-changing technology that helps you drive sales, reduce out-of-stocks and markdowns, and confidently deliver on your omnichannel customer commitments.

Experienced retail CFOs and operations leaders know they need precise answers before giving the green light on investing in RFID, and thanks to the Sensormatic Solutions RFID ROI Estimator, a tool now exists to help them do so efficiently.

With just a few clicks and some basic information about your stores, the online estimator will give you a detailed breakdown of the metrics that matter most to help you make a decision on whether or not RFID is worth it for your stores.

Here’s how it works.

RFID technology is successfully used across retail to bridge the physical and digital worlds. It brings unique item-level accuracy from source-to-store, where never-before-seen value is delivered to retail leaders, store associates, and shoppers.

Many successful retailers begin using RFID technology for cycle counting to improve inventory accuracy and reduce labor for a traditionally time-consuming and cumbersome task. With just two employees and a set of mobile RFID handheld readers, you’ll be able to count your store inventory quickly and more often to maintain highly accurate inventory levels. Plus, with the counting process now largely automated, you can do it all while saving on labor costs, to boot.

While all these benefits are possible with RFID, how will you know if implementing it will be beneficial for your stores? Let’s run through the RFID ROI Estimator to find out.

The estimator is divided into four sections and provides an extensive list of inputs you can tailor to reflect different store or organizational scenarios. But if you’re short on time, the good news is many of the fields have been prepopulated with industry averages, so you only need to fill in two fields to get a ballpark estimate of potential value and how RFID might impact your retail strategy.

As mentioned, the majority of fields have already been filled in with industry averages, so you’ll only need to enter the:

• Number of items to be sold per year with RFID tags
• Average unit retail (AUR) price for the items that would be tagged

That’s it!

Of course, you can enter values for every variable if you’re truly curious, but you can also just scroll past the following section on current performance, as that’s been prepopulated for your convenience. When you’re ready, click “Submit” to move on to the second step of calculations.

Here’s where the clear picture of value starts to develop: After completing the step above, the estimator will generate a series of fields that look like this:

Based on the inputs made in step one, adding RFID tags and labels to these products will result in:

• Improvement to store-SKU inventory accuracy
• Savings from markdown avoidance
• Labor hours saved annually by avoiding traditional cycle counting events

Taken together, these results, along with other fields, demonstrate the key performance improvements from investing in RFID technology solutions for managing your inventory.

Now it’s time to put these numbers into the context of your stores and their goals. The next step you’ll go through on the estimator’s designed to give you that opportunity, so click “Calculate Max Budget” when you’re ready to move on.

Here, you’ll determine the initial investment as well as the annual budget needed. Options for different time horizons and range of IRR are also available for even greater clarity.

Input your company’s minimal acceptable internal rate of return (IRR) or what is sometimes also referred to as a “hurdle rate,” along with the likely time horizon for your investment.

If you are uncertain what your current IRR is, the next few fields use industry averages. Check the box to see a range of budgets based on your chosen investment time horizon and associated IRR.

Keep these numbers in mind, as you’ll need them for the final section.

Here’s the moment you’ve been waiting for.

Take your maximum initial deployment and ongoing budget numbers from step three and enter them into the corresponding fields below:

Ready to see your results? Click “Calculate ROI,” and the estimator will produce a summary of results that looks like this:

Take a moment to review your own results and request a full report that can be sent straight to your inbox for an even deeper dive into the ROI of RFID. When everything’s been said and done, does it seem like you’d be coming out ahead? Come back, try different scenarios, and use the estimator to help your team determine how and when to invest in RFID for your stores.

Most retailers will find that there’s a lot to be gained by implementing RFID technology.

Activating each item in your inventory with a precise digital trail yields accurate real-time visibility and fast, automatic product counting. That means fewer out of stocks, markdowns, and labor hours needed across your stores and happier customers across the aisle.

Ready to learn more? Once you’ve run your own calculations through the RFID ROI Estimator, take the next step and schedule a demo with a Sensormatic Solutions specialist today to find the right RFID inventory solutions for your organization.