It’s not what you tag – it’s how you tag it.

Keep that mantra in mind for the future.

Today, Source Tagging is a useful strategy that helps retailers reduce shrink, drive sales, and improve the customer experience. But as technology advances and consumer preferences shift — and as retail crime grows — keeping your Source Tagging program current will be critical for sustained success.

So what might Source Tagging offer retailers in the future? Read on for the top trends, tactics, and technologies you may want to keep an eye on as you prepare for the retail landscape of tomorrow.

Each type of merchandise tag and label offers its own distinct benefits — so when looking ahead, the question becomes: Which tag technologies are best for your future?

As it stands today, the contenders are:

• AM: Longer detection range, with better electrical noise immunity for loss prevention.
• RF: Shorter detection range, but often more cost effective and with a varied selection of tag types.
• RFID: Carries item-level data through UHF frequencies and is ideal for gaining insights across many enterprise-wide use cases.

On top of these distinct properties, each frequency caters to a slightly different end goal. Source Tagging merchandise with AM tags and labels would be best at reducing in-store theft, for instance. On the other hand, tagging those same products with cloud-connected RFID technology would yield item-level data to optimize inventory management along with loss prevention.

Retailers will obviously want to capitalize on the loss prevention and inventory management benefits of each — but they don’t have to choose one or the other. In fact, that’s precisely the promise brought on by dual-technology tagging. Dual-technology tags exist today, but while the best-of-both-world benefits seem like a no-brainer, the reality of implementation has slowed growth among many retailers.

Sensormatic Solutions has already started solving this problem for retailers. We pioneered dual-technology tags and have made them a part of retailer Source Tagging programs for decades. We’re working to bring this win-win option to even more tags for the future — so stay tuned.

Sustainable Source Tagging practices are good for the planet, but they’re also good for retailers. Many consumers weigh sustainability heavily when choosing where to spend their hard-earned cash, particularly among today’s major shopping cohorts. Gen Z and millennials, for instance, are already 15% more likely than older generations to spend money on sustainable brands versus less-sustainable competitors.

In other words, if your Source Tagging program isn’t already leveraging sustainable solutions, now may be the time to start.

Sensormatic Solutions has already worked to reduce the amount of plastic used in our tags and labels to help retailers achieve their sustainability goals, and we’re just getting started. More sustainable solutions are on the horizon as we work toward new breakthroughs in tag materials and environmental impact.

As merchandise tags become more sustainable, pairing them with a recycling program could enhance benefits further. Sensormatic Solutions’ VST-Recirculation Program already provides retailers with an easy and cost-effective way to receive and reuse tags. Retailers are reimbursed for shipping back deactivated tags to one of our Recirculation Centers. There, our teams handle tag inspection, cleaning, and recertification before reintroducing them back into the supply chain.

Most retailers today likely turned to Source Tagging as a means to improve their loss prevention and inventory management efforts, but those aren’t the only aspects of retail where it can make a measurable difference. The customer experience, already a major concern for retailers, will only continue to grow in importance — and Source Tagging’s ability to improve that experience will grow right alongside it.

Today, tagging products at the source already takes tagging off the plate of store associates, freeing them to focus on higher-value areas like selling and customer assistance. Plus, through better inventory management, customers can more reliably count on products being in-stock. All this adds up to a better customer experience that can create more loyal and satisfied shoppers.

But what about the customer experience of tomorrow?

Embedded source tags — small enough to be sewn into a garment’s seams — would require no removal, resulting in faster check-out times for customers, while also enabling inventory management, loss prevention, and in-store experience use cases with a single tag.

Even better, as QR codes appear poised for a possible comeback, they could be put to use alongside dual-tech AM and RFID tagging. This combination already allows customers to scan products with their phones for product details, product care instructions, warranty information, and more.

But in the near future, embedded tags with QR codes could remain inseparable from products, providing consumers with material origins and lifecycle handling details for environmental disposal. That, coupled with the convenience they provide the retailer, could provide a significant boost to brands that prioritize adoption going forward.

No one knows what the future holds, but it’s the job of every retail leader to prepare nonetheless. Focusing your future-proofing efforts on dual-technology tagging, recirculation, and innovative tags will put you on solid footing for the future.

Through these strategic investments in technology and sustainability, retailers can not only mitigate losses and optimize operations but also gain a valuable competitive edge in an ever-evolving market. Connect with one of Sensormatic Solutions’ Source Tagging experts today to discover all the solutions we have available to bolster your operations.