Are Big Brother systems the way forward for fashion retail?
05-05-2005
Are you a ‘serial returner’? Do you buy something, use it or wear it once and then take it back to the shop? Clothing retailers, claim to be losing £8.5billion a year thanks to this group of ‘serial returners’. However, Technology developers in the US have created software to target returners. The cleverly named Return Exchange Verify tracks customers buying and returning habits and works in such a way, when a customer returns an item, the sales assistant asks for personal identification from the buyer and puts it through the Return Exchange’s database.
The database will hold details of all shoppers purchasing habits and shops can use your track buying and returning information to search your file for any ‘unusual purchasing habits.’ The system will deem if you are someone who returns too many products and your return will be declined. Shops will simply hand you a receipt containing a freephone number to call for more information, rather than giving you your money back.
The system will work as returns on non-faulty goods are not a legal right and retailers are not obliged to change it, rather an after-sales service many shops offer.
However, many people believe it will bring an element of discrimination, as to which returns, should be accepted. If a consumer did form a pattern of impulsive shopping, it should not prevent them from returning a faulty item. A consumer who did have a pattern of impulsive shopping and wishes to return goods which are in fine condition, have to realise the shop is perfectly within its rights to refuse the return.
Stores are also currently testing tiny ID tags that can transmit details of what you buy, where and how, know as RFID radio frequency identification. There is nothing particular new about RFID as it has been used for decades by fighter pilots to identify which aircraft are friend. This method of ID are now being used in tags that are similar to barcode labels and carry out much the same function of identifying products. Where as barcodes simply tell you what the item are e.g black trousers; RFID tags have a unique number which tells you exactly which black trousers.
Barcodes are read by a laser beam, whereas RFID tags contain tiny antenna loops that communicate by radio waves when contacted by an RFID reader.
A RFID tag used in retail, will not contain personal data, but will contain a unique identification number of the product bought. The tag will communicate back to the store’s database and you and the product bought can be linked and used to build up a detailed picture of you and your buying habits.
This technology is already transforming the supply chain. Manufacturers can attach tags to goods, which explain what exactly it is. These products are then monitored via distribution centres to the store, where each product is read and instantly confirms receipt of the goods, whilst updating records and ensuring nothing has been lost or stolen to the store. Currently the tags are too expensive at around 15-20p, but if the price is to fall and reach 3p or less, individual tagging will be possible. Tesco is set to introduce the RFID system back-of-store into 1,400 stores and 30 distribution centres by the end of the year.
The aim for the future is also to use RFID, linked with your ID and credit card details to do away with pay points, with tags and readers excepted to be advanced in the future, so that all your items will be recognised and debited from your card as you leave the store.
The EU Data Protection Working Party recently issued a paper saying that safeguards must be put in place before the technology is fully embraced. The Verify-system will also have implications on data protection and privacy, but whether the Data Protection Act and privacy laws in this country will allow such a personal system is yet to be seen.
However, if a future supermarket with high powered readers can know all about you in real time, the question is; is it useful for shoppers or yet another invasion into ones privacy?
