design:retail - October 2017 - 10

globalshop talk

010

RFID Takes
Flight

DOUG HOPE
FOUNDER AND SHOW DIRECTOR, GLOBALSHOP

doug.hope@emeraldexpo.com
@globalshopshow

F YOU WANT to experience a probable
future retail reality, don't go to a store. Fly
Delta Air Lines. Yes, seriously, Delta Air
Lines. They've done something that no
retailer has done yet. Let me explain. At
the Atlanta airport, gates T1-T3, the service counters are gone. In their place is a radically
slimmed-down mobile pod that wheels from gate
to gate as needed. Newly unleashed service agents
use a device called the Nomad, which can provide
complete service to passengers as agents mingle
among the crowd.
Boarding pillars segment passengers into separate lines, depending on loyalty level. As each group
is called, passengers approach the new E-Gate, as it
is called, using their phones to self-board (again, no
agent). The E-Gate is a preliminary innovation for
self-boarding; biometric boarding is coming later
this year. These various technologies are being introduced to reduce friction at the critical point of
boarding flights, helping to focus agents on passengers with needs rather than tasks for which they
are no longer needed-mirroring what a cashierfree retail world would look like.
What no retailer has done, and Delta has, relates
to their new RFID baggage tracking introduced last

GlobalShop 2018
March 27-29
Sponsored by Shop!
In cooperation with IIDA

Chicago | McCormick Place
globalshop.org
CONTACT US:
1145 Sanctuary Pkwy., Ste. 355
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OCTOBER 2017

DESIGNRETAILONLINE.COM

year. When Delta put RFID tags onto every piece of
luggage (via self-adhesive luggage tags they were
already using), they created not only a far more effective system to track baggage, but also introduced
a passenger-facing feature via the Delta app, automatically notifying passengers when their baggage
loads onto the aircraft, and when it arrives on the
baggage carousel. This innovation has delighted
Delta passengers, and created a far more efficient
system that, according to a (relatively lonely)
Delta Baggage Claim office staffer we interviewed,
"changed everything" for the better.

SHOW STAFF:
→ Founder and Show Director Doug
Hope (770) 291-5453 doug.hope@
emeraldexpo.com → Associate Show
Director Heather Kuznetz
(770) 291-5512 heather.kuznetz@
emeraldexpo.com → Senior Account
Executive Kerry Tyler (770) 291-5432
kerry.tyler@emeraldexpo.com →
Account Executive Donna McKerrow
(770) 291-5506 donna.mckerrow@
emeraldexpo.com

GLOBALSHOP.ORG

So far, we know of no retailer that has pointed RFID
technology to the shopper ("magic mirrors" in the
dressing room don't count) through their mobile devices. Retail supply chain, logistics, inventory control
and security types have been using RFID to improve
those areas of the business. But leveraging RFID-and
empowering shoppers to use it-doesn't exist in retail,
despite the fact that more than 40 percent of the apparel companies now tag their merchandise, along
with significant innovations in RFID readers that
are capable of real-time 100 percent accuracy, not to
mention rock-bottom pricing on tags.
Imagine a revenue-boosted RFID retail world
that allows shoppers to find (and even purchase)
any item in the store, even if the item is in the back
room. Or the ability to reach shoppers via their devices with real-time, relevant information about
items they've expressed interest in, just as PC and
mobile users are retargeted with reminders of
items they have browsed online.
Right now, it's just a hopeful fantasy, waiting to
take flight.

→ Marketing Director Vanessa Ruiz
(770) 291-5502 vanessa.ruiz@emerald
expo.com → Conference Manager Toni
Ward (770) 291-5441 antoinette.ward@
emerald expo.com → Senior Operations
Manager Derrick Nelloms (770) 291-5452
derrick.nelloms@emeraldexpo.com →
Executive Vice President Joe Randall
joe.randall@emeraldexpo.com

EMERALD EXPOSITIONS:
→ CEO and President David Loechner
→ CFO and Treasurer Philip Evans →
Chief Information Officer Bill Charles →
Senior Vice President, General Counsel
and Secretary David Gosling → Senior
Vice President, Operations Lori Jenks
→ Senior Vice President, Digital Teresa
Reilly → Senior Vice President,
Marketing Operations Joanne Wheatley
→ Vice President, Human Resources
Eileen Deady → Vice President,
Corporate Operations Denise Bashem

http://www.globalshop.org http://www.globalshop.org http://www.DESIGNRETAILONLINE.COM http://www.GLOBALSHOP.ORG

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