GS1 US, which serves more than 2 million businesses in 25 industries in the United States by facilitating industry initiatives and providing education and support, has unveiled a new guideline called the ‘Tagged Item Performance Protocol’ (TIPP) to help the retail sector consistently define, test, and verify the performance level of Electronic Product Code (EPC)-enabled Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags.
The TIPP guideline is developed by members of the GS1 US Item Level RFID workgroup, a focused collaboration within the GS1 US Apparel and General Merchandise Initiative. The workgroup supports best practices for optimizing inventory visibility through item-level RFID technology.
Developed by retailers, suppliers, and technology solution providers, TIPP offers a standardized system to benchmark the performance of RFID-tagged items in multiple environments. Implementing an RFID program with enhanced tagged-item performance enables retailers to maximize the benefits of RFID, including greater inventory accuracy, improved point-of-sale, decreased out-of-stocks, improved loss detection, enhanced stock conversion reporting, increased full price sales, and expedited returns, according to a press release.
TIPP comprises three components that provide an industry-scalable solution for defining tagged-item performance: tagged-item grade definitions, testing procedures and a product catalogue that defines the RFID tag orientation and layout of common retail items.
Melanie Nuce, vice president of apparel and general merchandise, GS1 US said, “TIPP allows retailers to set performance levels for a specific use case, and it also allows suppliers flexibility in how they meet grade levels from multiple retailers. TIPP will facilitate tremendous innovation and flexibility in future RFID expansions since tagged-item performance is now clearly defined and can now be verified independently by retailers, suppliers, or any third party.”
GS1 US is a not-for-profit information standards organization that facilitates industry collaboration to improve supply chain visibility and efficiency through the use of GS1 Standards.
General Merchandise Initiative is a retail industry group that is committed to defining business challenges and opportunities and organizing members to explore solutions and create adoption plans. (GK)
