In the latest edition of Omni Talk’s Retail Fast Five, sponsored by the A&M Consumer and Retail Group, Avalara, Mirakl, Ownit AI, and Ocampo Capital Chris Walton and Anne Mezzenga discuss: Zara testing embeddable threads that emit radio frequencies to prevent theft.
For the full episode head here: https://youtu.be/UxDXVG9DOuQ
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Transcripts
Speaker A:
Retailers appear to be weighing whether to put radio emitting threads into their clothes to curb theft, according to Bloomberg.
Speaker A:
Zara owner Inditex, the world's biggest publicly held clothing retailer, is among those who have studied the change.
Speaker A:
The retail giant in Spain has reportedly talked with a small Spanish technology company, Myrons, and telecommunications operator Telefortica, about the possible application of a system based on an anti theft alarm.
Speaker A:
Product so thin it's imperceptible to the naked eye, according to people familiar with the matter who asked not to be named.
Speaker A:
Discussing private Information A lot of people discussing private information this weekend.
Speaker A:
Myron's product, which one of the people says is five times thinner than a human hair or about a thousandth of an inch, uses a conductive ink derived from cellulose to transmit signals.
Speaker A:
It can set off alarms if someone walks out of a shop with items whose woven in tags haven't been deactivated.
Speaker A:
The novel ink replaces aluminum, the main material used in most alarms.
Speaker A:
That would mean retailers wouldn't need to rely on the metal for alarms, making the devices potentially biodegradable and supporting the garment's recyclability.
Speaker A:
This is all in the name of sustainability and but Anne, my question for you.
Speaker A:
Are you buying or selling clothing made of radio admitting threads?
Speaker B:
I am investing in further research, Chris, so I guess that means I'm buying because but like, let me just caveat this.
Speaker B:
If we are ever going to get YouTube comments, I think talking about Amazon fertility trackers and putting radio frequency threats that are the size of hairs, right?
Speaker B:
This is going to be the week that we get blasted with YouTube comments.
Speaker B:
But here's the thing, randos.
Speaker B:
Yes, exactly.
Speaker B:
So I do think that this is one of those technologies that could save retailers a lot of money.
Speaker B:
They're going to have to invest heavily in it.
Speaker B:
But I think with what we were seeing with rfid, like there are still ways like some RFID tags are still being ripped out of products and there still is a massive return on an investment though, in some of this technology.
Speaker B:
I'm going to give you an example.
Speaker B:
So Lululemon, we know they have RFID in their product, right?
Speaker A:
Yep.
Speaker B:
I was just with my son.
Speaker B:
I got him a Lululemon shirt for his birthday.
Speaker B:
He decided he wanted to return it.
Speaker B:
We went through the whole rigmarole of things, but they knew exactly how much I paid for that shirt.
Speaker B:
I got it on sale.
Speaker B:
They knew exactly how much I paid for that shirt without a receipt.
Speaker B:
They knew this is the exact number of dollars and there are significant savings.
Speaker B:
You Know, you think about multiplying that times thousands and thousands and thousands of products that are going through the system and that are going through customers hands all the time.
Speaker B:
Like there is significant money that they are saving by knowing exactly how much I paid for that and only giving the customer like that much money back.
Speaker B:
So I do think that this is something that could be worth investing in that is a little bit more preventative than some of the RFID tagging out there.
Speaker B:
But it might be down the road.
Speaker B:
Like I'm willing.
Speaker A:
I'm, I don't, I don't agree with you.
Speaker A:
In fact, I think you just made my point for me.
Speaker A:
And honestly, in fairness, like I'm selling this hard.
Speaker A:
I'm selling this hard because your Lulu exem.
Speaker A:
Lululemon example was great.
Speaker A:
Like, I mean this.
Speaker A:
Why do you need this?
Speaker A:
I mean we, we had Troy Sewick of G Store on our Spotlight podcast on a few weeks ago talking about RFID and overhead readers basically approximating the same thing throughout a store.
Speaker A:
So like, I don't see what value this presents.
Speaker A:
And it gets really crazy with like radio emitting threads on people, you know, like full scale on people's bodies and all that kind of stuff.
Speaker A:
I think it's a good story for a Bloomberg reporter to get some clicks, but honestly, I like the offshoots.
Speaker A:
Plus there's so many more things you can do with the offshoots of the concept that RFID and overhead readers too, like they get into the operations of the business too.
Speaker A:
And it's so much farther along than this too.
Speaker A:
So, so I would be maybe tangentially looking at this at best as an idea.
Speaker A:
I don't, I don't, I don't like.
Speaker B:
But I think some of the RFID stuff selling it, the RFID stuff that you're talking about is enabled because of the hang tags on those garments.
Speaker B:
It's not all embedded in the garments themselves.
Speaker B:
So like, if you could have the capabilities of RFID within a garment that's made from the cellulose of plants.
Speaker B:
Like, I think there are some legs here that where, if you could just, if you could, this could be the replacement for RFID down the road.
Speaker B:
That eliminates some of the challenges that some retailers may have with RFID tagging or tags getting ripped off.
Speaker B:
I think, I think maybe, maybe.
Speaker A:
Yeah, we got to, we got to get a good friend, Marshall K.
Speaker A:
Back on the podcast talking about the value of RFID tags versus embedded threads.
Speaker A:
I think he'll have to solve this question for us.
Speaker A:
Hopefully he sees this podcast or listens this podcast and weighs in on that topic.
