Indigo Living

"Every minute counts in retail. Without standards enabled technology - RFID, we will lose our competitiveness on quick response.  With the implementation on item level tagging, it vastly increases our inventory visibility and response capability, our time to response has improved over 50%."

-- Mr. Alan Tse, Head of Operations

Challenges

Retail business has always been at the forefront of early adopter of technology to reshape consumer experiences and business process. One example is the use of RFID technology, which penetrates virtually every aspect of retail operations.

To prepare for the new season of furniture catalogue called the Lookbook, Indigo Living was faced with a colossal task at hand – in transporting hundreds of items from the warehouse to 4 different shooting locations for a one-week photography session. The furniture pieces range from a 3-seater sofa to a tissue box, and some with detachable components that need to be detached and pieced together between the moves.

Having awared of the magnitude and difficulties of the task, Indigo Living sought help from GS1 Hong Kong’s Supply Chain Management Professional Services (SCMPS) Team for advice and solutions on how to move the furniture efficiently within a critical time frame.

GS1 standards used or solution(s) / service(s) applied

• Smart Professional Services

Solutions

After careful assessment, SCMPS team advised the company to leverage RFID tagging system and helped develop a temporary Warehouse Management System (WMS) to facilitate the demanding transport exercise. By attaching hundreds of items with RFID tags, Indigo Living staff can easily identify and record in real time all the inventories that were moved out of the warehouse, and still keep track of the whereabouts of each and every piece of item at the 4 shooting locations. 

The RFID implementation and the customized WMS had significantly reduced the company’s manpower on such project, whilst improving the inventory visibility and accuracy with automatic wide-area scanning in operation. 

Indigo Living will continue the application in the next season of Lookbook shooting session. In light of the rapid growth of omni-channel retailing and diversification of product portfolio, the company is also considering to extend the RFID system application to the entire supply chain, from goods receiving to goods dispatching, so that they can optimise their inventory level and offer even better service to their customers.

Benefits

The power and versatility of RFID tagging system coupled with WMS supported the company remarkably in the following aspects:

1. Saved up to 70% of time, compared with manual record, for item check-in & out of warehouse and various locations;
2. Increased 80% of inventory accuracy compared with manual tracking;
3. With WMS, staff can better forecast and manage inventory, improving item availability for use in store, showroom or clients who lease the items. 

About the Company

Indigo Living began in 1979, as a fashionable upscale retailer of furniture and home accessories as well as baby and child products in the Hong Kong, China and the UAE markets and beyond. They also provide furniture leasing packages for their corporate expatriate clients as well as individual clients looking for short or long term rental options.