JC Penney has shelved its plans for a large-scale RFID implementation across store locations, according to an article on rfidjournal.com. As February marks the deadline set six months ago, the retailer now says it plans to cut back the RFID rollout to only a few merchandise categories.
Ron Johnson, JC Penney's CEO, daringly announced the company's RFID goals in July 2012, saying that every store would be equipped with the necessary hardware and software to read the RFID tags and that the company would use the data to improve supply chain and inventory visibility, the article reported. Going even further, Johnson said that the department store would begin using RFID for self-checkout, a move that he expected could save millions in operating costs and provide a new level of customer service.
But as the article reported, the recent RFID abandonment was a move to avoid the expense of the deployment.
"The company recently postponed the implementation of RFID as part of a cost-saving initiative," said Joey Thomas, J.C Penney's media relations manager, "but will continue to roll out tagging in bras, footwear, fashion jewelry, and men's and women's denim. We see the value and benefits of RFID, and will continue exploring the opportunity to further deploy the technology at a later date."
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