How stichd built a fully transparent supply chain with RFID

July 7 • 4 min read

Case study

stichd deploys RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) and enables unrivaled levels of stock visibility. The RFID adoption enables higher availability of socks, body- and underwear from brands like Levi’s, PUMA, and Tommy Hilfiger, leading to increased profitability.

"At stichd, we always strive to exceed customer expectations. Offering fan merchandise raises the bar because end-users - in this case, die-hard Man City fans - will not settle for less than one hundred percent availability of their favorite items - and rightfully so. It means that stock accuracy is of the utmost importance." says Sander Bakkers, Project Manager at stichd.

Ilse Protsman

Marketing Manager Retail

Retail

Case study

Case

Customer challenge

stichd‘s service proposition includes never–out-of-stock products, value-added services, vendor-managed inventory, electronic data interchange,and marketing services. In this context, a lack of product visibility could quickly lead to out-of-stock situations and, thus, lost sales.

“With Nedap, our partners can do more than meet the needs of an increasingly demanding consumer. With growing stock visibility, we can better match our product availability to consumer demand and, by doing so, grow our sales.”

Sander Bakkers

Project Manager

Our solution

To further improve the company’s services and products, stichd’s Sander Bakkers actively searched for recent technologies to implement. The supply chain application within Nedap’s iD Cloud platform has proven to be very instrumental in achieving the goal of improving stichd’s overall logistical performance and its client experience.

Why stichd chose Nedap as their RFID partner

Bakkers was already a true believer in RFID and its relevance for the fashion and sports retail industry. He did a lot of research and worked out several business cases. In Nedap, he found the perfect partner with years of experience in the field of RFID. The iD Cloud RFID platform fits into the processes. Since it is cloud-based, it is easy to transfer data from the operation in the Dutch stichd-DC to stockrooms and shops. Connecting these two sides of the spectrum increases the service level across the board. Operating the Manchester City fan shops offered an excellent opportunity to put all ideas and possibilities into practice and unlock their value for both the operation and the customer.

“The iD Cloud Supply Chain app provides us with many insights that help us improve our overall logistical processes. At this company, we are all constantly striving for improvement. Ultimately, everyone understands the importance of change and feels committed to it.”

Sander Bakkers

Project Manager

Use cases

Shipment verification

The Shipment Verification aims to automatically check outgoing shipments so that every unit shipped is perfectly correct. Making sure that sales channels are supplied accurately can boost customer loyalty. Furthermore, brands can prevent chargebacks from wholesale clients claiming incorrect deliveries.

Order verification

The Outbound (Packing Verification) process verifies the content of packed shipments, right after the picking process to enhance outgoing shipment accuracy. In the warehouse, there are multiple workstations equipped with RFID readers where boxes can be scanned seamlessly. This results in a 100% accurate and super-fast registration and verification of items leaving the warehouse, no matter the channel.

DC Connector

With RFID, hundreds of products per second can be read without seeing them. iD Cloud Supply Chain is a fully customizable application suite within the iD Cloud RFID platform. It enables the easy integration of RFID read points and RFID functionality into logistics processes. It can seamlessly connect with existing WMS and ERP systems.

The results

iD Cloud Supply Chain ensures that an order is always 100% correct. Ultimately, “we now have a 100% flawless and super-fast identification of items leaving our warehouse”, Bakkers says. This way, everyone worldwide gets the desired products, at the right place, at the right time with the right quality.

One of stichd’s partners that significantly benefitted from implementing the RFID platform is the official Manchester City Store, which stichd is operating since 2021. The team at the Manchester City Store knows exactly what to expect in terms of delivery at any given moment. Perfect stock accuracy means that they can raise their service level considerably.

Inventory Engine