Xterprise Brings Solution+Tag (S+T) Pricing Model to the Retail Item-Level RFID Market

Carrollton, TX (PRWEB) January 14, 2014

Xterprise (USA) L.L.C.^[1], a member of the SML Group and the RFID solutions arm of the company, announced today the bundling of its popular Clarity™ RFID Item-Level software^[2], RFID hardware, implementation and support services with SML’s extensive line of RFID-enabled tags. The company has begun offering what it calls Solution+Tag, or S+T, pricing to brand owners and retailers, a move that could greatly simplify the purchasing process for RFID solutions, while accelerating return on investment and giving customers flexibility in the way they account for RFID-related expenses.

Typically, companies must acquire separate proposals from tag manufacturers, software providers, and reader companies when implementing an RFID solution. The bidding process is often run serially and can drag out the process of deploying a solution - even for short term pilots - by months, slowing down speed to market while adding risks and costs to implementation. By combining solutions and tags into a single bundled offering, Xterprise/SML is able to make the deployment cycle faster and easier, from piloting and validation through full-scale rollouts. In addition to resulting in lower overall costs for implementation, S+T pricing gives retailers the choice of including solution-related expenditures as part of the cost of the tag (i.e., Cost of Goods Sold) rather than capital outlays. The S+T pricing model dramatically improves cash flow by aligning value realization from RFID solutions with the costs of the solution that creates the value, providing significant start-up cost reductions for RFID item-level supply chain and in-store deployments.

With bundled S+T pricing from Xterprise/SML, customers can purchase tags in bulk and lock-in guaranteed supply at a fixed price that includes Xterprise’s renowned Clarity™ item-level RFID software solution. Clarity™ is one of the most real-world proven, reliable, and feature-rich RFID item-level software suites in the world today.

“From our business case modeling^[3] with customers it is clear that tags represent 80%-95% of the total cost of adopting RFID technology over a 5 year period,” said Xterprise President Dean Frew. “Through its ViziT™ RFID program, SML offers EPC encoded RFID tags on a global basis that are meeting even the largest customer’s demands. By combining Xterprise’s Clarity™ solution with the SML ViziT™ RFID program we allow our customers to take advantage of the SML Group’s economies of scale and accelerate ROIs. S+T pricing allows customers to do that in the simplest, most cost-effective way possible.”

Philip Calderbank, SML Group’s VP of Global RFID, said, “Satisfying the demand for omnichannel supply and ensuring on-shelf product availability in a cost effective manner requires up to the minute ‘item level’ inventory management and control. The ViziT™ RFID program offers RFID tags that are programmed to carry item based data, and in combination with the Clarity™ solution we are able to gather the data from the tags and generate the item level product visibility reports that will drive improved logistics decision making. Through the S+T bundle we’re trying to make the decision to adopt RFID as easy as possible.”

Xterprise customer American Apparel has already started tagging every item in its stores, and the results have been strong enough that it touted RFID as a major reason for same-store sales improvement, reduced inventory costs and increased liquidity in its 2012 SEC annual filings.

According to Mr. Frew, “Brand owners and retailers want turn-key solutions that work and deliver rapid ROIs. The problem is that technology providers have made it more complicated for customers than it needs to be. One way to simplify things is by pulling together all the technology components a brand owner or retailer needs to implement RFID - tags, software, services and readers - and have them up and running quickly and without having to treat it as a major capital expense. That’s what the Solution+Tag (S+T) pricing model is all about.”

About Xterprise: Xterprise was founded in 2002 by Dean Frew and was acquired by SML Group in 2013. The company offers item-level RFID solutions with a focus on brand owners and specialty retailers. Built on top of the Clarity™ software platform, Xterprise applications have been deployed in big box retailers, specialty retailers and brand owners across 100’s of sites, utilizing 1,000’s of RFID readers and managing hundreds of millions of RFID mission critical inventory transactions every month. Xterprise features two main software products, Clarity Inventory™ and ARS™ (Advanced Retail System); both are item-level RFID inventory control and management execution solutions designed for use within the retail store. Clarity Inventory also has a full suite of supply chain applications to support manufacturing and distribution operations.

Xterprise is based out of Carrollton, TX. The company can be reached via its website at http://www.xterprise.com^[4] or by email at info(at)xterprise(dot)com.

About SML: SML^[5] is a global total brand identification solutions provider serving an international clientele consisting of top fashion brands and some of the largest retailers in the world. Its wide range of high quality products includes woven labels, printed fabric labels, EAS, RFID, heat transfer, packaging, specialty trims, printed paper products, etc. With presence in over 30 countries and wholly-owned manufacturing facilities around the world, it is committed to effectively and efficiently serving the worldwide needs of clients and exceeding their expectations in quality, price, service and speed. The SML ViziT™ brand provides for RFID item visibility with EAS-type loss prevention and includes RFID-enabled labels/tickets/hangtags, as well as EPC serial-number chip encoding which is provided through a network of globally located service bureaus. A cloud-based IT data management solution completes the ViziT™ package.

Visit the SML website at http://www.sml.com^[6].

References

1. ^{^}Xterprise web site (www.xterprise.com)
2. ^{^}Xterprise Clarity solutions (www.xterprise.com)
3. ^{^}In-store business case (www.xterprise.com)
4. ^{^}http://www.xterprise.com (www.xterprise.com)
5. ^{^}SML website (www.sml.com)
6. ^{^}http://www.sml.com (www.sml.com)