Technology
Lowe’s plans to thwart retail crime PROJECT UNLOCK USES INVISIBLE TECHNOLOGIES TO ACTIVATE PRODUCTS AT POS. By HBSDealer Staff
Retail tech trends for 2023 Techies more approachable— Silicon Valley layoffs and tougher work policies provide a window for traditionally less sexy retail tech teams to attract strong talent on the rebound. Revenge of the CFO— Unlimited free returns? 15-minute delivery? Metaverse? Expect intense scrutiny from finance on the ROI of such investments, with a tougher hurdle due to rising interest rates. Expect “sure” cost reduction proposals to win over “wishful” growth projects as investors crave cashflow and profitability. QR beyond James Bond— QR-codes make a giant leap forward in retail. These square codes will unlock huge amounts of data for consumers to engage with and fuel new innovation in supply chain analytics.
— From Dave Spear and David King, senior industry consultants for the retail, CPG and hospitality industries at Teradata.
Seemantini Godbole, executive VP, chief digital and information officer at Lowe’s.
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owe’s is applying cutting-edge technologies, including a first-for-home-improvement use of blockchain and low-cost RFID — a solution named Project Unlock — to help solve an age-old yet ever-growing problem: Organized retail crime. “We are inventing the technology that makes at-purchase activation and transparent purchase records possible so we can tackle theft in a way that is virtually invisible to our customers,” said Seemantini Godbole, executive VP, chief digital and information officer at Lowe’s. Organized retail crime has been on the rise, and a statistic Lowe’s provided from the National Retail Federation shows that, as of 2020, organized retail crime has cost retailers an average of about $700,000 for every $1 billion in sales. While others are working to tackle this problem, said Lowe’s, the retailer believes there are better ways to curb theft than locking products down. “Project Unlock combines low-cost RFID chips and IoT sensors to activate power tools at the point of purchase, while also creating a secure, publicly accessible, and anonymized
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record of legitimate purchases, powered by blockchain,” said the company. Lowe’s has built a blockchain record that verifies and tracks all legitimate purchases, making it easy for buyers to see if they are buying stolen goods, and for law enforcement to crack down on crime rings, said the firm. To make this work, a unique tag is created for each physical product by the manufacturer. The tag is preloaded with the item’s serial number. A customer takes the product to checkout, has it barcode-scanned and pays, and a POS RFID scanner reads the tag and unlocks. “Only products that are legitimately purchased are activated,” said the company. The proof of concept starts with power tools, said Lowe’s, but the retailer sees potential to use this invisible blockchain and RFID system for other items in its stores – and across the entire retail ecosystem. “We see a future in which solutions like Project Unlock can help the entire retail ecosystem create a great environment for our customers,” said Godbole.
At checkout a POS scanner unlocks the item.
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