Q&A: Luke Sinclair, Marketing Manager – Detego Ltd. London
Luke Sinclair is the Marketing Manager for Detego, a global software provider of innovative RFID solutions for Retailers. Since joining the business he has immersed himself into the world of RFID and Retail to help drive the on-going success of Detego’s global customer base. Luke is on a mission to help communicate the value of RFID in retail by working alongside Detego’s expert developers, consultants and retail customers.
What does your company do? / What is your USP?
Detego is a global software provider for RFID-based retail solutions. Our cloud-hosted platform helps retailers unlock the power of RFID by digitising traditional stock management processes to make them more accurate and efficient.
Having a specific focus on ‘RFID software for retail’ has enabled us to develop the most innovative RFID solutions on the market from the factory through to the customer. This deep understanding of retail specific challenges and partnership approach with customers is where we see our USP.
What’s special about the platform and your approach?
We were the first to deliver a cloud-hosted SaaS solution for RFID which has allowed our customers more flexible pricing and a scalable path to success. Our modular platform covers the entire product journey from factories, warehouses, and stores so we can deliver expert advice and out-of-the-box solutions for any stage of an RFID implementation.
How does a product/service implementation actually look like and how do you measure success?
We have developed a best practise ‘phased approach’ to RFID implementation which focusses on unlocking the key value drivers of a retailer’s business first. Using our out-of-the-box solutions we can quickly implement RFID to gain maximum ROI with as little risk as possible, helping to prove the business case and drive further investment in the technology. Starting with the basics allows retailers to go through effective change management and quickly see the benefits of the solution. Even just improving stock accuracy (99%) and on-floor product availability (99%) with our most basic solution can see reduced out-of-stocks by up to 50% and increased revenue of 5-15%. From there they can scale across stores/DCs and continue to add new features and capabilities.
How are retailers using your systems to gain competitive advantage and what does best practice look like?
There are two contrasting examples that stand out:
Customer 1 (an American apparel retailer), who used our plug & play mobile app solution to rapidly implement RFID across 600 stores. Even with an organisation that large, we were able to rollout 25 stores per week so they could quickly undergo a digital transformation to remain competitive.
Alternatively, there was Customer 2 (a global sportswear retailer), who jumped straight into the deep end with a full integration, across warehouses and stores, utilising real-time analytics and customer-facing solutions. This is a big commitment to make straight away, but the benefits and transformation achieved have been massive.
What advantage does it add?
Whatever size your business is or stage in your RFID journey, we have solutions that can help maximise your return on investment.
What challenges and opportunities do you see in UK retail for 2020 / What challenges are retailers facing in 2020?
Retailers who haven’t already digitised their operations are now far behind the eight-ball. This is one of the big challenges as they have little budget to undergo mass organisational change with competition racing ahead. This is exactly where we see the opportunity for these ‘plug & play’ solutions that allow retailers of any size to realise the same benefits of RFID. We want to make RFID easy and accessible for T1, T2 and T3 retailers.
How will you address these challenges and turn them into successes?
This digital transformation is a daunting prospect, especially with the amount of pressure on modern retail, there is little room for error. Detego offer retailers the tools and the expertise to navigate this transformation effortlessly, and to increase sales and reduce running costs in the process, setting retailers up to succeed in the modern retail environment. We have been doing it for over 10 years and have the best people in the industry to make it happen.
What is on the horizon for you as a company?
We aim to become the digital backbone of retail! We have seen a tectonic shift in both retailer and consumer demands in the past couple of years which all point towards the use of RFID technology to maximise efficiency across retail and ensure retailers deliver a frictionless and quality experience to their customers. Additionally, we have a team of data scientists who are applying AI & machine learning to the big data sets gathered from RFID. The things they can do with it will blow you away!
Wesbite: Detego
