Implementation of RFID technology to improve efficiency of serving customers-a Kenya supermarket case study

Abstract

Supermarkets in Kenya use the barcode technology in inventory management. This leads to long queues at the till thus adversely affecting efficiency of serving customers. In trying to address this problem, a system was designed based on RFID technology that could overcome the challenges of the existing systems and improve the efficiency of serving customers. The study was about the implementation of RFID technology to improve efficiency of serving customers using a Kenya supermarket as a case study. The objectives of the study were: to design the system, to develop RFID technology shopping cart/basket/till and the Cart Management Module (CMM), to train the supermarket attendants /customers on the new system and to evaluate the system. A prototype called CMM was designed and tested. it worked as the point of sale system as well as collected data on the shopping, queuing, transaction, packing, total transaction and total shopping durations. CMM worked hand in hand with two RFID readers namely the Check in /Checkout and till RFID readers. The data was analyzed using descriptive statistics. Frequencies, means and standard deviations were calculated and the results were: the mean shopping duration of 3.36, mean queuing duration of 1.68, mean transaction duration of 2.73, mean packing duration of 2.63, mean total transaction time of 2.83 and mean total shopping time of 3.96 seconds. All objectives of the study were achieved and it was concluded that RFID technology improves efficiency of serving customers by drastically reducing time spent by customers in the supermarket.