RFID Technology in Supermarkets

This assignment explores the application of RFID technology in various aspects of supermarket operations. It examines how RFID is used for inventory management, enhancing efficiency and accuracy, as well as its role in streamlining the checkout process through self-checkout systems. The papers delve into the advantages and challenges of RFID implementation in supermarkets, analyzing its impact on customer experience, business operations, and the overall retail landscape.

Running head: IT MANAGEMENT ISSUES
IT Management Issues: OZ Supermarket
Name of the student:
Name of the university:

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Question 1
1.1 The business process of QZ supermarket
The numbers of consumers are increasing day by day in the supermarkets and
management of huge number of consumers is becoming a difficult job for the companies. In
order to reduce the rate of interruption and to eliminate the consumer’s crowd from the cash
payment counter queues, OZ supermarket has started using Pay-wave technology for their
supermarket (Vuckovac, et al., 2017). With the help of the Self-Checkout Counter and Pay-wave
technology the number of cashier will be reduced and the business efficiency will also be
increased. The issues associated to the traditional payment approaches have been almost
mitigated after the implementation of the modern pay wave payment technology.
The traditional payment process was found to be quite time consuming however this
newly developed pay wave payment approach was very much effective as well as efficient from
the business owners and consumers perspectives (Thoi, 2016). In traditional days the consumers
are forces to wait in the payment queue to pay their payment. The modern self checkout system
has the capability to run over more than 4695 operating system. The self-checkout system has
improved their system version as per the changing requirement of the consumers. The self
checkout 6 system has the capability to speed up the payment process. Even it could optimize the
floor spacing by improving the cash management and security system with a real investment
protection approach (Shin & Lee, 2014). Over the past two to three years the self-checkout
system has experienced a huge popularity in the supermarket domain.

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According to the survey reported by self service world in the year of 2012 it has been
found that most of the businesses have shipped their terminals. Even, the system is currently
choosing many businesses to integrate the existing businesses (Adams, 2013). However, at the
enterprise level the overall system functionality could be centralized properly.
The features of pay-wave payment system are as follows:
 The payment system has unique, modular platform with a separated scanning,
bagging as well as payment procedure.
 The newly developed system has the ability to minimize the effort of the shop
keepers through maximizing the checkout throughout (Karavellas, 2013).
 This innovative solution provides speed up checkout process that optimized the
floor spacing and queue size and also improved the cash payment approach with
real time investment protection.
The OZ supermarket is a newly developed retail chain that has setup a system for
deducing the exit queue. At the checkout point of the supermarket, the newly developed and
advanced Pay-Wave technology has been installed for increasing the business efficiency (Fu, Li
& Yuan, 2016). In this system the consumers do not have to stand on the payment queue rather
they have an option to swap their card in the self checkout system by their own. However, in
order to take entry to the supermarket, the cards are required to be swapped by the consumers.
The trolleys used by the consumers have installed the RFID access. If the consumers pick
any desired product in their trolley then through the help of RFID technology the price of the
product is automatically added to the payment cart (Kiblawi, 2015). The system does not accept
any cash and only card payment is acceptable for the Pay-wave technology. The consumers like

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tourists and children who do not have the card, have a different option for payment in terms of
front desk for putting temporary cash deposit. The retail company will provide a stored issues
Pay-wave card through which they will also be able to buy their desired products (Liu, Kauffman
& Ma, 2015). Even the store exit process is also similar for both this kind of consumers of OZ
supermarket. Sometimes, it happens that the card holds certain extra balance and as per the self
checkout counter payment processing system the balance is adjusted whether in terms of cash or
stored in the card as a record. However, if the balance is found to be insufficient then, an alarm
will automatically rang to let the consumer know that for purchasing the desired product the
consumers do not have enough balance in the Pay-wave card (Andrews, 2014). However,
different issues are associated to the self checkout counter and Pay-wave technology of OZ
supermarket and in order to combat the issues certain recommendations are provided below:
1.2 Recommendations to develop the existing supermarket
Security implementation: Security is referred to as one of the most important factors
that are strictly required to be implemented in any business organization. Similarly the OZ
supermarket should also maintain the security to protect information from the external attackers.
Consumers are the most important asset for any enterprise thus; the confidential information
regarding the consumers is required to keep secured from the external attackers (Onal et al.,
2015). Even, during the money transaction phase also the transaction channel is needed to be
encrypted properly so that without authentication none of the external attackers could come and
access the information from the data storage or server. The consumer’s credit details must keep
secured from unwanted access (Shin & Lee, 2014). In order to increase the security of the data
storage, proper encryption technology is needed to be implemented by the system developer so
that only the authorized users get the opportunity to access data from the server.

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Reduce the rate of reader collision error: Besides the transaction channel and data
server OZ supermarket should implement proper security in the RFID trolley and product RFID
tags also. With the help of data encryption technology the server will be secured from the
external attackers (Vuckovac et al., 2017). Not only this but also, the reader collision error could
be completely minimized from the system after the implementation of protection algorithm.
Reducing the RFID tag collision issue: Every RFID tag requires having unique identity,
however if similar identities are given to different tags then, collision might occur. In order to
mitigate this particular issue, the content of the RFID tag is needed to be scanned properly.
Though, it is quite difficult to remove RFID tags.
Unique serial number protection: Unique serial numbers are required to be adopted for
different RFID tags.
Question 2
2.1 Additional option for improving the system of OZ supermarket
For developing the existing business process of OZ supermarket it is necessary to
implement certain additional creative strategies and technologies. The additional options those
are needed to improve the existing system are as follows:
Identification of customer segmentation: Besides the consideration of business
strategies marketing and management are the other approaches those are also required to be
considered by the management authority of the OZ supermarket (Jothibasu & Boopathy, 02017).
Though the supermarket has huge number of consumers throughout but still in order to gain
more number of consumers they should focus on their market strategies also. For the OZ

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supermarket the DAMIC business methodology is suggested to adopt for running the business
process. With the help of suitable market segmentation the consumers will be able to access the
list of products very easily and then according to their desire they can get products from the
supermarket. It could be explained in such a way like the consumers who are willing to buy food
product can visit the food zone on the other hand the consumers who are willing to buy fashion
elements could visit to the garment zone (Mathen, 2014). It means that before the
implementation of OZ supermarket business it is necessary to develop certain advanced technical
approaches those are helpful to meet the consumer’s requirement. Customer segmentation should
be one of the most initial phases that must be considered for developing
Assessment of internal and external strategic planning: In order to improve the exiting
business process of O supermarket it is necessary to consider the requirement of both of the
internal and external consumers. The top level management authority is responsible to develop
the set of strategic goal. The internal environment of the enterprises holds different controllable
variables in terms of workforce development strategies, management structure, development of
layout for different business operational processes etc (Onal et al., 2015). On the other hand the
external environment of the business organizations holds different controllable variables those
generally originate from the external environment. These are the legal environment, requirement
of the consumer, the reaction or feedback of the consumers etc (Shin & Lee, 2014). In order to
craft the innovative business strategies for leveraging the internal strength of the business for
taking competitive advantages from the marketplace, incorporation of comprehensive market
plans are very much helpful.
The main goal of strategic business plan is to focus on the internal and external business
operations. In order to increase the quality of the products, productivity, business operation,

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efficiency as well, it is very much necessary for the business organizations to use the strategic
plan (Andrews, 2014). Strategic planning helps to minimize the overall productivity cost and
increases the operational efficiency, consumer’s loyalty and employee’s satisfaction at the same
time. It has been highlighted that the strategic goals those centered in the performance of the
company focuses externally (Shin & Lee, 2014). The external objectives of a company include
market share growth, market leadership, product innovation, development of productivity etc.
Another aspect on which the companies are required to focus on includes analysis of
internal strength and weakness. The internal and external goal of the companies could be
accomplishes properly after the analysis of the internal strength and weakness of the company,
For OZ supermarket the management authority is required to focus on these aspects only (Thoi,
2016). Even the competitive market analysis is another important thing that must be done for the
company. For spotting competitive advantages, product review and clear impediments should
also be considered.
Performance monitoring and measurement planning: Besides these the performance of
the company in terms of services and productivity helps it to gain competitive advantages from
the marketplace. With proper monitoring and performance measurement plans the management
authority of the business organization will be able to gain higher profit (Jothibasu & Boopathy,
2017). Though, these are helpful components for developing the business operation but over this
some suggestions are also provides to OZ supermarket for improving the existing the function
and operation.

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2.2 Suggestion to improve the business process of OZ supermarket
In order to gain effective commercial business profit, certain suggestions are needed to be
incorporated to the existing business process of OZ supermarket and those are as follows:
Feedback from the consumers: OZ supermarket uses a completely new and advanced
payment process through Self Checkout Counter and Pay-wave technology. This particular
approach is less time consuming and the customers of the supermarket need not to wait in the
queue for payment due to the presence of this technology (Rossetti & Pham, 2015). Thus, it is
very much necessary to know whether the process is satisfactory to the consumers or not. If the
customers provide positive feedback then, the company needs not to change any components.
However, if they provide negative feedback then they should change as per the requirement.
Review of the product quality: Review from the consumers regarding the products will
help the business organization to gain effective revenue from the competitive market. If the
product quality is acceptable by the consumers then, the positive review generated from the
consumers end will help them to gain measurable revenue from the competitive market
(Andrews, 2014). Not only this but also based on the reviews the decision makers of the
company will make effective decision for the OZ supermarket. However, it is not necessary that
the feedback will only generate from the consumers end but also it can be generated from the
employees end also.
Review from the customers with RFID security: Consumers are referred to as one of the
most important asset for any business organization, thus the revenue generated from the
consumers are very much important to gain measureable revenue from the competitive
marketplace (Thoi, 2016). However, negative reviews are much helpful over positive review

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because, considering the negative reviews the system developers will be able to make the
necessary changes on the system to satisfy the consumers. In addition to general review the OZ
supermarket is required to incorporate the online review session (Leong et al., 2013). In order to
gain high numbers of consumers from the competitive market, online positive review are also
very much helpful. Again proper security aspects of RFID technology are needed to be adopted.

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References
Adams, C. (2013). Have money, will travel: A brief survey of the mobile payments
landscape. School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, University of
Ottawa, Tech. Rep.
Andrews, C. K. (2014). The End of the (Checkout) Line? Automation, Self-Service, and Low-
Wage Jobs in the Supermarket Industry
Boyinbode, O., & Akinyede, O. (2015). A RFID based Inventory Control System for Nigerian
Supermarkets. International Journal of Computer Applications, 116(7).
Fu, B., Li, B., & Yuan, R. (2016, January). Introduction to the RFID Technology in the
Application of the Smart Supermarket. In MATEC Web of Conferences (Vol. 40). EDP
Sciences.
Jothibasu, M., & Boopathy, S. (2017). A Fast Cloud Based Pervasive Method of Cart Billing
System for Supermarket Using Real Time Technology. International Journal, 8(3).
Karavellas, T. (2013). Towards a Universal Mobile Payments System (Master's thesis).
Kiblawi, T. (2015, September). Disruptive Innovations in Cloud Computing and Their Impact on
Business and Technology. In Reliability, Infocom Technologies and Optimization
(ICRITO)(Trends and Future Directions), 2015 4th International Conference on (pp. 1-
4). IEEE.

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Leong, L. Y., Hew, T. S., Tan, G. W. H., & Ooi, K. B. (2013). Predicting the determinants of the
NFC-enabled mobile credit card acceptance: A neural networks approach. Expert Systems
with Applications, 40(14), 5604-5620.
Liu, J., Kauffman, R. J., & Ma, D. (2015). Competition, cooperation, and regulation:
Understanding the evolution of the mobile payments technology ecosystem. Electronic
Commerce Research and Applications, 14(5), 372-391.
Mathen, N. (2014). The Potential of Mobile Coupons: Current Status and Future Promises (No.
WP2014-07-03). Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad, Research and Publication
Department.
Onal, B., Ko, H. S., & Lee, H. F. (2015, September). RFID Feasibility Study for Check-Out
Stations at Supermarkets. In Conference on Engineering And Technology Management
GCETM-2015 (p. 25).
Rossetti, M. D., & Pham, A. T. (2015, December). Simulation modeling of customer checkout
configurations. In Proceedings of the 2015 Winter Simulation Conference (pp. 1151-
1162). IEEE Press.
Shin, S., & Lee, W. J. (2014). The effects of technology readiness and technology acceptance on
NFC mobile payment services in Korea. Journal of Applied Business Research, 30(6),
1615.
Thoi, M. (2016). Exploring merchants’ adoption of mobile payments A qualitative study on
Swedish merchants’ perspectives (Master's thesis).

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Vuckovac, D., Fritzen, P., Fuchs, K. L., & Ilic, A. (2017). From Shopping Aids to Fully
Autonomous Mobile Self-checkouts-A Field Study in Retail.
Williamson, C. (2016). Electronic self check-in for patients: the costs and consequences. Br J
Gen Pract, 66(644), 145-145.