Retail conglomerate Landmark has selected Texas-based SML to provide item-level RFID across stores and distribution centres in the Middle East.

SML will deploy item-level RFID in more than 600 stores and ten distribution centres across the Middle East.

Headquartered in Dubai, Landmark has more than 2200 stores across 21 countries and delivers products in categories such as apparel, footwear, lifestyle, cosmetics and home furnishing.

As part of the partnership, SML is providing RFID tags and has numerous sites live with its enterprise class item-level RFID. When fully rolled out, it will be in all Landmark’s sites across all GCC countries Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, UAE, Qatar, Bahrain and Oman, as well as Egypt and Jordan.

“As one of the largest omnichannel retailers in the Middle East region, we at Landmark constantly endeavour to deliver seamless and best-in-class shopping experiences to our customers,” said Prakash Rao, head of supply chain projects at Landmark. “Investing in retail innovation and technologies across our value chain is crucial to support our efforts to deliver exceptional value to the fast-evolving customers of the region. RFID will provide enhanced inventory accuracy and accountability between various entities across our supply chain. With their immense RFID expertise, we believe SML would be an ideal provider to fulfil our item-level RFID requirement. We are pleased to have SML on board.”

SML RFID lets retailers can achieve real-time inventory visibility at the item level with more than 95% accuracy. This allows them to provide customers with accurate in-stock information and affinity suggestions.

“It is exciting to be a part of Landmark’s digital transformation journey as its strategic partner,” said Dean Frew, president of RFID at SML. “We are confident that our item-level RFID will deliver tangible value for their business and customers alike. With the combination of deployments in Landmark’s stores and distribution centres with the expertise of our strategic partners Microsoft, Zebra, and Clustag by Rielec, world leaders in their technology space, this project will be the first of this scale in the region and one that will set a benchmark in the industry.”

SML is an item-level RFID supplier (www.sml.com/item-level-rfid) for many of the top retail brands in the world, with over 7500 stores and distribution centres operating in over 60 countries managing over 500 million items a week with its Clarity cloud-based item-level RFID software application suite (www.sml.com/rfid-software).

Landmark Group (www.landmarkgroup.com) began its journey 50 years ago with a single store in Bahrain. Now based in Dubai, this conglomerate has expanded into a mammoth presence in the retail and hospitality sectors. With over 2200 retail stores, more than 160 leisure and hospitality outlets, 25 homegrown brands, and several franchises, the group has a presence that spans across the GCC, Middle East, India, south-east Asia and Africa. It employs 48,000 people from 97 countries.