Keonn and Impinj Upgrade Overhead RFID Solution for Retail Stores

Retailers are constantly seeking ways to streamline their inventory management processes, reduce losses due to inaccurate counting, and improve customer satisfaction. A significant challenge in achieving this is the time-consuming and labor-intensive process of periodic inventory counts, which can lead to out-of-stocks and overstocks. According to estimates, retailers lose around $1.7 trillion annually as a result of these issues.

In an effort to address this problem, Keonn Technologies has upgraded its AdvanTrack-600 overhead RFID solution in collaboration with Impinj. The enhanced system is designed to improve inventory speed, accuracy, and coverage across retail sales floors and back-of-store areas. This upgrade leverages the capabilities of Impinj’s Gen2X technology and E Family reader IC optimizations to enhance tag reading performance.

Keonn Technologies has been a leader in advanced RFID systems for retail stores, with its hardware already being used by several prominent retailers including H&M, Fabletics, Under Armour, River Island, Marks & Spencer, and others. The company’s Co-Founder and Managing Director, Ramir De Porrata-Doria, noted that the upgrade is a response to the limitations of previous systems in delivering the accuracy, coverage, and speed required by retailers.

The upgraded AdvanTrack-600 system has been tested with over 9,000 tagged items across multiple retail store layouts. Historically, achieving high inventory accuracy at reasonable cycle times was challenging, especially in back-of-store areas where items are densely packed, resulting in blind spots and slower inventory refresh rates. The enhanced system significantly improves item-level inventory accuracy and speed across both the sales floor and back-of-store.

In testing, the upgraded AdvanTrack-600 achieved over 90% back-of-store inventory accuracy in under eight minutes, a significant improvement from nearly an hour previously required to achieve this level of accuracy. Additionally, the number of missing items was reduced by more than 50%, reducing blind spots in back-of-store areas.

The improved coverage and accuracy provided by the upgraded AdvanTrack-600 enable retailers to identify inventory issues sooner, replenish shelves faster, and maintain accurate stock positions across stores. This also helps reduce out-of-stocks and inventory shrink, lower excess inventory, and support better customer experiences through improved product availability and easier item location.

The use of Gen2X technology in the upgraded AdvanTrack-600 system allows for increased reader listening range, making it possible to track smaller next-generation tags that were previously challenging to read. This is particularly important as retailers introduce smaller form factor items with reduced manufacturing costs.

Keonn Technologies expects to have 1,600 stores online by the end of 2026, with over 80,000 devices deployed across more than 20 different retailers in five continents. The company’s partnership with Impinj demonstrates how utilizing the Impinj Platform can help retailers improve inventory speed, accuracy, and area coverage.

According to Vikas Dhurka, senior director of product management at Impinj, Gen2X technology provides retailers with real-time visibility into every physical item across their store. This is a significant improvement over periodic inventory counts, which cannot match the level of detail provided by continuous inventory solutions like the upgraded AdvanTrack-600.

The upgrade to Keonn’s AdvanTrack-600 system marks an important step in automating retail store operations and reducing losses due to inaccurate counting. By leveraging Impinj’s Gen2X technology, retailers can improve their ability to track every item across their stores in real-time.