Preview Demand and supply Discuss the following questions in pairs 1 Have you ever gone to the shops to buy something and not been able to find itt If s0, how did you react? 2 Why do shops not always have all their usual stock? 3 Even goods that make it to the shelves can disappear because of theft. How do retailers try to reduce this problem? | Reading Retail logistics [ Read the text on the opposite page about ‘smart tags’. List the four advantages of using smart tags that are mentioned. Bi Choose the best option to answer each of the questions. 1 According to the text which of the following is going to happen? a smart tags will reduce sales of consumer goods by dhe cust of sina lays will run ie tens Of billiuns of dollais © supermarket staff will be alerted when goods are stolen 2. Traditional Radio Frequency Identification was. a. less efficient than the new smart tags. b harder to produce than the new smart tags. © more expensive than the new smarc rags 3 Gillette’s experiment will a cost $30 billion. b tag shelves as well as goods. © use barcodes to track goods. 4 Using smart tags to monitor products will a reduce the number of mistakes usually made. b increase the quantities of goods shipped. © increase the number of inventories. 5. By using the ‘Kill command? consumers will lose their privacy. b_ receive after-sales benefits. lose after-sales services. Speaking Would you object to buying goods with smart tags? Why? / Why not? 120 m Unit 14Retail Logistics AS s35spemare in Cambie, land, the shelves have begun to talk to thei contents, and the contents ave talking back. Soon, razors at ¢ Wal Mar store in Brockton, Massachusets Wall beg x Het sta Row alien dey Suspect theft A group of firms will Btiempt 1 track, "In eal ume, many thousands of goods as they travel from factory to supermarket shelf CConsulants talk about cost savings and fra sales that could run into tens of billions of dollars yer. The reason for the sudden excite: ment is a. nev. supersheap version of an old Wacking technology called Radio Frnquoney” Mentiiention (RFD) RFD systems are made up of readers and Sloan tage” —micrachipe attached. to antennas. When the tag neats a reader, it brondeasts the information contained in its chip. In the past four yeas the Cost of the cheapest tugs has. plunged from $210 20 cents In the next co {0 dace yeats prices are likely to fll to five cents or less Gillete announced shar Wad put in an order 1 ll billion smart tags, signaling the tat of ‘Smart labels may be about to change the way that companies their adoption by the consumer goods Indust. IF they catch on, smart tas will soon be made im thee eilions and wil replace the harende on the paca ing of almost everthing tat consumer feeds gion cach se Prater & Comble find Unilever make Gilate is piloting to woHe for ite tags The fist Combines smart tas with "SThat shes" which are Sted wth tg rears Gilet says that retailers and Conmuiper yous fs tn the USA fone ground $80 billon a. year in sales tease shop shelves run ut of pros and. stand empry. On ile smar Shelves, the tages tans let the shelf now when the are coming and goin Bnd the sie haeps count Itt gets 100 ‘empty, the shelf sends a message to store Stato say i neds fo be il Gillete is also pong the use of smart tags to track products 36 they Tove from. factory 0. supermarket Tsing barcodes can be a Tabor inten- Sie, errorprone tas Smart fags can Be Scanned automatically as pallet of product poo slong conveyor bait and rough Tending ays AS a result ship Glossary adoption mass use of something shrink make smaller invasive entering without permission Forage decide not to have sn The best thing since the barcode istribute and sell almost everything they make. ment errors and theft will be reduced, argues. Gillete, Because manufacturers can be certain that they are shipping the right quantity of goods to the tight place at the right time, they can also Effnrd in shrink the inventories they ‘maintain in case of error. "The biggest worry is that comsimore might reject smart tags because they seem too invasive of their privacy. if firms link products t0 customers at-the checkout, ordinary objects could Jbecome traceable to their purchasers imagine a stay drinks can at the seene (ofa crime), Here 100 the Auto-D Centre seems ahead of the game. Its chip spec: ifieations include a “Kill. command” tmat can permanently disable the tag. ‘The centre is working on a privacy pol iey, a draft of which gives the customer the option to kill tags at the checkout. The customer would forego after-sales benefits, such aS better warranty and rotumed goods services, for instance, or chickens that could tell ovens how to ‘cook them, But the kll command is just the thing for thoce wha caspect thar their fridge has begun to spy on them mL (a Unit 4 matVocabulary 1 Vocabulary 2 Supply chain management Put the words and phrases in the correct groups. run out of keep count broadcast antennas microchips empty shelves store staff scan readers fill disable/kill inventory control smart tag technology Compound nouns Match the words to form word partnerships. 1 after-sales a belt 2 returned gouds b benefits 3 etrorprone © bay 4 conveyor d_ versions 5 loading € task © supercheap F indust 7 consumer goods service Now use the word partnerships to complete the sentences, 1 Most electronic products carry a warranty and after-sales benefit 2. Accounting software has greatly improved the of having to come up with exact figures 3 Goods are put onto lorries at the factory 4 When supplies attive at the factory they are placed on a ee to be transported straight to the workshops Fake goods are usually ________ of expensive brands, 6 The s interested in the new tracking technology. Oops is expensive to run but customers really appreciate being able to bring things back if they need to.