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Success Story
Gina Tricot keeps stock accurate and queues short with Zebra RFID and self-checkout
The Swedish retailer sought to keep stock data accurate enough to support same-day collection releases across 140 stores and speed up checkout so queues wouldn't cost sales—all on hardware reliable enough to last.
Zebra Success Story: Gina Tricot
Overview: Retail Challenge
To ensure a seamless experience, at all times, every store must know exactly what it has, the moment it arrives. That's the job of Radio-Frequency Identification (RFID) technology from Zebra Technologies.
Benefits / Outcomes
- Up to 80% of purchases via self-checkout
- Weekly inventories, up from once a year
- Shorter queues and fewer abandoned purchases
- More staff time on the sales floor
- Reliable stock visibility, in-store and online
About Gina Tricot
Gina Tricot has made speed its signature. Since 1997, the Swedish retailer has been turning the latest trends into affordable womenswear at a remarkable pace. New arrivals land in all of its 140 physical stores across five European countries on the same day, and on ginatricot.com for the rest of the continent. And fast doesn’t mean throwaway—alongside its trend pieces, Gina Tricot designs timeless garments in sustainable fibres and takes back used clothing for recycling.
To ensure a seamless experience, at all times, every store must know exactly what it has, the moment it arrives. That's the job of Radio-Frequency Identification (RFID) technology from Zebra Technologies.
The Challenge
The company's previous RFID solution offered no such reliability. “The system sometimes couldn't detect tags in the store, and it would often slow us down,” explains Kristofer Svala, IT Technician at Gina Tricot. “As a result, we weren't doing inventory accurately, and customers couldn't always be sure of what was available at each store.”
When Gina Tricot went looking for an alternative, partners and industry colleagues all pointed to Zebra. “We knew Zebra products to be immensely reliable and durable, with hardware updates for years to come,” shares Svala. “We have other Zebra units that are at least five to eight years old that still run without problems.” For the team, that longevity meant a lower cost across each device's entire lifecycle.
Store by store, all 140 locations were fitted with Zebra devices. “The Zebra team worked hard to get everything set up and working,” recalls Svala. “They checked in often, smoothing the path. That was a big change from other suppliers we had worked with.”
It makes it much easier to be available for the customer, and customer service is where we really want to excel in the store. Our store associates have been very positive about that extra flexibility.
The Solution
The system begins with the garments themselves: every piece carries an RFID tag with a unique identifier. For the staff on the floor, that turns what used to be laborious jobs into a much lighter, quicker part of the day. When new boxes arrive, a single read with a Zebra TC2 mobile computer, paired with an RFID sled, registers everything inside at once, with no need to open them and count by hand. A walk around with a handheld reader is enough to spot what's running low, and the system builds the list of what to fetch from the back room. Inventory management has been transformed, too. “Before, counting everything manually was time-consuming, so stores did inventories once a year,” shares Svala. “Now, each store does it once a week, and with the Zebra devices, it's far more accurate.”
For managers, the same data opens up a wider view. Inventory data captured by the Zebra devices is managed within ClarityRFID inventory software—providing real-time visibility and supporting workflows like counts and replenishment—and, combined with the Sitoo Unified Commerce Platform anchored by POS, becomes a single view of inventory across every store. “It’s really important to have unified data that can, for instance, trigger personalized campaigns,” notes Michael Jarestad, Chief Digital Officer at Gina Tricot. And because every tag is unique, the team can ask questions it couldn't before, like how long a particular piece has sat on the shop floor, and let the answers shape what to stock and when.
Customers feel it in the small moments. In the store, more accurate stock means the racks actually hold the sizes they're meant to, so there's less waiting around while someone checks the back. And before leaving home, a shopper can see online whether a specific store has what they're after, rather than calling ahead or making the trip only to find out on arrival.
The Zebra Difference: Outcome and Benefits
To bring more speed to the shopping experience, Gina Tricot introduced self-checkout stations, with Sitoo Point of Sale (POS) and Unified Commerce Platform.[GU1.1] Customers place their items in a basket; the Zebra FX7500 Fixed RFID Reader picks up every tag at once and sends the data to Sitoo, which displays the items on the Zebra KC50 Kiosk Computer. Customers pay, then remove the alarms, and head home with their finds.
Shoppers took to the stations easily. Today, 20–40% of customers overall use self-checkout where available. “Some stores are almost self-checkout only, so there it's closer to 80%. We do still need ordinary registers for returns or exchanges,” adds Svala.
The biggest gain is time. With customers serving themselves, staff spend their hours out on the floor: restocking, folding, keeping the store in shape, and above all, serving customers. “When things get busy, we can have two more people on the floor helping customers instead of standing at the checkout. We can assist them with finding sizes or picking up items that might not yet have been brought out from the stockroom. It makes it much easier to be available for the customer, and customer service is where we really want to excel in the store,” observes Linn Pettersson, Store Manager at Gina Tricot. “Our store associates have been very positive about that extra flexibility.”
For customers, the shopping experience is now simply faster. The self-checkout stations were added alongside existing Sitoo POS registers rather than replacing them, so each store has more places to pay, and queues have shortened as a result. “Some customers say they noticed there was a queue and were grateful that the self-checkout stations were available,” shares Pettersson. “It a win-win for both staff and customers.”
Shorter queues also mean fewer lost sales. “Some even say that if the self-checkout hadn’t been there, they might not have completed the purchase,” notes Pettersson. “It has absolutely generated more purchases for us.”
Gina Tricot has no intention of slowing down. Next on the agenda are newer devices at the registers, and RFID reaching into more corners of the business. “There will definitely be changes,” concludes Svala. “And wherever we're looking to expand or upgrade, Zebra has very attractive units waiting for us.” Fashion will keep moving fast; with Zebra, Gina Tricot knows its stores will too.
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