Fewer Stores, Greater Efficiency

In 2025, Erdos made a move that puzzled many in the industry.

Within one year, it proactively closed 128 stores—reducing its count from 953 to 825, a contraction of nearly 14%. Conventional retail logic suggests that fewer stores mean lower revenue. But Erdos delivered the opposite: its apparel segment generated RMB 4.082 billion in revenue, a year-on-year increase of 1.61%.

Per-store output achieved double-digit growth. This wasn't driven by expansion—it was squeezed out through operational efficiency.

Eliminating underperforming locations and trimming the franchise network is never an easy decision for any mature brand. Financial reports show that Erdos's directly operated and holding-owned stores now account for 62%, indicating stronger end-channel control.

What does this mean? The brand no longer chases store count. Instead, it concentrates resources on high-performing direct-sale stores in core business districts, ensuring efficient inventory turnover and stable brand premiums. Meanwhile, online revenue reached RMB 803 million, accounting for nearly 20% of the apparel segment's total. With online and offline channels aligned, the sell-through of every cashmere product is accelerating.

Yet, on another level, the improvement in per-store efficiency relies heavily on underlying technology.

RFID: Making Every Cashmere Sweater Traceable

Centric RFID has partnered with Erdos for many years. As an RFID solution provider focused on the fashion industry, Centric RFID's core approach is to assign a unique RFID chip tag to each item, enabling "one item, one code" single-item-level management. This system is already operational in Erdos's stores and warehouses.

Centric RFID understands the production rhythm and store operation models of the fashion industry. Its solution integrates seamlessly with Erdos's existing IT systems (e.g., ERP, WMS) and offers a one-stop service covering tags, hardware, and software, minimizing adaptation costs.

Warehouse Efficiency Leap

The implementation has significantly boosted Erdos's warehouse management efficiency and data accuracy. Using RFID tunnel readers, full-case goods can be identified in 3–5 seconds, processing up to 600 cases per hour. Inventory accuracy has risen to over 99.9%, eliminating the time-consuming manual process of opening cases and counting items one by one.

Store Experience Revolution

In stores, inventory counting previously required closing the store or working overnight to scan each item individually. With RFID, staff can now complete a full store inventory in just 1–2 hours—a 500% efficiency gain. In the past, when a customer requested a specific size, even an experienced associate would spend 5–10 minutes searching the back room. Now, even new staff can use RFID handheld scanners to automatically locate the item within 1 minute.

The Value of Digitalization: Making "Subtraction" Work

One of the key reasons Erdos dares to reduce its store count is that the flow of every single product is clearly visible and fully controllable.

From 825 stores to RMB 803 million in online revenue, Erdos has subtracted from its channel structure while adding to management precision. And RFID stands as one of the key technological pillars enabling this "subtraction and addition" strategy to succeed.