Metro-owned German department store Galeria Kaufhof has installed an RFID-enabled changing-room mirror.

It is being used as part of a large RFID trial, with 30,000 items being tagged in the menswear department of its Essen store.

The MagicMirror uses an RFID reader to identify products and project more information on them onto its screen.

It was the most high-profile technology featured in the Store of the Future display at this year’s Retail Solutions show. It was jointly developed by Paxar and design agency Thebigspace.

At Galeria Kaufhof, the mirror is being testing using the Gardeur clothing brand. When a customer tries on a pair of trousers from this range or holds the item in front of the mirror, information about the characteristics of the garment and care instructions are projected onto the surface of the mirror.

In addition, Paxar’s owner Avery Dennison has provided RFID printers to allow the retailer to print and encode both RFID hangtags and adhesive labels with integrated chips.

The trial has enabled stock visibility of all tagged items of clothing and accessories from the warehouse onwards. These products are then tracked through the incoming goods department in Essen, to their position on the shopfloor, followed all the way through to the customer sale at the till.

Members of staff are able to use hand-held scanners to check the availability of other sizes and colours, both on the shopfloor and in the warehouse.

Galeria Kaufhof expects that the trial will result in better, faster customer service, greater transparency and better availability, as well as simplifying stock and inventory control.