2024 in Review: Key Milestones, Sustainability, and Unparalleled Growth
Looking back at 2024, the retail industry has experienced a year of continued growth driven by innovation and technology. At SML, we’ve experienced unparalleled growth with solid partnerships, key milestones, and continued innovation. As the year comes to a close, we take this opportunity to reflect on the milestones and achievements that defined our journey.
We have continued to evolve with changing trends and market needs. From actionable steps towards our sustainability goals to significant partnerships and being recognized for our cutting-edge technologies, SML has had a great year with strong developments.
We are proud to have helped major brands drive efficiency, minimize costs, and enhance the customer experience, enabling them to achieve growth and significant return on investment (ROI). Whilst all this goes on, our commitment to our customers remains unchanged, delivering products that are supplied with precision, quality and care to help drive customer success in the form of proven ROI.
Sustainable growth
In 2024, we made significant progress towards our sustainability goals, including the 42% greenhouse gas reduction that we want to achieve by 2030. This was recognized at the Standard Chartered Corporate Achievement Awards where we won the Sustainable Corporate (Environmental) award. However, it is not trophies that deem progress on the journey of sustainability, but actions. We have continued to build on our eco-conscious manufacturing processes, including non-solvent inks and certified recycled content as part of our EcoInspire™ Sustainable Labels range.
We have also continued to optimize the usage of renewable energy within our main production line. One of our production buildings in Bangladesh launched a solar power project that will reduce 78 metric tons of our carbon emissions annually, just small parts of our move towards a more sustainable operational process across the globe.
Global partnerships and key milestones
In April 2024, we announced a major partnership with Landmark Group, deploying item-level RFID solutions in its 600+ stores and 10 distribution centers across the Middle East. With more than 2,200 stores worldwide, the partnership with Landmark Group further strengthens our position in a region which could be set to see GDP growth nearly double in 2025. As part of the partnership, when fully rolled out, our RFID solutions will be in all of Landmark’s sites across all Gulf Cooperation Councils (GCC) countries.
We proudly achieved another breakthrough in November 2024 with our Clarity® Store software reading over 600 million tags every week across more than 8,000 stores in 60 countries. This achievement represents the reliability of the software and highlights the continually growing relationship we have with all of our customers. Assisting them in driving retail ROI, our item-level RFID technology continues to help the success of global brands such as Nordic retailer, Gina Tricot, who back in October, reported an increased 98% inventory accuracy since partnering with SML. This quantifiable growth highlights the impact our item-level RFID technology is having on operations of all sizes and types.
Industry recognition
Throughout 2024, SML earned a significant amount of recognition from some of the well-known industry titles. In addition to being awarded by Retail Systems Awards that recognized our ability to deliver proven ROI across stores and distribution centers, we were also nominated in the Retail Technology Innovation Hub (RTIH) Awards and Modern Retail Awards for the Digital Transformation Project of the Year (Rest of World) and Best New Store Concept categories.
Carrying success into 2025
As partnerships, both old and new, continue to grow into 2025, we remain true to our commitment to grow mutually beneficial relationships that drive success. At the heart of this is our employees, who help us continue to innovate and deliver exceptional solutions and measure success by the achievements of our customers. It is this innovation that has laid the groundwork for our success in 2024, improving our own services in ways that support our people, our customers and the environment. As the year concludes, we embark on the next stage of our journey, one that will continue to push our own boundaries.
Get in touch today to learn more about how SML can help your business benefit from its solutions.