Spencer Hewett, the founder and chief executive officer of Radar, the RFID technology company, knows that when inventory becomes harder to replace it is imperative to get smarter about what’s already in your ecosystem. Tariffs are forcing retailers to scrutinize every cost center, and businesses that have invested wisely in real-time technology will reap the rewards.

Working with retailers including Old Navy and American Eagle, among others, which employ Radar’s technology solution, Hewett knows the immense impact that RFID’s real-time insights can provide. As previously reported by WWD, Radar’s platform, which combines RFID technology and computer vision technology to track and locate inventory in-store, boasts a 99 percent accuracy powered by artificial intelligence (AI). Radar’s platform is designed to drive efficiency from serving customers more easily and replenishing products on the sales floor to fulfilling online orders and customer pick-ups.

In an exclusive interview with WWD, Hewett dives into the importance of a strategic in-store experience, what leading retailers are doing differently, what retailers should be doing now to build for the future, and more.

WWD: In what ways is the in-store experience becoming more strategically important in a climate of tariff uncertainty and rising supply chain costs?

Spencer Hewett: Inventory is becoming harder to predict, and in that environment, stores aren’t just a sales channel — they’re a real-time asset. The cost of shipping and fulfillment is going up, so the store has to do more. It’s not just about product discovery or brand experience anymore; it’s about fulfillment, real-time availability and margin protection. If retailers don’t know exactly what’s in each store, they can’t optimize it — and the result is missed sales, broken omnichannel promises and higher costs.

WWD: Radar works with many leading retailers — what are they doing differently right now to better manage inventory visibility and availability at the store level?

S.H.: The smartest retailers are solving the root problem: visibility.

You can’t react fast if you don’t know where your product is. That’s what Radar unlocks. We’ve seen a ton of interest from retailers who are shifting from batch-based inventory counts to real-time visibility. When you know where every sku is, whether front or back of house, you can eliminate out-of-stock, fulfill more online orders from stores, and replenish products before they go missing from the floor.

WWD: How can real-time shelf-level data help retailers respond faster to unexpected inventory shocks, whether due to trade restrictions, customs delays, or freight volatility?

S.H.: When inventory becomes harder to replace, you have to get smarter about managing what’s already in your ecosystem. Real-time shelf data tells you what’s available and where — so if product is delayed in transit, you can dynamically route online orders to stores that have it.

If one store is underperforming, you can reallocate product to where it will sell. Radar’s ceiling-mounted sensors give retailers 99 percent accuracy without relying on manual scanning, so decisions get made faster and with confidence.

WWD: Tariffs are forcing retailers to scrutinize every cost center. How can investing in smarter store operations actually help protect margins during periods of economic pressure?

S.H.: One misplaced item can cost weeks of lost sales. Multiply that by thousands of skus, and the impact on margins is massive. Traditional inventory systems can’t fix that because they don’t have real-time accuracy. Our platform helps retailers recapture revenue by making sure the right items are in the right place at the right time — and that store teams know where to find them. It also removes inefficiencies like unnecessary scanning or time spent hunting in the stockroom. When margins are tight, that matters more than ever.

WWD: Consumer expectations don’t pause for macroeconomic turbulence. How can retailers ensure they’re still delivering a high-quality in-store experience when product movement is harder to predict?

S.H.: If a customer walks into a store looking for a size or style, and it’s there — but staff can’t find it — that’s a lost sale. And if that item isn’t replenished because it’s incorrectly counted as still in stock, the problem only gets worse. What Radar does is eliminate those blind spots. Our platform tells associates exactly where an item is in the store, so they can serve the customer fast. That’s how you keep delivering on expectations, even when your supply chain is under pressure.

WWD: Radar positions itself as a way to bring e-commerce-level insights into the physical store. What does that actually look like in practice — and why is it so critical now?

S.H.: E-commerce teams know what’s available, what’s moving and what customers are engaging with. Stores have been operating in the dark by comparison. We’re changing that. Our system delivers real-time, sku-level visibility into where items are and how they’re moving. That means retailers can restock smarter, fulfill faster and turn their stores into high-performance fulfillment hubs. It’s not just about data — it’s about precision. And that’s what stores need to compete today.

WWD: Retailers are investing heavily in fulfillment flexibility and omnichannel experiences. Where does RFID and real-time product tracking fit into that broader transformation?

S.H.: You can’t promise “buy online, pick up in store” unless you know with certainty what’s actually in stock — and where it is. Most RFID solutions top out at around 80 percent accuracy and still require manual scanning. Ours doesn’t. Radar reads RFID tags passively and precisely, showing staff what’s available, where it’s located, and what needs to be restocked. That’s how you power omnichannel without creating operational chaos — and how you turn stores into flexible, high-speed fulfillment nodes.

WWD: Looking ahead, what should retailers be doing now to build more resilient, intelligent store networks that can better withstand ongoing trade and tariff volatility?

S.H.: You can’t control global logistics, but you can control how you operate your stores. The retailers who win will be the ones who see their physical footprint as a strategic advantage — not a liability. That means investing in the infrastructure to track inventory in real-time, eliminate errors and respond dynamically to change. Stores are closer to the customer than any DC. Make them smarter, and you’ve got built-in resilience for whatever comes next.