RFID in Retailing

31 October 2006For Immediate ReleaseIDTechEx, Cambridge, UKRFID in Retailing

RFID in Retailing

Dr. Peter Harrop, Chairman IDTechEx

RFID is rapidly penetrating the retail sector. It involves the use of HF and UHF tags in

main, the most popular applications being the tagging of apparel, books, pallets and

cases, all of them mainly using UHF in the retail environment and drugs mainly at HF.

For the retailer, the paybacks are rapid.

Although the mandates from certain US retailers that suppliers must tag pallets and

cases have now resulted in that country primarily buying UHF tags and having more

cases of UHF tagging in action that at any other frequency, it is alone in this regard.

Virtually everywhere else, HF is the most popular frequency. The fact that you can buy

goods with your RFID enabled phone working at HF to the global Near Field

Communication standards reinforces that situation in countries such as Japan but the

position is still fluid.

The Europeans may wait for more amenable UHF regulations before they extensively

tag much beyond dry, non-metallic pallets and cases: they will not go it alone with HF for

all pallets and cases. However, at item level, both frequencies are used and HF is in the

ascendant. For example, the Swedish companies RFID Solutions and AdhTech have

rolled out the use of woven RFID garment labels at HF for designer name apparel, the

primary purpose being anti-counterfeiting.

Figure 1 The RFID Solutions AdhTech stitchable HF label for designer apparel

Source IDTechEx

Twice as many item level drugs are being tagged at HF than UHF, again for anti-

counterfeiting and HF tagging of jewellery is seen in shops in Japan, Switzerland and

Dubai, for example. Soon we shall see the third alternative, called Near Field UHF in

similar applications, with sadly, all three options being incompatible. They call for

different tag and interrogator antennas, for instance.

Figure 2 Global distribution of cases of RFID in action by frequency from the IDTechEx

Database of 2228 cases in 84 countries. www.rfidbase.com

Source IDTechEx

Clearly RFID is being used more and more in retailing and it is for more and more

reasons from many ways of increasing sales to many ways of reducing both costs and

crime. The leading conference for airing these matters, RFID Smart Labels USA, returns

to Boston on February 21-22 2007. It is truly global and it moves beyond systems

aspects to fully air the interests of converters, materials suppliers and others. The 500+

delegates and speakers in 2006 came from 30 countries. See

www.smartlabelsUSA.com for more information.

Ends Approx 430 words

Please publish this syndicated article in part, or in its entirety attributing the material to

IDTechEx wherever appropriate.

For further information and quotes, please do not hesitate to contact the author Dr. Peter Harrop, +44 (0) 1256 862163, [email protected]

This article is available as a Word or PDF file and both figures are available as separate files. Please email Sarah Lee at [email protected] to receive such files

Press passes are available for the RFID Smart Labels USA conference; please contact Sarah Lee at [email protected] or +44 1223 813703

IDTechEx 2006/7 Dates:

Active RFID Summit USA, 14-15 November, Atlanta USA www.activerfidsummit.com

Printed Electronics USA 2006, 5-6 December, Phoenix, USA www.printelec.com

RFID Smart Labels USA 2007, 21-22 February, Boston, USA www.smartlabelsUSA.com

For more articles from the independent analyst company IDTechEx, see www.idtechex.com.