What is RFID?

RFID is an acronym for radio-frequency identification

and refers to microchip technology where digital data encoded onto RFID tags or “smart labels” is wirelessly captured via radio waves.

The technology is fundamental to the explosive growth of the Internet of Things.

Unlike barcodes, RFID labels can be read from close range or up to several metres away, and do not need to be within line-of-sight of the scanner to be seen.

RFID

vs

Barcode

radio frequency scanning:

fast, efficient

optical scanning:

slow, manual labour intensive

Scanning speed:

up to 20,000 items / hour

Scanning speed:

avg 650 items / hour

Scanning average store:

minutes

Scanning average store:

minutes

Labour cost to count 20,000 items:

£15

Labour cost to count 20,000 items:

£460

Why RFID?

Item level intelligence at scale.
Economically deployable.
Minimal process disruption.
Ultimate traceability throughout the supply chain.
Growing Internet Of Things (IOT) global market, set to reach $55B by 2025.

Socially distanced inventory management

As we enter a post Covid-19 retail environment we believe businesses will face increased scrutiny on their distancing and product handling policies. Reducing the handling of items in store will garner strong and positive PR, simultaneously lowering employee and consumer risk.

RFID can mitigate handling risks, but also promote employee task distancing as one person can do the job of many using RFID to manage inventory logistics and stock handling processes.