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Supermarkets can't wait to get RFID into shops
Majority are just waiting for tech to be cheap as chips

By Jo Best

Published: Friday 04 June 2004

If RFID vendors want to start shifting some chips, they could do worse than focus their efforts on supermarkets and grocery chains, according to new research, which found the food sector just can't wait to get its hands on the technology.

According to research from grocery think tank IGD, 68 per cent of food and grocery retailers think the technology will deliver benefits to the industry – including better tracking and greater efficiency in the supply chain - and only two per cent of them are in the dark about RFID.

The research shows that the grocers are enthusiastic about the technology because they believe it will mean cost savings across the industry. However, more than half said that currently the costs outweigh the benefits.

Adoption seems just a matter of time for the retailers, however – 65 per cent reckon the technology will be widespread in three to five years' time and 35 per cent plan to implement it themselves.

Supermarkets are certainly leading from the front in RFID adoption. The world's biggest supermarket chain, Wal-Mart, has mandated that all its suppliers have the technology in place by next year; Tesco is trialling the chips and Germany's Metro chain has an entire store researching uses of the tags.

A Metro spokesman told silicon.com that the technology would mean safer food because of heightened traceability and higher availability of products.