News

Half of U.S. retailers have adopted Item-level RFID

January 30, 2012

Most major apparel and footwear retailers will adopt item-level radio frequency identification within some part of their business over the next three to five years, according to a survey sponsored by the VICS Item Level RFID Initiative (VILRI).

The survey asked 116 retailers and their suppliers a series of questions regarding their use of item-level RFID tagging. The results, published in a report titled "Item-Level RFID: A Competitive Differentiator," indicate that the industry is nearing a "tipping point" in which the technology will be broadly adopted, according to RFID Journal.

Joe Andraski, VICS' president and CEO, said the survey results confirmed a trend toward the adoption of item-level RFID technology by retailers and suppliers that he was already aware of, but that has often been out of the public eye. Some retailers have made no secret about their plans to apply passive RFID tags to garments and equip stores with RFID readers, he says, in order to improve supply chain visibility and reduce out-of-stocks. However, Andraski said many others have been reluctant to describe those activities publicly. The survey, in Andraski's opinion, confirms that a large percentage of retailers and suppliers either are currently using RFID or plan to employ the technology.

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