Dr. Yu-Han Chang, IDTechEx Technology Analyst05.24.22
The big news in the RFID industry at the start of 2022 was Walmart's announcement — the world's leading retailer revealed plans to expand RFID use from retail apparel to other retail departments.
The retailer requested that its suppliers for the departments listed above place Gen 2 UHF RFID tags, which has a frequency of 902-928 megahertz, on all items delivered to Walmart.
• Home departments - Kitchen & Dining, Home Décor, Bath & Shower, Bedding, Furniture & Luggage, Closet & Organization
• Entertainment departments - Toys, Electronics, Wireless
• Hardlines departments - Sporting Goods, Automotive Tires, and Batteries
“UHF RFID business in retail apparel and footwear tagging is still by far the largest UHF RFID market by tag volume as well as market value, and it will remain so for the next ten years since the payback is well-proven. We see retailers are rolling out in a cookie-cutter approach," said IDTechEx CEO Raghu Das. "As UHF RFID has shown to be very effective in the retail apparel and footwear tagging market, many leading players we spoke to are now looking at transferring this success to other business sectors."
Now, Walmart's announcement may potentially accelerate the UHF RFID adoption process in other retail segments, inevitably driving other retailers to follow suit.
Despite RFID's bright future in retail, one issue that must be addressed is that the UHF reader network is nowhere near ubiquitous because it is mostly employed by businesses rather than consumers. UHF readers are becoming lower cost and ultimately may be integrated into consumer smartphones, as NFC often is. UHF reader smartphones are available now but mainly at price points where they are used in the industry, and they are not targeted at consumers.
IDTechEx believes that as reader infrastructure becomes more widely available, RFID adoption will further accelerate in both retail for apparel & footwear and for other retail segments This includes moving beyond inventory management offering benefits such as customer engagement and advertising, which can be realized to justify the additional cost of RFID added to products.
IDTechEx has studied the RFID market for more than 20 years. The latest version of the RFID market research report, "RFID Forecasts, Players and Opportunities 2022-2032," provides a comprehensive overview covering passive RFID (for UHF, HF, and LF frequencies), battery-assisted passive, active RFID, and chipless RFID technologies, players, and markets.
The retailer requested that its suppliers for the departments listed above place Gen 2 UHF RFID tags, which has a frequency of 902-928 megahertz, on all items delivered to Walmart.
• Home departments - Kitchen & Dining, Home Décor, Bath & Shower, Bedding, Furniture & Luggage, Closet & Organization
• Entertainment departments - Toys, Electronics, Wireless
• Hardlines departments - Sporting Goods, Automotive Tires, and Batteries
“UHF RFID business in retail apparel and footwear tagging is still by far the largest UHF RFID market by tag volume as well as market value, and it will remain so for the next ten years since the payback is well-proven. We see retailers are rolling out in a cookie-cutter approach," said IDTechEx CEO Raghu Das. "As UHF RFID has shown to be very effective in the retail apparel and footwear tagging market, many leading players we spoke to are now looking at transferring this success to other business sectors."
Now, Walmart's announcement may potentially accelerate the UHF RFID adoption process in other retail segments, inevitably driving other retailers to follow suit.
Despite RFID's bright future in retail, one issue that must be addressed is that the UHF reader network is nowhere near ubiquitous because it is mostly employed by businesses rather than consumers. UHF readers are becoming lower cost and ultimately may be integrated into consumer smartphones, as NFC often is. UHF reader smartphones are available now but mainly at price points where they are used in the industry, and they are not targeted at consumers.
IDTechEx believes that as reader infrastructure becomes more widely available, RFID adoption will further accelerate in both retail for apparel & footwear and for other retail segments This includes moving beyond inventory management offering benefits such as customer engagement and advertising, which can be realized to justify the additional cost of RFID added to products.
IDTechEx has studied the RFID market for more than 20 years. The latest version of the RFID market research report, "RFID Forecasts, Players and Opportunities 2022-2032," provides a comprehensive overview covering passive RFID (for UHF, HF, and LF frequencies), battery-assisted passive, active RFID, and chipless RFID technologies, players, and markets.