Four mainstream application scenarios of RFID tags

With the development of the Internet of Things industry, RFID technology has gradually become popular and is used in our daily lives, bringing convenience and speed to people's lives. The essence of RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) is to use radio frequency technology (RF) to realize the identity and information identification of items.

This article will take you through the four mainstream application scenarios of RFID tags

In the Retail Industry, from procurement, storage, packaging, loading and unloading, transportation, distribution, sales to service, the entire supply chain is closely linked. Enterprises must accurately grasp the direction and changes of the entire business flow, logistics, information flow and capital flow in real time, and RFID can effectively provide the retail industry with input/output of business operation data, control and tracking of business processes, and reduce Error rate, etc. Therefore, RFID technology is very attractive to the retail industry that focuses on logistics and inventory management, and retail giants have also devoted great enthusiasm to it.

This article will review the four major application scenarios (cases) of RFID in the retail industry.

Application scenario one: RFID-based supply chain management in supermarket Stores

This article will take you through the four mainstream application scenarios of RFID tags

In recent years, the rapid development of RFID technology has brought leap-forward development opportunities to the supply chain management of the retail industry. As international retail giants such as Wal-Mart, Marks & Spencer, Metro, Albertsons, and Target have successively announced the mandatory use of RFID supply chain management technology, the competition between finished product supply chains has become the key to success or failure in future competition in the retail industry.

Application scenario two: Inventory management based on RFID for shoe and clothing retail enterprises

This article will take you through the four mainstream application scenarios of RFID tags

With the increasing penetration rate of RFID electronic tags in the retail industry, clothing has gradually begun to introduce RFID technology into the entire management system. It is expected that the penetration rate will grow rapidly in the next few years. Data show that by the end of 2016, the global chain retail industry, mainly clothing, had a demand for RFID tags of more than 5 billion. For example, foreign companies such as Decathlon, ZARA, and Uniqlo, and domestic companies such as Heilan House, La Chapelle, and UR have fully implemented RFID projects.

There are two main reasons for the high application of RFID electronic tags in the clothing industry: First, the tags in this scenario are consumables. Once the electronic tags are transferred to the final link, that is, in the hands of consumers, the mission of the electronic tags is immediately completed; Another reason is that thanks to its increasingly lower manufacturing costs, the current average cost of a single electronic tag in this application scenario in China is less than 1 yuan, which is roughly the price of a piece of clothing. Less than 1%.

Application scenario three: RFID application in unmanned convenience stores

This article will take you through the four mainstream application scenarios of RFID tags

There are many types of unmanned convenience stores, but they are basically inseparable from RFID technology. RFID tags are affixed to each item for checkout and payment collection. In addition, they are also equipped with monitoring systems, remote customer service and other functions.

Application scenario four: Application of RFID in supply chain logistics

This article will take you through the four mainstream application scenarios of RFID tags

By using RFID technology, the transparency of supply chain Logistics Management and inventory turnover rate can be improved, effectively reducing out-of-stock losses and improving logistics efficiency within the enterprise.

1. Fast: Fast logistics efficiency, fast goods handover points, and improved logistics operation efficiency;

Second accuracy: accurate data, accurate collection of goods circulation data in all aspects of logistics management.

Based on the current status of warehousing management and the feasibility study of RFID technology in logistics management, embedding advanced RFID data collection methods in the WMS system can realize the management of warehouse locations and pallets identified by RFID tags. In this way, it can not only realize the informatization and modernization of enterprise logistics management, but also improve the level and efficiency of enterprise logistics management and reduce enterprise management costs.

Judging from the future development trends of domestic and foreign logistics, network information construction is the future development trend of warehousing and logistics. New technologies represented by radio frequency identification (RFID) are profoundly affecting warehouse management and warehouse management systems, and are even giving birth to a "logistics revolution."

Summary: Advantages and Disadvantages of RFID

A study by Technavio Research shows that by 2019, the global retail RFID application market size is expected to reach US$3.91 billion, and the global RFID market compound annual growth rate for such applications will reach 40% during the forecast period. Conceptually, RFID is similar to barcode technology. Barcode technology attaches barcode information to items, and uses a scanner to scan the barcode on the item to obtain information about the item. RFID technology attaches RFID tags to items and reads the information in the tags into an RFID Reader through radio frequency signals to obtain unique information about the items. Compared with traditional barcodes, the advantages of FRID technology are as follows:

1. Quick scan

RFID readers can read multiple RFID tags at the same time. In contrast, only one barcode can be scanned at a time.

2. Penetrating and barrier-free reading

When covered, RFID can penetrate non-metallic or non-transparent materials such as paper, wood and plastic, and can communicate penetratingly. The reason why "unmanned retail stores" can achieve unmanned cashiers is mainly due to the use of this feature of RFID technology.

3. Large data memory capacity

The capacity of one-dimensional barcodes is about 30 characters, the maximum capacity of two-dimensional barcodes can store 2 to 3,000 characters, and the maximum capacity of RFID is several megabytes of characters. With the development of memory carriers, data capacity has also been expanding.

4. Small size and diversified shapes

RFID is not limited by size and shape in reading. It does not need to match the fixed size and printing quality of the paper for reading accuracy. Unlike barcodes, which are prone to deformation and damage, making them unrecognizable.

But in fact, although low-frequency and high-frequency bands are currently widely used in China, such as campus cards, ID Cards, mobile phone NFC modules, etc., in the consumer field, barcodes can also basically meet the description ability of individual items and are being promoted. There is already a mature supporting system, and RFID tags cannot yet replace barcodes. Therefore, it is not easy to completely replace barcodes with RFID tags. Its popularization still faces at least the following challenges:

1. Cost

Although the cost of RFID tags, readers and software has been falling, the cost of RFID deployment is still prohibitive for many companies that want to track inventory.

2. It is difficult to unify technical standards

It is currently difficult to unify the technical standards of RFID internationally, making product development and application positioning confusing.

3. Reading accuracy needs to be improved

Data integrity and accuracy are important factors that determine the performance of RFID systems. Multi-target recognition is not only the biggest advantage of RFID, but also a technical difficulty that urgently needs to be solved.