Radio frequency identification
- Reduce text size Decrease text size
- Increase text size Increase text size
- Print article Print
- Jump to comments Comment
- Share this article Share
- Email article to a friend Email
Spending on RFID systems in the US retail sector will top $1 billion by 2007, according to IDC, primarily driven as a result of mandates from the US Department of Defence and, in particular, retail giant Wal-Mart.
Spending on radio frequency identification (RFID) systems - the wireless labelling and tracking technology - will top $1 billion a year in the US retail sector alone by 2007, according to market researcher IDC.
Such high levels of spending will largely come from suppliers to the US Department of Defence and to retailers such as Wal-Mart.
Wal-Mart, the world's biggest retailer, which owns Asda in the UK, wants its 100 biggest suppliers to attach RFID tags to packages sent to its Dallas distribution centre from 2005. Remaining suppliers have been asked to follow suit by 2006, although delays are expected.
Spending on RFID in the US retail supply chain will grow from $91.5 million in 2003 to about $1.3 billion in 2008. Once these initial deployments are complete, says IDC, growth will level off in advance of a new wave of RFID deployment: item-level tagging. RFID will be deployed in fits and bursts as manufacturers and retailers move along the learning curve and as tag and reader costs come down over the next several years, says IDC.
