Metro promotes RFID technology standardization in retail industry

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Metro promotes RFID technology standardization in retail industry [Copy link]

Albrecht von Truchse?, spokesman for Metro Group, said that suppliers and retailers must use standardized universal electronic product codes from now on, only in this way can the application of the revolutionary RFID system move forward.

He said that there are too many varieties of RFID tags at present, which need to be noticed and solved so that the tags used for commodities tend to be universal. He introduced that some retail giants and governments are working hard to develop a universal RFID system.

Truchse? said: "We find that everyone is talking about and affirming the necessity of standardization. Japan, Europe and the United States are working hard to promote this work. Huge motivation also comes from some retail giants such as Proctor and Gamble, Tesco and Wal-Mart, who all support standardization."

Metro Group, based in Germany, is the fourth largest retailer in the world. It is working with well-known companies

such as IBM, Microsoft, Visa, Kraft and Henkel to develop an interconnected computer-assisted chip system that can realize the whole retail process management from supply to sales. The core technology here is RFID. Companies such as Nestle, Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Kraft and Unilever have already requested to purchase systems with this function.

However, this technology itself still has many obstacles to overcome. In addition to the requirement for uniform label performance, there are also criticisms from outside the retail industry. Some human rights activists believe that although RFID technology can improve the efficiency of the retail industry, it will infringe and sacrifice customer privacy. In addition, they believe that this technology can track customer activities.

Truchse? said: "This is indeed a terrible scenario, but we will deal with it seriously and make it a non-issue. Because we don't need to connect product data with customer data, we know that customers will be concerned about this."

RFID smart chips contain computing chips and micro antennas. This chip is attached to the product during the production process. The chip stores useful information for quick identification and tracking of products. Since the current chip price is still high, about 30 euro cents per piece, the application of this smart chip in the supply chain is limited to the level of goods pallets.

The next step for Metro's RFID application is to implement smart labels for each food item in food stores, so that the functions of information terminals are strengthened, inventory management is improved, and effective self-service checkout is achieved. However, customers may have to wait at least 10-15 years to realize such functions.

"RFID technology is not currently available for single-item use because it is too expensive," said Truchse. "For example, if a label costs 30 cents for yogurt, and a block of yogurt costs less than 30 cents, how can we afford to use it? We are looking forward to the emergence of new plastic RFID label printing technology that will significantly reduce the cost of labels."