01RFID and retail market symbiotic development, and constantly create value
2000, Wal-Mart began to use RFID in retail scenarios. In 2010, Decathlon set up an RFID company to use single-level tags for all its products. Zara's parent company Inditex decided to adopt RFID technology throughout the group in 2014. Subsequently, RFID began to be widely used in the super retail field.
Nowadays, RFID technology has been widely used in the retail field, which can improve the efficiency and effect of retailer's inventory management, commodity traceability, anti-theft and anti-counterfeiting, customer experience and so on. RFID technology has evolved from a fringe technology to a global technology, bringing huge commercial value to retailers.
Source: AIOT Star Chart Institute
from the data point of view, RFID shipments have maintained a strong growth rate. According to the statistics of AIOT Star Chart Institute, the shipment volume of UHF RFID tags in 2022 is about 35 billion, exceeding the expectation of AIOT Star Chart Institute. In addition, more than 80% of UHF RFID goods will be used for clothing retail.
is due to the continued popularity of RFID applications in the retail sector. Last year, Wal-Mart required its suppliers of household goods, sporting goods, electronics and toys to use RFID tags on all their products. This is another catalyst for the in-depth development of RFID in the super retail field. After Wal-Mart's demand emerged last year, a group of companies represented by the checkpoint treasure book successfully entered Wal-Mart's supply chain and became its core suppliers of RFID products. This new growth has brought a lot of growth to these companies.
02retailing, more demanding on the supply chain
, both domestically and internationally, the retail industry is undergoing drastic changes.
domestic retail, offline business over-flow decreased year by year. Offline brand stores have become more of a customer experience center. Domestic customers come to the store more just to try on clothes and check out new products of the season, but to place orders online in exchange for better prices. The online market for food and daily necessities has long been carved up by companies such as Meituan Park and Jingdong, and a mature order distribution system has been established.
overseas retail, also in the undercurrent. Temu and Shein's fire overseas is subtly changing the consumption habits of overseas users. Traditional overseas users, whose user portrait is to drive to offline supermarkets every week to buy a large amount of food supplies for the next week, and under the new consumption model, the retail industry is also seeking digital reforms to adapt to future overseas online shopping.
changes have brought about changes in the supply chain and the need for digital transformation in the retail industry. Led by Wal-Mart, many enterprises at home and abroad have gradually noticed the value that RFID solutions can bring to the retail industry. As one of the few solution providers that can provide solutions from production to floor, Baodian will help retail enterprises and their factories complete digital transformation.
03digitalization, how can RFID companies seize the opportunity?
not long ago, the author had an exchange with Li Zong, chief customer director of the checkpoint Baodian, to discuss how RFID enterprises can bring value to retail enterprises.
, a subsidiary of CCL Group (SIA), is a leading Canadian company in the packaging and retail industry. In 2016, Baodian checkpoint was acquired by CCL. At present, Baodian has an annual income of about 4 billion people and 4000 employees. With operations in more than 80 countries and facilities in Spain, the United States and China, it provides smart retail solutions for the digital age.
the past, Baodian has accumulated in the EAS field for many years. With the advent of the digital retail era, Baodian is committed to technological innovation, constantly adding code to the RFID industry, providing software platforms, hardware devices, tags and cloud-based integrated solutions for the RFID-based retail industry. At present, Baodian has realized the self-research of all products from labels to software and hardware solutions. Such strong research and development capabilities have also brought continuous growth to the company's RFID business.
, after Mr. Li's introduction, we know that thanks to the digital wave, more and more retail enterprises begin to pay attention to RFID products, hoping to realize the digital management of retail stores and online and offline channels through RFID solutions, which brings many opportunities for the development of Baodian. Compared with RFID as EAS, retail enterprises can realize the digital management of a single product in the traditional field. Baodian is currently one of the RFID tag suppliers of many well-known retail companies in the world, and it is also a trusted partner of many domestic customers.
differs from other RFID companies, which assign the roles of tag, reader and integration to multiple companies. Baodian is committed to providing one-stop solutions for the retail industry. Through strong self-research capabilities, Baodian has opened up the upstream and downstream, packaged all the software and hardware supporting RFID products, and worked with the retail industry as a partner to solve a series of problems encountered in the digital process.
, we all know that in traditional RFID solutions, tags, readers and software may all come from different manufacturers. When a project goes wrong, it is inevitable that the manufacturer will pass the buck. Compared with the traditional RFID model, Baodian has chosen a better way for customers and developed its own products to solutions. This method can effectively break through the barriers between products in RFID scheme, reduce the communication cost after problems in the implementation process, and bring more convenience to retail enterprises.
04RFID + supply chain management to reduce costs and improve efficiency for stores
the above, changes in the supply chain are one of the driving forces driving RFID into the retail industry. The transformation of the supply chain has indirectly led to more demand for technology. Companies want to manage their goods more finely through technology, thereby helping companies using these technologies remain flexible enough to respond to the current complex market and changing and unpredictable customer needs. In this regard, Li always believes that RFID technology can well open up the supply chain and realize the perception of inventory and commodity circulation.
here, Mr. Li also gave the author an example to illustrate how much effect the application of RFID can bring to enterprises. Baodian provides RFID solutions for LPP, a famous fast fashion brand in Eastern Europe. Since the deployment of RFID in 18 years, by 21 years, there are 2 distribution centers +1200 stores using RFID to manage goods. After RFID deployment, the delivery accuracy rate of goods has increased by 50%, the receiving speed of stores has increased by 60%, the inventory accuracy rate has exceeded 99%, the out-of-stock rate is less than 1%, the cash register speed has increased by 70%, and the average sales volume of stores has increased by 3-5%. As can be seen from the data, RFID can bring great improvement to retail enterprises.
05RFID industry is booming, where is the future?
With the development of retail industry, more and more retail enterprises begin to pay attention to RFID products. At present, many overseas retail giants have begun to use RFID to manage their own products. RFID in the domestic retail industry is also in the process of development, and the main force of development is not only overseas giants, but also domestic small enterprises, which also act as pioneers, embracing RFID in advance and enjoying the dividends brought by digitalization. The boat turned around and gave them a more leisurely alternative. It is believed that after RFID is gradually recognized by the market, more enterprises will join the wave of digital reform.
In addition, the miniaturization and diversification of RFID applications is also one of the obvious trends in the industry. Customers expect RFID, as an information carrier, to accomplish more than just a product that improves supply chain efficiency. Specifically, in terms of functions, Baodian has done a lot of exploration in the application of RFID to anti-theft, data collection, customer behavior analysis, etc., and has accumulated many successful cases.
ESG is also a very important trend in the field of RFID. With the development of carbon peaks and carbon neutral targets in various countries, the RFID field has gradually paid attention to environmental protection factors. From the transformation of antenna printing materials to the improvement of production processes and factories, the industry is constantly exploring how to develop the RFID industry in a green and sustainable way.
also attaches great importance to sustainable development. Now the new RFID factory is specially designed for environmental protection, the application of energy-saving system to reduce carbon dioxide emissions; roof installation of photovoltaic power generation, to achieve the standard of green factory. At present, Baodian has also reached a cooperation with PTS company to carry out green detection on RFID product line. At present, the theoretical cure rate of RFID tags in Baodian can reach 94%, which can reach the standard of sustainable development.
For the RFID market, Baopoint believe that the company is expected to reach 3 billion UHF RFID tag shipments in 2023, and continue to achieve capacity breakthroughs, take root in the retail industry, and provide better software and hardware solutions for the industry. In the future, the checkpoint treasure code will continue to devote itself to the retail industry, integrating store operation, intelligent application, passenger flow analysis and other functions into the scheme to help retail enterprises operate safely and in compliance and create an efficient management and pleasant shopping environment.
