RFID Tag Use Cases in Retail

The most commonly used RFID use case involves tracking product location. This data helps retailers improve inventory accuracy, speed up picking and shipping, and enhance customer service.

Tracking movement of products around the store can reveal trends like high-traffic end caps, pinch points, or different associate paths at different times of day.

Inventory Tracking

Inventory tracking is one of the most important uses of RFID technology, especially in retail settings. RFID tags can provide accurate real-time data about the location and stock levels of items, which reduces human error and improves efficiency.

The technology can also improve security by eliminating the need to count and secure merchandise at night, reducing theft and shrinkage. It can also help to monitor the condition of inventory, which helps companies make better decisions about production, purchasing, and pricing.

Using RFID tags for inventory tracking can also cut labor costs. Warehouse workers no longer need to spend time scanning and counting items, and the system can verify the contents of shipments in seconds. This can help companies save on shipping costs and improve customer satisfaction.

RFID systems can help retailers track inventory throughout the supply chain, which improves business performance and enables them to meet customers’ demands. They can track incoming goods, cross-dock shipments, and reduce the amount of time it takes to get products out the door for delivery. They can also help to mitigate costly risks, such as product misdistribution and loss; combat counterfeiting and tampering; and ensure that returns are processed properly.

When evaluating the cost of RFID tags for inventory tracking, consider recurring expenses as well as one-time costs. Recurring expenses include items such as RFID inlays and labels, printer ribbon, and software licenses. One-time costs include the purchase of hardware such as readers and antennas.

Asset Tracking

From laptops to construction tools to high-value equipment, managing assets is a critical part of business operations. Whether you need to monitor assets for safety or inventory purposes, RFID is an effective technology that eliminates the need for manual monitoring and logging using spreadsheets and helps to automate the process.

RFID tags can provide accurate real-time data about the location of a specific asset in a facility, and they can be read by fixed scanners or mobile devices such as smartphones or tablets. The system then communicates the information to a central database where it can be used for tracking and reporting.

Many facilities require the use of a variety of tools and service kits that are frequently lost or misplaced. By attaching an RFID tag to these items, they can be RFID Tag automatically tracked as they are used by staff. When a new work order requires the same type of kit, the facility manager can see which technician has it and where it is located.

Active RFID tags with a battery can emit an RF signal that can be interrogated at a greater distance than passive tags, up to hundreds of meters. This allows multiple tags to be scanned at once without needing line-of-sight between the reader and the tag. The tag’s on-board memory can also be used to store sensor or maintenance data that can be accessed and read remotely.

Access Control

The ability to control access to specialized equipment and areas is an important part of maintaining a secure business. By using RFID to verify credentials and assign permissions, you can keep track of where employees are within the workplace. This helps you maintain security without having to rely on manual monitoring, which can be less accurate or time-consuming than traditional methods.

To enable an RFID system to verify credentials, the reader emits a radio signal that energizes the tag. The tagged object responds by transmitting a coded identification number that the reader decodes. The reader sends this information to the application system via middleware, which then compares the identity number with a database and either grants or denies access.

Many RFID readers can read several tags at the same time, which allows for efficient workflow in high-traffic areas. They are typically designed to work in rugged environments and can withstand vibration, shock, incandescent light, extreme temperature fluctuations, natural and artificial light, humidity and rain.

Many businesses are using RFID for access control applications. These systems are effective for allowing tenants to enter the building by tapping their ID cards against an RFID reader near the entrance door. If a resident loses their card, it can be quickly disabled in the system and a new one issued. Similarly, the system is effective for elevators where you can easily monitor who has access to specific floors in the building.

Security

While the benefits of RFID are considerable, security and privacy concerns arise as well. With very little built-in security, RFID tags can often be read after an item leaves a store or supply chain. In medical or military settings, this can be a matter of life or death.

There are several ways to improve your RFID system’s security. Some methods rely on encryption to make the data unreadable to hackers. This requires the reader and tag to communicate using a special key that’s not shared over the standard RFID interface. This type of solution is expensive and impacts read ranges.

Other solutions use a challenge response authentication to ensure the tag and reader only exchange encrypted information over a secure channel. This method is more cost-effective, but it still requires extra computational power from the chip and limits read rate and ranges.

A kill switch is another option, allowing the tag to be RFID Tag disabled by sending it a command with a special password. This feature is incorporated into many newer chips, but isn’t available on all. This can be useful for consumer products or to disable a tag once it’s been used in a return.

Another option is to choose a reader that gathers tag info one at a time, rather than multiple at once. This can help prevent tag collision and reduce eavesdropping.