Application of RFID Technology in the Beverage Retail Industry

RFID technology makes beverage retail smarter

Have you ever been unable to find your favorite beverage in a supermarket? Or have you been impatient waiting in line to check out? In fact, many large supermarkets, such as Walmart and Target, are already using a technology called RFID to solve these problems.

RFID stands for “radio frequency identification”, which can read information wirelessly. It is like an “ID card” for beverages. Merchants only need to use a machine to scan and know where each bottle of beverage is and how much inventory is left.

What is an RFID tag?

Simply put, an RFID tag is an electronic tag the size of a small piece of paper, which is attached to the beverage packaging. For example, our tag:

The operating frequency is 860 to 960 MHz

You can choose from a variety of chips: Impinj Monza R6, Ucode 9, M730

The size is 50×50 mm, and it can also be customized on demand

The material can be paper, PET (plastic), or even anti-metal tags

The adhesive backing is very strong and not easy to fall off

In a good environment, it can be read up to 10 meters away

Support thermal or thermal transfer printing

Support EPC Gen2 V2 encoding standard

How does RFID help beverage retailers?

1. Know the inventory at any time, and don’t worry about out-of-stock
Sometimes we can’t find the drinks we want because the supermarket didn’t restock them in time. After using RFID tags, the store can see how many drinks are on the shelf at any time, and which one is about to sell out, and replenish it immediately. Walmart even said that if it reduces out-of-stock by 1%, it may earn an extra $2.5 billion!

2. No need to stock up too much, saving money
In the past, merchants feared that they would run out of stock, so they would stock up a little more. Now with RFID, it is easy to see when the stock is out of stock and how much is missing, so there is no need to stock up too much, which can also save warehouse costs.

3. No need to scan the barcode one by one, saving manpower
Barcodes need to be manually aligned and scanned one by one, which is slow. RFID can read a whole box at a time, greatly saving time and manpower.

Future development

Just like when barcodes first appeared, not all supermarkets used them. RFID is now in its infancy. In the next few years, it may be as popular as barcodes. By then, both retailers and manufacturers will benefit from it: clearer inventory, more timely replenishment, and more satisfied customers.