Retail RFID is currently estimated at just less than 27 percent of the overall RFID market, and supply chain management applications, when considered as separate from warehouse and transportation, represent a little more than 15 percent of the overall RFID market.

Anything worth doing is worth doing well. It's an old adage, but certainly applicable to the current state of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology.

Originally designed to streamline supply chain management, RFID has had its share of supporters and detractors, and even though criticisms have slowed the adoption of this technology, it hasn't halted its process of innovation.

According to "RFID: Technology, Applications and Market Potential," a recent study from BCC Research, the global market for RFID hardware, middleware and IT market reached US$640 million in 2005. In 2006, the global market is projected to grow to more than $713 million, and is forecasted to reach $1 billion by 2011, an average annual growth rate of 8.0 percent.

Retail Leading the Way
Retail RFID is currently estimated at just less than 27 percent of the overall RFID market, and supply chain management (SCM) applications, when considered as separate from warehouse and transportation, represent a little more than 15 percent of the overall RFID market.

Retail applications and SCM applications are each growing at a considerable pace. The retail market segment has been driven by mandates from retail giants like Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT) , Target and Metro. Since inventory control is a major financial concern, the return on investment for this sector is more apparent than in others.

Propelled by retailer mandates, as well as ISO regulations, many suppliers have either already implemented RFID or are in the midst of doing so.

"[Wal-Mart's] announcement obviously gave passive RFID technology a kick start," said Mark Dessommes, marketing  director at LXE, Norcross, Ga. "The announcement has required companies to purchase RFID equipment in order to become compliant, spawned countless trials and some full-blown implementations [as a result of the trials]."

Despite the number of retailers mandating or even leaning toward RFID, adoption is causing suppliers to take a close look at their bottom-line return on investment.

Source