With the cost of RFID tags starting to fall, printable tags on the horizon and the GS1 DataBar standard delayed until 2014, which coding system will win out, asks Penelope Ody
Despite more than a decade of hype, RFID has remained a technology waiting in the wings. Successes have been limited to a handful of high-profile implementations, such as at Wal-Mart and Marks & Spencer, while item-level tagging - in grocery at least - has been uneconomic and experimental.
But now, with the cost of tags starting to come down and growing interest in both traceability and improving on-shelf availability, RFID is back on the agenda.
Inevitably, the delay in the global standard for GS1 DataBar -pushed back this March from 2010 to 2014 - has given RFID systems suppliers cause for optimism.
So will it face stiff competition from resurgent RFID by the time it goes global?
Leading players are already implementing DataBar, which allows more information to be embedded in a smaller barcode - Tesco is using it on fresh produce, for instance. But, as Stephen Arens, senior director of industry development at GS1 US, suggests, DataBar might just encourage item-level RFID, since the same middleware will be needed for handling the information contained in the labels.
"Some retailers believe this is a good transitional move," he says.
A few are already extending their use of RFID - albeit experimentally. Metro, for example, is tagging packs of meat at its latest Future Store using Avery Dennison UHF tags. A scanner in the refrigerator monitors how long meat has been on display and sends requests to the in-store butchery for replacement packs as needed.
Use of tags for traceability is also gaining ground. "There is a great deal of interest in RFID for track and trace," says James Stafford, head of RFID adoption at Avery Denison. "Customers are concerned about where food comes from and an RFID tag that goes from raw materials to finished products with information about processes written at every stage would be more efficient than the current paper-based systems."
Traceability is seen as a key benefit of DataBar, with embedded codes providing information on expiry date, country of origin and so on. However, the information options are limited and the symbology cannot deliver the precise tracking for product recall that is possible with RFID.
"RFID can provide a much better solution," says Jonathan Bellwood, MD of RFID solutions supplier PeopleVox. "Paper barcode labels get torn and difficult to read, so you lose the information."
While new technology could ultimately make item-level RFID feasible, DataBar is already in use. "DataBar enables supermarkets to label small products, such as individual fruits, to improve stock control," says Tim Brown, barcode business manager at GS1 UK.
David Lyon, EPCglobal business development manager at GS1, also maintains that the two technologies have different roles. "DataBar is stationary, line-of-sight and suitable for PoS, while RFID can cope with any orientation and is more suited for the supply chain," he says.
Certainly companies like PeopleVox expect RFID sales in the grocery sector in the short term to come from tagging reusable food trays, cages or pallets rather than item-level labelling.
GS1, meanwhile, maintains that there is nothing to stop retailers benefiting from DataBar now rather than waiting for the 2014 deadline. For retailers that are faced with an expensive scanner upgrade, however, the temptation to wait and see how technology develops might just prove a more attractive option.
Despite more than a decade of hype, RFID has remained a technology waiting in the wings. Successes have been limited to a handful of high-profile implementations, such as at Wal-Mart and Marks & Spencer, while item-level tagging - in grocery at least - has been uneconomic and experimental.
But now, with the cost of tags starting to come down and growing interest in both traceability and improving on-shelf availability, RFID is back on the agenda.
Inevitably, the delay in the global standard for GS1 DataBar -pushed back this March from 2010 to 2014 - has given RFID systems suppliers cause for optimism.
So will it face stiff competition from resurgent RFID by the time it goes global?
Leading players are already implementing DataBar, which allows more information to be embedded in a smaller barcode - Tesco is using it on fresh produce, for instance. But, as Stephen Arens, senior director of industry development at GS1 US, suggests, DataBar might just encourage item-level RFID, since the same middleware will be needed for handling the information contained in the labels.
"Some retailers believe this is a good transitional move," he says.
A few are already extending their use of RFID - albeit experimentally. Metro, for example, is tagging packs of meat at its latest Future Store using Avery Dennison UHF tags. A scanner in the refrigerator monitors how long meat has been on display and sends requests to the in-store butchery for replacement packs as needed.
Use of tags for traceability is also gaining ground. "There is a great deal of interest in RFID for track and trace," says James Stafford, head of RFID adoption at Avery Denison. "Customers are concerned about where food comes from and an RFID tag that goes from raw materials to finished products with information about processes written at every stage would be more efficient than the current paper-based systems."
Traceability is seen as a key benefit of DataBar, with embedded codes providing information on expiry date, country of origin and so on. However, the information options are limited and the symbology cannot deliver the precise tracking for product recall that is possible with RFID.
"RFID can provide a much better solution," says Jonathan Bellwood, MD of RFID solutions supplier PeopleVox. "Paper barcode labels get torn and difficult to read, so you lose the information."
While new technology could ultimately make item-level RFID feasible, DataBar is already in use. "DataBar enables supermarkets to label small products, such as individual fruits, to improve stock control," says Tim Brown, barcode business manager at GS1 UK.
David Lyon, EPCglobal business development manager at GS1, also maintains that the two technologies have different roles. "DataBar is stationary, line-of-sight and suitable for PoS, while RFID can cope with any orientation and is more suited for the supply chain," he says.
Certainly companies like PeopleVox expect RFID sales in the grocery sector in the short term to come from tagging reusable food trays, cages or pallets rather than item-level labelling.
GS1, meanwhile, maintains that there is nothing to stop retailers benefiting from DataBar now rather than waiting for the 2014 deadline. For retailers that are faced with an expensive scanner upgrade, however, the temptation to wait and see how technology develops might just prove a more attractive option.
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