Electronic tags are now used in a wide variety of retail and supply chain applications to curb theft, provide information about shopping trolley use, control access to store or office areas, transport, drive automated or semi-automated warehouse or transhipment facilities, manage inventories, and provide information about distribution systems. The market is divided into categories differentiated upon "traditional" lines by technology. Hence there are electronic article surveillance (EAS) products; radio frequency identification devices (RFID); and smart card devices which have developed in relation to different markets and technologies and are not generally seen as being part of the same family of products. There is no accepted phrase available which can be used to group this family: "intelligent tags" is one attempt but we use the term "electronic data tagging".
The main types of electronic tag relevant to the retail industry:
- Electronic article surveillance tags (EAS)
- Radio frequency identification devices (RFID)
- Smart cards (contactless)
- Intelligent tags
These are all devices which signal their presence and transmit data, if only 1 bit (ie present or absent) as in most EAS tags. Although they are very different products, they are relatively compact electronic devices and have a wide variety of applications. They are low cost and are likely to fall further in price. They are robust in the sense they are designed to last as long as the application and are available in a number of housings, the choice of which will depend on the precise use intended for the device. They will also be affected by developments in other business sectors, which will encourage innovation and bring down prices.
Read complete article here: Electronic Tagging, RFID and EAS - Centre for Retail Research
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