Rfid newsWow sirits really trading today..
Guess theres no future in RFID...NOT
They only reason SI not going up..
Is because.....I own it...
Lately everything I buy turns to $hit..LOL
Wal-Mart to test controversial tags
MARINA STRAUSS
RETAILING REPORTER
Wal-Mart Canada Corp. will launch a test this fall of controversial new technology that can track products from the supplier to the store, in an attempt to ensure that the shelves are never empty.
Looking to improve its bottom line, the discount retailer will roll out the pilot in 20 of its 272 stores and one distribution centre, spokeswoman Christi Gallagher said in an interview. About 16 suppliers will be asked to volunteer, picked from among a number who are already participating in similar U.S. tests of the tiny electronic chips, called radio frequency identification devices.
This week, Canada's Privacy Commissioner issued a warning about RFIDs, saying they could be used to collect information about consumer habits and even the consumers themselves.
Jennifer Stoddart said RFIDs can be placed in just about anything that is sold to, or used by, people, including credit cards, money, passports, luggage, clothing and food packaging. In this way, every object can be uniquely identified and tied to people by the linking of personal data with the item.
Still, Ms. Gallagher said Wal-Mart's test only entails placing the tags on cartons or pallets of products -- and not on the products themselves. Therefore, customers will not walk out of the store with the RFID tags, she said.
"For the foreseeable future, we don't anticipate focusing on item-level tagging," she said, adding later: "We plan to take a measured approach -- one step at a time -- and make adjustments as we go."
The retailer wants to use the chips to try to closely monitor its products. Particularly, it wants to ensure that it is never out of stock of the more popular items. Merchants often lose money -- and customers -- when shoppers arrive at a store just to find that the product they wanted is sold out.
A recent study of U.S. parent Wal-Mart Stores Inc.'s RFID pilot found that the discounter enjoyed a 30-per-cent reduction in out-of-stock situations as a result of using the chips.
The study, sponsored by Wal-Mart, also showed that test stores outperformed control stores by 63 per cent, and RFID-tagged items within the test stores were more readily available than non-tagged items within those same stores by threefold.
Ultimately, Wal-Mart expects that using RFIDs will boost sales as customers are able to find more of the products they want on the shelves, Ms. Gallagher said.
Already Wal-Mart, the world's largest retailer, excels at operating a highly efficient distribution system, helping to make it stiff competition for rivals. The added benefit of RFIDs will make it an even savvier competitor, industry observers said.
Retailers have generally been slow to adopt RFID because the technology remains expensive. Grocery giant Loblaw Cos. Ltd. may test the chips later this year, an official has said. They will help the chain to operate more efficiently, chairman Galen Weston said last month, adding the technology will inevitably come to Loblaw.
Staples/Business Depot Canada, meanwhile, introduced a small pilot in one of its 265 stores and a distribution centre a few months ago, said Jeff Williams, vice-president of information services.
Staples has not placed the chips in products, only in cartons, he said. "We're not tagging anything that a customer would leave the store with."
He said product tracking accuracy with RFID is "pretty good," although one test case showed that the performance was better with manual scanning. But it's still early days, he added.
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