Advances in RFID Technology: From Intelligence to Retail

That's RFID – Radio Frequency Identification technology.

RFID technology was invented in the 1940s to detect friendly and enemy aircraft during World War II, but it wasn't until the 1970s that it became widely used in other industries.

Today, RFID technology is ubiquitous. It tracks over two million manuscripts and ancient books in the Vatican library, records and documents endangered species, allows keyless entry to hotel rooms and music festivals, and even helps prevent shoplifting in large retail stores.

In 2003, Walmart became the first retailer to adopt this technology by adding RFID tags to its products to track merchandise and deter petty thieves.

Dr. Rajkishore Nayak, a senior lecturer at RMIT University Vietnam, describes RFID as “the future technology of retail.”

He shared: "When you think of current trends in the fashion retail or business industry, you'll see many companies are switching to new technologies, using RFID to replace barcodes."

According to Dr. Nayak, the main reason this technology has become popular is its effectiveness and security.

“This technology has many advantages for the retail industry. RFID tags are not easily tampered with or removed, making it difficult for shoplifters to steal from the store. RFID also tracks the weight and location of products accurately – even when goods are moving – so stores know exactly which products are on the shelves and where they are at the time of tracking,” the doctor said. “This makes the inventory sorting process much faster.”

Thanks to the effectiveness of RFID tags, Dr. Nayak predicts that by 2025, 50% of retail brands will be using this technology. In addition, this technology will be increasingly applied in the manufacturing and agricultural industries to track production lines and agricultural product inventory.

“Silkworm farms have been using RFID tags on each silkworm cocoon to track growth and the amount of silk they produce. The tags are also used to track wool yarn. From the RFID tags, farmers can know if a sheep is healthy or losing weight. Even with 50,000 sheep on a farm, they can easily track each individual with this technology,” Dr. Nayak emphasized. “This technology is also very good for animals.”

Dr. Nayak found that cost was the biggest challenge for retail stores, as it would increase significantly from around 23 dong for a barcode tag to over 1,000 dong for an RFID label tag.

He stated, "Businesses are certainly still hesitant to adopt RFID technology due to cost issues, as these labels are more expensive and require accompanying technology such as complex computer systems, scanners, and readers. In addition, some critics argue that this system is vulnerable to hacking. However, the main risk comes from similar counterfeit products deceiving customers into thinking they are buying genuine products. Businesses in the industry are also addressing this issue."

Dr. Nayak is a senior lecturer at RMIT University Vietnam. He defended his doctoral dissertation at the Fashion and Textiles Department, RMIT University (Australia). He has been teaching and researching in fashion and textiles for the past 15 years. During this time, he has published over 90 peer-reviewed research papers in national and international scientific journals and has also released six books.

Dr. Nayak's latest book –  Radio Frequency Identification (RFID): Technology and  Application in Fashion and Textile Supply Chain – is now available in paperback, hardcover, and digital formats. The inspiration for the book came when Dr. Nayak discovered that, regarding advanced technology in the retail industry, textile manufacturers and students lacked sufficient information to learn and research.