New Consumer Goods Commitment To Be Reflected In Leading RFID Conference By Dr. Peter Harrop, IDTechEx

The retail and consumer goods industry is now overcoming its concerns about the cost and performance of RFID and making big commitments. This is reflected in the speaker lineup for Europe's leading RFID conference, IDTechEx RFID Europe in Cambridge UK 18-19 September. Ahold, Sony, Marks & Spencer, Schiutima/C1000, Logica CMG, Toppan Printing and others will describe retail and consumer goods successes in Europe and Japan. Major plans from the factory to the retail shelf will be covered including Marks & Spencer's commitment to 350 million tags yearly on items, ahead of any other retailer in the world. Reduced costs and increased sales are the bounty and paybacks on some of these schemes are one year or less.

The use of mobile phones to buy RFID tagged items in Japanese shops and to mimic transport cards is now an everyday experience for tens of millions of consumers. Four international speakers at the conference will map how this is now about to sweep the world. Manchester Airport Group, which runs major airports in Australia and the UK, will describe how it is using RFID to optimize service in its shops. Squidcard will address e-money for low value purchases. The closely allied subject of pharmaceutical RFID will be covered by speakers from Sweden, the Netherlands and the UK. Separate sessions detail how to make RFID tags and how to provide the systems. Then there are three speakers on printed and chipless RFID where retail/consumer goods is the largest potential user, given the severe price constraints for item level tagging at the one hundred billion unit level that is targeted. IDTechEx forecasts that the retail/consumer goods industry will fit 12 billion such tags in 2010. RFID standards are covered by three global authorities. Three optional Masterclasses variously cover RFID technology, manufacturing and markets. A fourth Masterclass covers printed electronics and how it will transform retail packaging, merchandising and RFID.

For more information visit www.IDTechEx.com/RFIDeurope or contact the Event Manager; Corinne Jennings on +44 1223 813703 or at c.jennings@IDTechEx.com

For more information please contact the author Dr. Peter Harrop on p.harrop@IDTechEx.com or +44 1256 862163