Can RFID Determine the Number of Bottles of Wine and Liquor Inside a Retail Store?

By RFID Journal

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Ask The ExpertsCan RFID Determine the Number of Bottles of Wine and Liquor Inside a Retail Store?
RFID Journal Staff asked 5 years ago

Would this be feasible at 100 percent accuracy, assuming each bottle were tagged with an RFID label?

—Brian

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Brian,

Yes, it can. There are several companies that offer transponders designed for use on bottles. R-Pac, for example, introduced such a tag a few years ago (see R-pac Releases EPC UHF Label for Spirits, Wine, Cosmetics). If a store associate were to walk around with a handheld reader, waving the device in front of shelves, he or she might not read 100 percent of the tags. It's possible that the energy might not reach a small percentage of tags, or that something might block the signal from returning from the tag, but the associate would likely capture 95 percent to 98 percent—and within a fraction of the time it would take to count the bottles manually. Employees could carefully turn the bottles so that each tag were facing the reader, then move any objects out of the way. This would take a bit longer, naturally, but you would be able to read 100 percent of the bottles.

—Mark Roberti, Founder and Editor, RFID Journal

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