The sporting goods industry has experienced significant changes throughout the past decade, with consumers buying more athleisure outfits and shopping more online. Sports brands have thus turned to digital technologies to set themselves apart from fashion brands, as well as to boost online sales and offer customers an innovative shopping experience. However, the availability of counterfeit sportswear online is increasing, for without physical licensed stores, counterfeiters can easily produce sportswear and add fake labels before the goods are shipped to consumers.
Last year, sales losses from counterfeiting in the sports industry amounted to €500 million worldwide. In this white paper, STMicroelectronics explains how Near Field Communication, a wireless connectivity technology based on radio frequency identification, can alleviate this problem. NFC enables contactless communication between readers and tags; thus, adding NFC tags to objects connects them to the digital world. Implementing NFC allows brands in the sporting industry to track products around the globe, ensure authenticity and create a direct two-way communication channel with consumers via their smartphones. (6 pages)