German retail giant Metro is to begin using RFID technology (Radio Frequency Identification) throughout its entire process chain.
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Beginning in November 2004, approximately 100 suppliers initially will affix RFID tags to their pallets and transport packages for delivery to ten central warehouses and around 250 stores within Metro’s sales divisions Metro Cash & Carry, Real hypermarkets, Extra supermarkets and Galeria Kaufhof department stores.
Metro said tests with the new RFID tags have been successfully conducted over recent months at Metro’s Extra Future Store in Rheinberg, Germany. RFID technology enables non-contact transmission of product information such as price, manufacturer, expiration date and a product’s weight via radio frequency.
Using RFID, goods will be able to be located along the entire process chain – from production all the way through to the shelf in the store, meaning that orders can be optimised, losses reduced and out-of-stock situations avoided, assuring a consistent availability of goods for the customer, the retailer said.
“In the future, the use of innovative technologies will be one of the crucial competitive factors in our industry. With the Future Store Initiative, the Metro Group will push the modernisation of retailing,” said CEO Hans-Joachim Körber at a retail conference in New York.
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