Top 5 trends for RFID solutions market in 2011

NATICK, USA: VDC Research Group analysts announced today their predictions for the key trends anticipated to shape the 2011 RFID solutions market. 2010 has been a banner year for the AIDC market, with many RFID suppliers experiencing double-digit growth.

In order to maintain this momentum, VDC Analysts recommend suppliers consider the following trends as they plan for 2011.

Adoption of Item-Level Tracking in Retail Continues to Surge
VDC expects item-level tracking applications in retail to continue to expand rapidly in 2011, as the solution is adopted in new accounts, scaled and expanded in existing accounts and embraced globally. Growth will also be further driven as RFID continues to migrate toward the point of manufacture.

Asset Tracking Applications Go Beyond Location
Asset tracking solutions will continue to expand beyond just providing the location of an asset. They will increasingly be leveraged to provide more information about the asset—its environment, movements and users—as a means to support and enhance business processes, increase asset utilization, support compliance and minimize costs.

Authentication and Anti-Counterfeiting Emerge as Leading Applications
Product authentication and anti-counterfeiting applications are anticipated to grow quickly and expand into a broad range of verticals over the next three to five years as companies look to create a more secure supply chain. These applications are expected to extend the functionality of existing systems beyond track and trace to protect brands, further improving ROI.

Solution Convergence Will Provide Key Benefits
Although there may be overlap in functionality and capabilities, the convergence of RFID, barcode and other AIDC solutions will provide the end-user more actionable business intelligence with little disruption to existing solutions and processes. The combination of these technologies will be particularly beneficial for applications and environments, such as supply chain and inventory management.

More Revenues to Come From New Accounts
Although approximately 80 percent of total global RFID revenues in 2009/2010 were from established accounts that have been evaluating/piloting the technologies for at least 18 months, VDC expects a shift in consumption coming from new accounts to occur in late 2011/early 2012.

This tipping point will be a function of favorable pricing, increased packaging of solutions and availability of off-the-shelf solutions, more benchmark and performance metrics, enhanced standards and improved business models.