RFID-enabled smart shelves heading into stores?

What could be more frightening than an uninvited shopping cart following you around with the Jaws theme song looping in your head? How about RFID-enabled shelves that peer into every decision you do (or don't) make while shopping for gifts, gadgets, or everyday necessities? Japanese outfits DNP, Tana-X, and SEARS (not to be confused with Sears), are developing an intelligent shelving system that tracks information on the amount of folks who pondered a purchase, how many tossed it in their carts, which items attracted little to no attention, and essentially anything else regarding the popularity (or lack thereof) of a stocked item. Information is also gathered on the kinds of products individuals purchase together (i.e. a PSP and a UMD in the same trip), and strategically located "POP" machines conveniently give detailed descriptions about scanned items to customers, while sneakily collecting data of its own for those oh-so-clever marketers behind the scenes. While we aren't sure which nations are targeted for primary testing in December, you should probably pack some RFID-zapping heat when perusing through the aisles this holiday season if this tin-hat-donner has you in a tizzy like it does us.

[Via Textually]

[funetik @ Sep 17th 2006 3:14PM]

The sign in the pic is from a Tesco supermarket in the UK.

[spil @ Sep 17th 2006 3:34PM]

"...not to be confused with Sears"

You mean not to be confused with "Sear's" with an apostrophe?

[Ryodoan @ Sep 17th 2006 3:36PM]

I dont see why this is a problem.

It doesnt know who the purchaser is, and will only make shopping easier and hopefully more intuitive.

This doesnt pose a high security risk that I can see, ok... some geek can see you bought 4 dvd's and a can of tuna.... so? This is not like passports where people could possibly have their identity stolen, or credit cards where you lose money.

This seems like a logical application of the technology and yet you still bash it.

[Iain @ Sep 17th 2006 3:50PM]

So is this going to be trialed at Tesco?

[Liam @ Sep 17th 2006 4:16PM]

So I am guessing this is being trialed in Tesco here in the UK? due to the picture.. and slogal "Every little helps"

[Matt @ Sep 17th 2006 4:48PM]

They have already done stuff like this at Tescos in the UK before. There was a huge furore about the whole RFID-CCTV thing for monitoring (absurdly overpriced) razor blades a year or two ago.

[MikeWatt @ Sep 17th 2006 5:46PM]

Oh no, now everyone will know about my penchant for only buying mini scotch eggs and port. Damn, too late!

[Wayne @ Sep 17th 2006 7:47PM]

There is no personal data involved here. MikeWatt, the store will know someone likes mini scoth eggs and someone likes port, not that you like both. RFID is really simply an anti-theft device and a logistics device in one. It helps keep shelves and warehouses properly stocked and prevents consumers from stealing mass quantities of razor blades.

[daviel @ Sep 17th 2006 8:50PM]

I, for one, welcome our inventory watching robotic overlords.

[clavis @ Sep 17th 2006 9:12PM]

It's not that big of a privacy violation. The RFID chips tell the store what anyone walking by your cart or the clerk that scans your purchases at the checkout could figure out - if it were really a big secret, you'd buy it online or something instead. (or maybe we should cover our shopping carts with tinfoil too...)

[John Stracke @ Sep 17th 2006 10:23PM]

So, if RFIDs are easy to zap, what good are they for inventory control?

[Aaron @ Sep 17th 2006 11:50PM]

I hate this idea. Do you know what this will do? This'll make the big stores that sell a little of everything (such as Tesco, which is a fine establishment, by the way) just sell the mainstream crap that makes money. Then when someone goes in there looking for that one unique DVD or video game that no one else wanted, that thing that's special and the store held on to it because they didn't know any better... it won't be there. Not because it's bad, but because it wasn't popular enough, according to the damn SHELVES. I understand wanting to have a successful business, but I think this would only end up hurting the selection of products in the stores that choose to use it.

[Redmond Cooper @ Sep 18th 2006 2:47AM]

@Aaron
They already do that without the help of RFID... They just check the sales at the end of the day/week/month and if it didn't sell they don't order any more.

[Bloo @ Sep 18th 2006 10:01AM]

They can check the sales like that, but it doesn't have the wealth of possibilities that RFID offers. RFID will allow the store manager to glance at a screen and instantly see how many people have got a certain product in their shopping basket, decipher why, and then consequently react to this information. In time we might find that stores with limited shelf space only display products at the times when they are normally bought. Why display a product 24 hours a day if its only ever purchased between 6-10 in an evening? Far better that the space is used for a more popular product outside these times.

[KKop @ Sep 18th 2006 8:19AM]

'Every Little Helps'... What the heck does that mean?

[kOa7 @ Sep 18th 2006 12:02PM]

Why doesn't anyone think of the 'consumer' ? Like use RFID to let people walk out with an inventory of the store, so they can do research, reconcile it with a consumer database that lets one rate the products based on dietary factors, company practices, transportation required, etc, and then be notified while walking down the aisles preferred practices.

Besides that, it'd be endless fun spoofing a system like this. Everyone, start hoovering near the scotch eggs and let's see what happens.

[TB @ Sep 18th 2006 2:39PM]

k0a7,
That probably will happen eventually, if the damn conspiracy theorists would shut up long enough for the base technology to become widespread.

[Cody S. @ Sep 23rd 2006 2:14PM]

You fail spil.

[duncan7777 @ Sep 27th 2006 2:21AM]

To Aaron,
Stores already know exactly what a customer buys every time they make a trip... Barcodes on every product tell a central back-office computer system what�s being purchased... So trends, like most people buying "tuna-fish", "mayo" and "white bread" in the same trip can already be analyzed. Seeing which products sell better than competing products can also be tracked using this same data. Watching how sales increase or decrease depending upon the placement of a product within the store can again be tracked with this same data.
Other than tracking the location of products around the store they are VERY limited with what can be achieved with this technology that they cannot already do with barcodes.

to bloo,
store anager des not need to use RFID to see when something sells well, stock trend data from currenly used barcode systems ALL use date and time stamps so you can see what times of the day things are sold... using data that already exists the store manager can see what products sell better when. RFID will not help it will show the exact same data, if somebody picks something up and then does not buy it... then your already doing something wrong with the placment or merchandising of it and would move it to a better sellng spot anyway.

One possible use that I have seen in an IBM proof of concept for this technology in a supermarket is when a customer swipes her/his credit card upon entering and a customer loyalty card, customer then walk�s round the store collecting shopping and upon walking out through a barrier is prompted to again swipe the loyalty card, the shopping trolley full of stuff is passed between the barriers and everything is scanned in a second or 2, rather than waiting 3-4 minuets in a checkout to have someone manually scan your stuff.

This proof-of concept does raise security concerns and would need other checks than just a single loyalty card swipe to make sure other could not abuse the system.

But until a checkout system such as the one described comes into reality, barcodes are king for data collection, RFID will serve no other useful purpose other than tracking your goods location.


It�s very strange that people have only just started making a fuss about RFID being used in supermarkets when they have been common place in DVD, Music and video establishments for a long time.
I can remember almost 8 years ago when buying a computer game or CD from virgin meant taking it to the checkout and having a hard plastic case taken off the item before you could walk out with it. RFID technology was what made the case set off the alarm when it passed through the doorway...
And in the expensive shops they actually had RFID's stuck onto the CD cases which were scanned at the checkout... these were small almost rectangular white plastic bubble stickers almost 2-3mm thick.
Go check your local ASDA... they are already doing it with CD's.... have been for quite a while, and nobody seems to be worrying about that�

From the point of view of a superstore making its Back-end systems more productive it makes a lot of sense to use RFID�s. I�ve managed a convenience store, I have worked in a good-in area of a superstore and a depot for good�s out, having the ability to simply sweep a scanner over a pallet of stock going in or out and see in less than 30 seconds that YES it matches the list of things that should be present would save the best past of 10-15 minuets of manual checking by scanning barcodes or checking descriptions, the job currently done in a cash and carry goods out area by 2 people could be done by one person in a fraction of the time�
Good�s coming into a superstore also would not need to be manually checked off a list or by scanning the barcode of the product coming in and adding the amount to the LOCAL store database, all of it could be done automatically by passing the pallet of goods under a short-distance RFID scanner.

You want cheap prices in supermarkets... Stop whining when we find a way to almost completely automate something.
If the places I used to work all had a system like the one I just mentioned both the good�s out and the goods in could afford to get rid of 2 people out of the 3 person team.
using the wages they were paid when I was working with them that�s a total of �440.00 a week per location saved. And the person left doing the job they all did before would be a part timer coming in for only 3-4 hours a day.

[Totoro @ Sep 28th 2007 11:16PM]

You also forget to mention that the Smart Shelf in the Tesco store also help staff to know when certain items are misplaced on the wrong shelf and when inventory is low. This allows them to go back to the back of the store and get more.

It is tied into a inventory system and a Manager or store employee will always know what in on the shelf and how many are in the back of the store. The system can automatically order new shipments when stock get to a set amount... no human intervention needed and the store doesn't need to blindly keep too much of a certain item on stock since it auto orders. This means the store can cut costs because they no longer need to either have a large back storage area and do need to spend money on hiring people to do a inventory by manual means