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Shaping tomorrow’s retail today: METRO Group drives the deployment of RFID

12.07.2007

Shaping tomorrow’s retail today: METRO Group drives the deployment of RFID

Also MGL METRO Group Logistics, the logistic services and competence center of the METRO Group, will provide all nine food distribution warehouses with RFID portals. In future, MGL will only ship pallets tagged with a Smart Chip to the Metro Cash & Carry wholesale stores.

The precondition for this comprehensive rollout of RFID was the changeover to a new and particularly powerful chip standard, the so-called EPC Class1/Generation 2. Thanks to this new standard, the Smart Chips can be read much faster and more reliably than before. Thus, the technical basis has been established for deploying RFID along the complete supply chain. This technology allows for the contactless transfer of data. It is highly beneficial not only for the retail trade and industry but also for the customers. In the department for men’s outerwear at Galeria Kaufhof in Essen, for example, a research project on RFID funded by the EU was initiated in July 2007. The objective is to give customers comprehensive product information while shopping. Moreover, the project shall examine how RFID processes in logistics can be made faster and more efficient. This will also benefit the customers as it appreciably increases product availability.

Systematically tap the potential

METRO Group recognized the benefits of RFID early on. Already back in 2004 it rolled out the RFID technology to the goods receipt in individual test stores and distribution centers. The positive results from these tests and the development of the new chip standard have now created the preconditions for a group-wide rollout. "We will forcefully drive the area-wide deployment of RFID this year in order to systematically tap the large potential of this technology", said Frans Muller, Member of the Management Board of the METRO Group. External partners from the consumer goods industry are also participating in the RFID rollout. So far, 40 companies have adapted their processes to the radio technology, with more to follow in the further course of the year.

About Radio Frequency Identification

Radio Frequency Identification, or RFID for short, allows for the unequivocal identification of objects by radio signals. To this effect, such objects must be provided with a Smart Chip - a minute computer chip with an antenna, on which a number is saved: the Electronic Product Code (EPC). It references to product-specific information such as manufacturer name, country of origin and merchandize category, saved in a database.

METRO Group is one of the most important international retailing companies. In 2006 the group reached sales of about € 60 billion. The company has a headcount of some 270,000 employees and operates about 2,400 outlets in 30 countries. The operating business is performed by the sales brands which operate independently in the market: Metro/Makro Cash & Carry – world market leader in cash & carry wholesale, Real hypermarkets and Extra supermarkets, Media Markt and Saturn – market leader in consumer electronics centers in Europe, and Galeria Kaufhof department stores.

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