Supply Chain Disappoints, Go For Niches

Filed in archive Supply Chain on February 26, 2007

In an article at RFID Journal this morning, an analyst with Frost & Sullivan notes that disappointment with respect to low volumes in retail supply chain RFID applications has caused some RFID suppliers to diversify away from focus on retail supply chain, and toward what she calls "niche" applications and markets.

Analyst Priyanka Gouthaman writes:

There has been considerable RFID activity in certain industrial sectors, such as semiconductors, petroleum, chemicals, oil and gas, building materials, industrial safety equipment and maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) equipment. Increased adoption of the technology in these markets is particularly significant, because they were not among the early adopters of RFID. Interest within the consumer supply chains of several industrial sectors has also propelled the pervasive use of RFID technology. While these sectors are not likely to emerge as high-volume markets, Frost & Sullivan expects the potential for RFID-based industrial manufacturing applications to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 13.3 percent from 2005 to 2012 in North America. Other large application niche areas include livestock tagging, tracking of animals or pets, tracking of food supply chains and personnel tracking in prisons and correction facilities

Oddly, she appears to be referring to just about everything besides retail supply chain applications as "non-traditional" or "niche" applications.