Role of RFID in Smart Packaging
In 2019, the smart packaging market was estimated at USD 36.81 billion, and it is predicted that this value will reach USD 46.25 billion in 2025 year. According to the study Smart Packaging: Opportunities and Challenges, smart packaging is a process of packaging systems integrated with sensor technology used for food & beverages, pharmaceutical, automobile, healthcare, inventory, and logistics products. With smart packaging, retailers can bring life into a shelf, observe freshness, screen quality information, and enhance product value or customer satisfaction. Smart packaging is a medium through which the physical and digital world can be connected. RFID labels in the smart packaging process create a ‘‘digital bridge function’’ between creators, retailers, customers and social media platforms, making the packaging more smart and intellectual than before.
We all know how RFID stickers/labels work: they use RF waves to detect the products using a sticker embedded on items. The potential of RFID stickers/labels to work without line-of-sight make it super intellectual technology than the conventional barcode procedure.
RFID’s role in smart packaging is extensive as it provides endless opportunities and boundless advantages like security, interactive traceability, protection against counterfeiting, and much more than this. Let’s discuss the top four benefits of RFID-based smart packaging in detail;
Product Security
Inventory items embedded with RFID stickers have self-aware features. Retailers can determine the location of products starting from source to destination. By knowing the exact location of inventory items from time to time, retailers can locate the products. This improves the overall security of products, protects the product from being mishandled and helps the companies identify the quality of products.
Tamper Control
Every customer wants sealed and original products. By sending tampered, damaged and already opened products, businesses can’t acquire customer satisfaction. Nonetheless, by inducing RFID smart labels into the products, tampering can be limited. Once the product is opened, it destroys the electronic circuitry of the RFID tag and breaks off the RF signal to the package. A user can then immediately determine that the package has tampered before through pop-up alerts or notifications.
Interactive Traceability
The role of RFID technology in smart packaging can be understood from the interactive traceability feature. Some consumers want to know more about products, and this can be attained through interactive traceability. Products embedded with RFID labels allow sellers to check all the details of ingredients, quality, how-to-use tutorials, and beyond.
Place your phone over the smart RFID label and interact with the product digitally. Moreover, products enclosed in smart packages enable the owners to launch special offers, discounts, sales and promotional events. Therefore, it doesn’t matter whether you’re a consumer and owner; smart packages offer both benefits.
Acquiring Specific Information
This feature is more helpful for the consumption of medicines and food & beverage items. For instance, if customers want to identify the expiry date, product quality, chemical quantity, and condition of ingredients, then RFID-based smart packaging products can effectively deal with this. As mentioned above, smart packages mean products are integrated with sensors. These sensors permit the users to control the temperature and environmental conditions, helping them maintain products’ eminence.
