We’ve just completed the preliminary estimates for our 2010 RFID Business Planning Service. What we’ve learned is that the overall RFID market – all hardware, software and services – will approach $4.2 billion in 2010 and grow more than 20% annually through 2014. There is a tremendous amount of activity occurring in both new and emerging markets. High transponder volumes, more scale, high value-add, convergence with other solutions, deeper integration, proliferation throughout the value chain, increased commitment from end users, decreased evaluation times, increased adoption within new accounts … the RFID universe is rapidly expanding.
We should all be excited about what is happening in retail, but when you look at the entire RFID industry, the retail sector is a relatively small percentage of the total revenues. In fact, the retail market will account for approximately 6-7% of the total global RFID revenues in 2010 and, despite the expected growth, will still represent less than 10% by 2014. That’s right … more than 90% of global RFID revenues are from non-retail applications. So, without detracting from the success in retail, there are many other RFID stories that deserve time in the spotlight.
The following list highlights just a few of the non-retail applications that will experience significant near-term growth:
Ticketing
• Supply Chain Management
• e-ID and Security programs
• Asset tracking
• Environmental monitoring and Cold chain solutions
• Contactless payment
• Anti-counterfeiting
• Read-through metal solutions
• Library