Major new Vandagraf Report: Connected Packaging & Labels and The Internet of Things (IoT)
10 February 2017
Major new Vandagraf Report: Connected Packaging & Labels and The Internet of Things (IoT)
Business & Market Opportunities in 2016 with forecasts to 2021 & 2026
In an Ideal World – The Near Future
In an ideal World, one may envisage the widespread use of a single ‘radio-electronic’ device embedded in item level packaging / labels that can perform a broad range of functions to provide ‘multiple’ benefits offering up several value streams for the brand owner.
By factoring in ‘multiple’ benefits, the business case (i.e.: ROI) for adopting such devices can be made very much more robust & compelling for brand owners. Together these factors will create a ‘virtuous circle’ of benefits leading to greatly increasing sales volumes of such ‘radio-electronic’ devices.
This combination of factors is evolving to become the cornerstone for a game-changing opportunity for:
- Solution providers (RFID inlay makers, as well as hardware & software developers)
- Packaging & Label industries
- Brand owners
- Others ……..
Increasingly this is looking like an achievable goal - Provided that sufficient capital investment is made by the device providers in the next few years. We believe it is primarily a matter of commitment and investment by the industry – There are no fundamental barriers due to the ‘physics’ as such.
Widespread adoption of ‘radio-electronic’ devices embedded in packaging or labels will offer such enormous benefits further on down the road that this technology will be embraced by brand owners offering premium and safety critical products.
And over time this is set to generate very substantial savings & revenues and ROI for brand owners and device providers alike.
Explaining the Breadth of the Opportunity to Brand Owners - A Key Challenge
The key now will be the full recognition by brand owners of the breadth of benefits that can be offered by all this new and enhanced multi-functionality
For a number of years the relatively high unit cost of radio-electronic devices has been an important barrier to wider roll-out of such radio-electronic devices (e.g.: NFC, UHF…..) for item level packaging / label type applications – This is set to change.
While much lower cost printed solutions such as barcodes, QR codes, digital watermarks can also be interesting ‘gateway’ devices providing access to the Internet, the potential benefits offered with radio-electronic devices will continue to be more far reaching – In fact the gap will tend to open up even further while the cost differential will decline (although will not disappear entirely).
Multi-functionality is the Key – IoT Sensor Platforms
The primary focus of this Vandagraf Report is how the Retail Internet of Things (IoT) is driving interactivity at various levels – and the valuable applications that are (or soon will be) available in relation to Connected Packaging / Labels, including the following functionalities:
- Consumer Engagement & Mobile Marketing
- Track & Trace / Mass Serialisation
- Retail Inventory Management (UHF)
- Brand Protection & Brand Protection
- Tamper Evidence
- EAS - Anti-theft
- Location Based Data / GPS
- Product Quality – Sensors (**)
- Other type of function (e.g.: Pharmaceuticals clinical trials, Tax Stamps).
And more functions and applications will undoubtedly become realisable in the near future.
All under-pinned by the power of Big Data & Analytics.
Convergence of Major Technology Advances – Tipping Point
Recent technology developments have been resulting in a marked uplift in the industry’s prospects of radio / electronic ‘gateway’ devices. Although the concept is not entirely new, cost effectiveness is now set to become a realistic prospect and a major ‘Tipping Point’ in the overall viability of this concept is fast approaching, driven by:
- The growth of the |Internet of Things (IoT) enabled item level packaging & labels that open direct 'gateways’ to the Internet is gathering momentum. And this is opening up a whole raft of interactive possibilities that are set to become readily available to brand owners and consumers
- The reality & prospects of substantially lower unit cost ‘radio-electronic’ devices thanks to the imminent commercialisation of printed electronics is set to bring huge changes across the industry (some estimates see an 80% reduction in cost per device)
- New generation dual frequency ‘combi’ inlays (NFC + UHF) which enable ‘radio-electronic’ devices to be read at both short and long range, will dramatically increase the number of functionalities that can be achieved with a single on-label radio-electronic device
- Such inlays will be smart phone readable as well as by dedicated mobile readers and static readers (e.g.: tunnel readers). This is fast becoming a commercial reality with several major device providers launching such 'combi' dual frequency devices. The viability of NFC enabled smart phones to read NFC tags is already well established today. And current development work will soon make viable UHF enabled smart phones.
Aim of the Report
This Report sets out to:
- Make sense of this multi-facetted complex and shifting matrix of a marketplace
- To provide a roadmap for the industry
- To quantify the market opportunities & challenges.
Report ABSTRACT & TABLE OF CONTENTS available on request: info@vandagraf.com
(*) e.g.: Pedigree type legislation likely to become mandatory in the near future (e.g.: The EU Falsified Medicines Directive and other legislation worldwide)
(**) Based on sensor capability - Detecting changes that take place to or around the packaged product – e.g.: Time / temperature, moisture content, gas ingress / egress).
