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RFID without handhelds: a dream for ten years
September 24, 2025 • 4 min read
Article
Store
For as long as I’ve been working in the RFID industry, it has been almost everyone’s dream (including mine) to gain the accuracy and speed benefits of RFID, without requiring store colleagues to walk around with handhelds. I vividly remember the first RFID users in stores describing the technology as “magic and voodoo.” Now, it’s time to bring the real magic to stores: RFID working seamlessly in the background.
At Nedap, we ran our first proof-of-concepts with fixed infrastructure back in 2015. At that time, the technology was barely functional, and even when it worked, the business case wasn’t there. It was simply too costly to install readers in stores compared with having colleagues perform a weekly count.
Fortunately, a lot can change in ten years. We’ve seen major technical improvements:
RFID labels & chips
have become significantly better. Chips now feature higher sensitivity and auto-tuning capabilities. The recent introduction of Impinj Gen2X added specific performance-enhancing features.
Readers
have become more cost-effective and powerful.
Deployment and integration tools
have evolved. Ten years ago, you still needed on-premise processing power; today, everything can run in the cloud.
Meanwhile, the retail business itself has changed. Wages have increased significantly, and it has become more difficult to employ and retain good store associates.
The business case in 2025
So, is there a business case for fixed RFID infrastructure in 2025? There are multiple ways to look at this:
Fixed infrastructure for new RFID users
For retailers that haven’t yet deployed RFID with handhelds, there may have been concerns that training staff would be too complicated, cycle counts too time-consuming, or accuracy insufficient. In these cases, fixed infrastructure could be the only viable way to deploy RFID.
Fixed infrastructure for existing RFID users
For current handheld RFID users, the equation is different. Many of the potential benefits have already been realized with handheld operations. Here, the investment must be justified by efficiency improvements (less labor, better processes) or entirely new use cases.
The strongest business case arises when new use cases can be deployed. Some promising ones include:
- Fully automated stockroom-to-sales floor moves to power in-store replenishment. Today, this is mostly manual (using a handheld app) or semi-automated (using Move Station), which creates compliance challenges during busy times. Fixed infrastructure could change that.
- Finding or identifying misplaced items. In larger stores, or for inexperienced staff members, locating items can be a major challenge. Fixed infrastructure could automate much of this process, with RFID-enabled mobile devices assisting in the “last meter.”
And of course, the possibilities don’t stop there: fitting room conversion, integrated loss prevention, product movement tracking, and more.
Other open questions
Beyond the business case, there are practical considerations —>
And what about handhelds, are they truly a thing of the past? Not quite. In most cases, handhelds are still needed for processes like status management, last-meter searches, and outbound shipments. However, they can now be much lighter and simpler, for example the Zebra TC53e-RFID or Bluebird X40. The recent Qualcomm announcement of an enterprise mobile processor with built-in RAIN RFID will also accelerate progress in this area.
Should you deploy fixed infrastructure to all stores, or maintain a mix of handheld stores, reading-station stores, and fixed-infrastructure stores?
Does it make more sense to deploy in larger stores, smaller stores, or both?
Which hardware vendor offers the best solution?
Nedap is here to support your journey
At Nedap, we are ready to fully support the transition to fixed infrastructure. Our dedicated team is conducting technical research, building products, and supporting customers with proof-of-concepts, deployments, and rollouts.
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