There is no argument today about the impact that retail/apparel and footwear have had on the passive UHF market. Estimates vary on apparel's share, but it hovers around 70 percent to 80 percent of the total UHF market. And that includes only about 2 percent of the apparel items sold. In our recent research of RFID use among retailers, the retailers indicated an interest in expanding their use of RFID in apparel. And the tag industry that supports retailers is forecasting numbers between 23 percent to 35 percent growth in apparel use, as well. More retailers will be tagging more items in the next few years.

Department store Kohl's has completed its installation of a radio frequency identification solution to track garments in select categories at its stores, as well as distribution centers.

Geographical information systems and advanced mapping tools will increasingly be used in the supply chain to map potential risks and mitigation strategies as well as to track people and assets inside the four walls, says Wolfgang Hall, global industry manager at Esri.

Hundreds of recreational marijuana shops are slated to open in Colorado on Jan. 1. Once that happens, every package of buds or processed products, such as marijuana-laced brownies, will have an RFID tag attached to it, intended to help the state regulate product and ensure that it comes from authorized sources.

After two years of trialing and then deploying an inventory-tracking RFID system for a large European apparel retailer, sister companies IER and SDV are now marketing a solution based on that deployment. The offering, known as iD by SDV, combines SDV's software and logistics services with IER's RFID tags and readers, enabling users to track goods from the point of manufacture to the point of sale.