Walmart and Avery Dennison have announced a new innovation to advance the use of radio-frequency identification (RFID) technology in fresh categories.
Addressing food waste and ensuring freshness are important for consumers, producers and retailers. This first-to-market solution seeks to transform inventory processes and enhance employee and customer experiences across fresh departments – particularly bakery, meat and deli.
Looking to help develop a solution to a longstanding industry challenge of using RFID technology in high-moisture, cold environments, Walmart partnered with Avery Dennison to create and test a first-of-its-kind sensor technology that brings RFID-enabled labels to the meat department.
By using Avery Dennison’s RFID solutions in meat, along with bakery and the deli department, Walmart employees can track inventory faster and more accurately, making sure products stay stocked and ready when customers want them.
With digital use-by dates right at their fingertips, employees can also rotate products and make smarter markdown decisions, helping cut down on unsold food.
“We believe technology should make things easier for both our associates and our customers,” said Christyn Keef, VP of front end transformation for Walmart U.S. “By cutting down on manual work, we’re giving our associates more time to focus on what really matters – helping our customers.”
Julie Vargas, VP and GM of Avery Dennison Identification Solutions, said supporting Walmart withRFID innovation across multiple fresh food categories underscores the companies’ commitment to people and the planet.
“By giving each item its own digital identity, associates instantly know the freshness of the foods they are handling, enabling better inventory management and resulting in less waste,” she said. “This is a landmark moment for the industry and chimes with our own personal milestone as Avery Dennison celebrates 90 years of helping to solve some of the world’s most complex challenges.”
The collaboration also ties with Walmart’s sustainability goals, including its aim to cut global operational food loss and waste intensity in half by 2030.
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