NRF, or National Retail Federation, is an international exhibition hosted by the National Retail Federation, the world's largest retail industry association. NRF is a feast for the retail industry and a stage for the collision of wisdom and inspiration among the elites of related industries. During the exhibition, retailers, suppliers, technology providers, etc. from all over the world gathered together to showcase the latest products, technologies and solutions. The exhibition covers multiple fields, including smart payment, smart data collection, interconnected commercial smart devices, digital retail solutions, etc.
RFID technology became a highlight at the NRF 2025 exhibition held recently at the Jacob Javits Convention Center in New York. Many leading RFID companies such as BrightSign, Crave Retail, Impinj, Optimum Retailing, Oracle, Sensormatic, SML, Teacher Commerce, Xemelgo, Wiliot and Zebra Technologies gathered together to showcase their latest products and services, and discussed how RFID technology can drive the business development of retailers and international companies and bring innovation and change to the retail industry.
What did the major RFID companies show at NRF?
SML Intelligent Inventory Solutions (SML IIS) launched its RFID Top-Mount Reader at the show. This innovative product combines SML's Clear software solution and Zebra's ATR7000 RTLS reader to greatly enhance retailers' loss detection capabilities through an RFID top-mounted reader placed above the store exit. It is able to register RFID-tagged items as they pass through the exit to verify whether the items have been purchased, thereby adjusting the in-store inventory quantity and providing accurate inventory for in-store and omni-channel fulfillment. This solution provides retailers with visibility into where theft is occurring in the supply chain, allowing them to take corrective actions to minimize inventory losses.
Meanwhile, Optimum Retailing (OR) launched its groundbreaking Realgram AI visual merchandising platform. The platform uses real-time inventory data and automatically generates store-specific planograms based on business goals with one click. Realgram AI is designed to solve one of the most persistent challenges in the retail industry - in-store merchandising to manage inventory levels at scale. It enables retailers to generate customized planograms for various locations in minutes based on business goals, thereby improving operational efficiency, profitability and sustainability.
In terms of smart retail suites, Xemelgo demonstrated its products that integrate seamlessly with Zebra's full range of RFID hardware and mobile solutions. These devices provide advanced RFID scanning and rugged reliability, tailored for fast-paced retail environments. With Xemelgo's software built on AWS, retailers can effortlessly connect to back-end systems for end-to-end visibility and streamlined operations. These solutions support a variety of use cases, including supply chain management, back-of-store inventory tracking, order fulfillment, etc., providing retailers with measurable advantages throughout the supply chain.
In addition, Sensormatic Solutions also demonstrated its latest innovations, including embedded RFID Seam tags, enhancements to theft analyzers, and third-party solutions that are now part of its retail solutions and services ecosystem. These solutions are designed to help retailers prevent organized retail crime and improve operational efficiency by simplifying sales and inventory management.
It is worth mentioning that Goni Labs demonstrated its AI-driven mirror at the show. This mirror integrates advanced technology to provide users with a virtual try-on experience. It allows users to explore clothing options and share their experience with friends, thus enhancing the retail experience. This innovative technology not only optimizes the in-store and online shopping process, but also reduces the return rate and improves the return on investment.
In terms of SaaS retail store execution platform, GreyOrange announced the deployment of its innovative gStore platform in PetSmart stores nationwide. This strategic deployment enhances PetSmart's location management, inventory management, digital fulfillment and store operations to improve the efficiency of its nearly 1,700 stores. The unmanned retail technology introduces real-time shopping basket technology and autonomous experience combined with assisted sales, and has launched autonomous supermarkets in cooperation with the country's leading grocery retailers. This proprietary artificial intelligence technology combines computer vision, machine learning and sensors to achieve 99% accuracy in tracking consumer interactions with products, greatly improving the shopping journey and providing retailers with valuable real-time data.
Epson also demonstrated its various technology solutions for retail enterprises. The application range of these solutions covers checkout, labeling, grocery stores and delis, as well as transportation and logistics offices. Epson's products are characterized by their stylish and durable design and enhanced connectivity, and are committed to helping retailers operate more efficiently and effectively in a highly competitive market.
Checkpoint also demonstrated its RFID-based electronic article theft prevention system at NRF 2025, which can significantly improve the accuracy and efficiency of theft prevention.
Why has RFID anti-theft become the focus of the NRF exhibition?
Many RFID companies have made RFID anti-theft the focus of the NRF exhibition. The author believes that the main reasons are as follows:
RFID has significant technical advantages in the field of anti-theft
RFID technology can read and write information without physical contact. It automatically identifies the target object and obtains relevant data through radio frequency signals. The identification work does not require manual intervention, and the goods can be monitored without disturbing the normal shopping of customers.
In addition, the RFID system can complete the identification of multiple tags in a very short time, meet the needs of large-scale and high-speed applications, and can quickly scan a large number of goods, so as to facilitate the timely detection of abnormalities in places such as shopping malls and supermarkets where people frequently enter and exit.
Not only that, RFID tags have certain anti-fouling, high and low temperature resistance and other characteristics, and can work stably in harsh environments. Whether it is humid, dusty or high and low temperature environments, it can ensure the normal performance of its anti-theft function. Compared with traditional barcodes and QR codes, RFID tags can store more information. In addition to basic product information, they can also record the circulation trajectory and sales status of products, providing richer data support for anti-theft.
Urgent demand in the retail industry
The retail industry faces serious theft problems, including customers stealing and internal employee theft. According to relevant data, theft has caused huge losses to retail companies. RFID technology can help retailers monitor the status of goods in real time and effectively reduce the incidence of theft.
In the logistics link, the loss and theft of goods are also common problems. RFID technology can track the goods throughout the process. Once the goods move abnormally, it can issue an alarm in time to facilitate the rapid location and recovery of stolen goods.
Outstanding application results
Many large retailers such as Macy's have used RFID technology for many years and have achieved significant anti-theft effects. Macy's effectively identified and tracked theft in the store through "smart exit" monitoring, including internal theft by some long-term employees.
RFID technology can not only prevent theft, but also be combined with inventory management, supply chain management and other systems to help companies achieve more accurate inventory control and more efficient supply chain operations, and improve the overall management level and operational efficiency of the company.
Driven by industry trends
With the continuous development of technologies such as the Internet of Things, big data, and artificial intelligence, RFID technology is deeply integrated with them to form a more intelligent and personalized anti-theft solution. For example, combined with AI algorithms, RFID systems can achieve intelligent identification, tracking and prediction of target objects.
In addition, the current penetration rate of RFID in the field of retail anti-theft is still low, and there is a large space for replacement, so major RFID companies are targeting this market.
This paper is from Ulink Media, Shenzhen, China, the organizer of IOTE EXPO (IoT Expo in China)
