52.8 billion tags. One Year. RFID technology is no longer emerging — it has arrived.

The numbers that tell the story

The Digital Product Passport (DPP) is a structured digital record linked to a physical product, capturing materials, provenance, sustainability data, repairability, and lifecycle events from manufacture through to end-of-life. Under the EU’s Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR), DPPs will become mandatory across a growing range of product categories, with the scope expanding progressively beyond its initial focus sectors. Furniture and large-format retail, categories defined by complex bills of materials, multi-supplier sourcing, and products with long active lives in consumer homes, sit squarely in the path of that expansion.

This post looks at what DPP means in practical terms for bulk retailers, why RFID is the most reliable foundation for compliance at scale, and how organisations that move early will find commercial advantages that go well beyond meeting a regulatory deadline. For a detailed grounding in the standards and technical architecture that underpin DPP, including EPCIS 2.0, GS1 identifiers, and implementation phasing, see our 2026 Guide to Digital Product Passports. This post builds on that foundation with a sector-specific lens.

Which sectors are leading the way?

Retail: The largest adopter

Retail accounts for approximately 35% of the global RFID market by end-user industry, and adoption is accelerating. As of late 2024, approximately 93% of North American retailers were using RFID technology in some capacity, according to a recent Accenture report.

The reason is straightforward: inventory accuracy. Manual counting achieves an industry average of around 70% accuracy. Retailers deploying RFID have pushed that figure to 98% and beyond. Fewer stockouts, less shrinkage, faster restocking, and a supply chain that knows exactly where everything is, in real time.

For European retailers, a further driver is coming into force in 2026 with the EU’s Digital Product Passport regulation, which mandates item-level traceability across a growing range of product categories. RFID is the most efficient technology available to meet that requirement.

Rail: Precision at scale

Rail is an environment that demands RFID’s core strengths: the ability to identify, authenticate and track assets without human intervention, at speed, in harsh conditions, and across complex multi-operator networks.

From Automatic Vehicle Identification (AVI), which gives operators precise, real-time data on rolling stock location and movement; to the tracking of components, tools, and maintenance assets across depots and infrastructure, RFID delivers the kind of operational certainty that rail cannot function without at scale.

As European rail networks modernise and freight operators come under increasing pressure to prove asset utilisation and compliance, the demand for robust RFID infrastructure is growing steadily.

Logistics and supply chain: The backbone of modern commerce

RFID has become inseparable from high-performance logistics. The ability to read thousands of tags simultaneously, without line of sight, transforms warehouse operations, dispatch verification, and goods-in processes.

Enterprises that have implemented RFID report a 25–30% reduction in inventory error rates and a 70% reduction in inventory inaccuracy, according to Gartner data cited in supply chain research. Distribution networks have documented reductions in order fulfilment errors of over 60%, alongside dramatic cuts in shipping verification time.

In a logistics environment where margins are tight and customer expectations are high, that level of accuracy is not a luxury, it is table stakes.

Manufacturing: Industry 4.0 in practice

In manufacturing, RFID is one of the foundational technologies of Industry 4.0. It connects production lines to business systems, enables component tracking from goods-in to finished product, and provides the kind of real-time operational intelligence that supports both quality control and continuous improvement.

The integration of RFID with IoT platforms and cloud-based analytics is enabling predictive maintenance, automated quality assurance, and end-to-end product lifecycle visibility. For manufacturers supplying regulated sectors: automotive, aerospace, pharmaceuticals; the traceability that RFID enables is increasingly a contractual requirement.

The forces driving the next wave of growth

The EU Digital Product Passport

Beginning in 2026, the EU’s Digital Product Passport regulation introduces item-level traceability requirements across an expanding range of product categories. Each product will require a unique digital identity, accessible to regulators, supply chain partners, and consumers; containing lifecycle and sustainability data.

RFID is the most practical technology for delivering this at scale. The RAIN Alliance has been formally accepted as a liaison to the CEN/CENELEC JTC24 Committee, playing a direct role in shaping the standards framework. For European businesses, DPP compliance is not a future concern. It is a near-term operational challenge that requires a technology decision now.

Mobile RFID

Qualcomm has confirmed its active involvement in integrating RAIN RFID reader capability into enterprise and consumer mobile handsets, with enterprise devices expected within a few quarters and consumer devices to follow. When every smartphone becomes an RFID reader, the use cases multiply exponentially – from consumer authentication and product verification to field-based inventory management.

Falling tag costs

UHF inlay pricing has fallen to sub-$0.04 in high-volume applications, a threshold that opens RFID to high-velocity, low-margin categories: fast-moving consumer goods, food and beverage, and sectors where tagging every item was previously considered uneconomical. This is not a peripheral development. It is what will drive the next significant expansion of the market.

AI integration

Machine learning is increasingly being applied to the data streams that RFID generates, enabling anomaly detection, demand forecasting, and automated decision-making across logistics, retail, and manufacturing. RFID provides the real-time data layer; AI determines what to do with it.

What this means for the consumer

RFID’s transformation of business operations ultimately reaches the end consumer in ways that are becoming increasingly visible. The product that arrives exactly as ordered, on time, without substitution. The pharmaceutical that can be authenticated at point of dispensing. The garment whose provenance and composition can be verified by scanning a tag. The parcel tracked with precision from warehouse to doorstep.

As mobile RFID becomes mainstream, consumers will interact directly with tagged products, accessing authenticity verification, sustainability credentials, and product lifecycle data through their own devices. The relationship between product and consumer is changing, and RFID is the technology that makes it possible.

Where coriel fits

At Coriel Solutions, we design and deliver RFID, barcode and IoT ecosystems across the full complexity of real-world operations; from pharmaceutical supply chains and passenger rail networks to retail item-level visibility and industrial asset tracking.

We work with organisations across the UK and Europe to move from proof-of-concept to live deployment, integrating track-and-trace capability with existing ERP and WMS systems through corielTHINGS, our technology-agnostic data platform. We don’t just deploy hardware. We engineer connected systems that deliver measurable operational impact.

If the numbers in this article prompt a question about your own operations: where your assets are, how they move, and what visibility you currently have; we would welcome that conversation.

Talk to Coriel: coriel-solutions.com/information/contact

Sources: RAIN Alliance (Feb 2025); IDTechEx RFID Market Report 2026–2036; Grand View Research RFID in Healthcare; Mordor Intelligence RFID Market; SkyQuest RFID Market Report 2025; Accenture retail RFID report (late 2024); Gartner supply chain data via ScienceDirect (2025); World Journal of Advanced Research and Reviews (2025).