Transcript
A (0:00)
Walmart and Avery Denison have formed a new RFID partnership to provide visibility across fresh groceries. According to Progressive grocer, Avery Denison has developed breakthrough RFID sensor technology capable of functioning in high moisture cold environments such as meat cases. An innovation that was long considered impossible. Avery Denison's intelligent labeling solution is being used across Walmart's meat, deli and bakery departments, giving every item its own digital identity for real time freshness and expiration data. The partnership represents a potential step change in how retailers can balance freshness, sustainability and labor efficiency issues that have become mission critical across the food retail landscape. Chris, this is Also A&M's put you on the spot question. Yes, A and M would like to know. Anytime a new to market technology is dubbed as long considered impossible, you tend to take notice.
B (0:59)
Well said, guys.
A (0:59)
Well, yeah, here it feels like the first domino to drop with many downstream benefits to retailers to come. If you agree with that sentiment, what dominoes can Avery Denison and Walmart topple next with this unique RFID solution?
B (1:15)
Wow. Interesting. Wow. How do I attack that? There's so many angles to that question too. You know, I think in direct response to that question, I think, you know, I think this is the first, this is another domino yet in what Walmart has, I think pretty much, you know, given us a clear indication that they're trying to do, which is to create kind of the smart store of the future. Like they want to have an understanding of how the items and people and products are moving through the store at any given time in real time, similar to how you would on an E commerce website. I think, I think that's where this ultimately goes. And, and the reason this story is very important is that previously perishables and fresh food were a black hole in terms of inventory, visibility. I mean, this and metal products potentially. Although I know our good friends JP and Marshall might have different thoughts on this and much better thoughts than I do. But this is the holy grail of RFID in the grocery setting, particularly by virtue of the fact that waste and spoilage are the number one areas that eat into a grocer's profit. So, so Walmart's, again, they're out in front of things. We talked a couple weeks ago on the show even about how they're using Wiliot and, and deploying Bluetooth sensors. But as we learned in a, in a podcast that we're gonna debut very soon with you all in our Spotlight series, that's at the pallet level too. That's, you know, that's more on the transportation side of things and making sure, you know, you know where things are, that they're stored. Right. And they're stored in temperature. Right. And so this is taking it down to an even greater level. And so it's a step change really here. And so, you know, when, when Walmart moves, the other point I'd make. And when Walmart moves, so does the industry. And I think part of this is also in response to the legislation around food safety that's coming. You know my favorite acronym, bisma. And so, yeah, so Walmart is, you know, in front of that and then they're still in front of the overall smart store design of the future too, which is going to pay so much dividends for them in the long run just because of the fact that they're just so much further along on the experimentation side of this.