[LINK] CW: 'Marks & Spencer UK expands RFID trial'

[Roger Clarke]

[Initial comments are about the trial, but the second half contains 
bullish marketing comments about the irrelevance of privacy as a 
factor]

Marks & Spencer expands RFID trial, includes lingerie
Computerworld
Laura Rohde (IDG News Service) 24/02/2005 13:24:15
http://www.computerworld.com.au/index.php/id;2026735508;fp;4;fpid;18

UK retailer Marks & Spencer will begin putting RFID tags in bras as 
part of an extended trial.

U.K. retailer Marks & Spencer (M&S) will extend its ongoing trial of 
radio frequency identification (RFID) technology for the management 
of its clothing stock from nine of its stores to 53 in the second 
quarter of next year.

"The feedback so far from our staff has been very positive in that 
the RFID tags have clearly improved our stock-taking process. What 
takes up to eight hours a week to do manually can be done with RFID 
tags in about an hour," said M&S spokeswoman Olivia Ross on 
Wednesday. "Plus the staff have said that they find the technology 
easy to use: simply waving a scanner over a rack of clothes."

RFID is a method for storing, receiving and transmitting data using 
antennas on tags that respond to radio frequency queries. Tags can be 
read when a remote scanner is passed over them. M&S began a trial of 
the technology itself in 2003 and then moved on to trial RFID on an 
item level in April 2004. The current trial is only for men's suiting 
but will include women's undergarments in 2006, Ross said.

"We are looking to test RFID with size-complex items, and for bras 
alone, there could be over 40 sizes," Ross said. The extended trial 
is expected to run through the third quarter of 2006, after which the 
company plans to continue with additional tests. Ross said there are 
no plans for what items future trials would include or time lines for 
when RFID would move from the test stage to being used on a regular 
basis in M&S stores.

BT Group will be the main contractor on the second phase of the 
trial, providing M&S with IT services like deployment assistance and 
maintenance of the RFID readers. BT is also assisting with the 
implementation of RFID in M&S' food supply chain. M&S has contracted 
with Intellident for the scanner technology, while the microchips are 
from EM Microelectronic-Marin.

M&S is quick to point out that the only purpose in using RFID is for 
improving its stock-taking process. The RFID tags are not scanned at 
the checkout, nor is any link made between the garment information 
held by the tag and the customer's details, such as credit card 
information, Ross said.

"We don't match personal details to the garment and we will never be 
doing that," Ross said. "We are open about the trials and the 
customer feedback we've been getting has been positive. The customers 
we've polled in the stores using RFID have said they noticed an 
improvement in stock availability which they like."
In the current trial, the RFID chips are placed inside throwaway paper labels.

During the second phase of the garment trial, the chips will be 
integrated into the paper barcode labels M&S already uses to record 
the size and cost of the item, and will have the words "Intelligent 
Label for stock control use" marked on it so shoppers are aware of 
the RFID chip. The intelligent labels can be read at speeds 20 times 
faster than bar code labels, M&S said.

The company also provides leaflets to customers in the stores where 
the tags are used explaining the new technology as well as what M&S 
is doing -- and will not be doing -- with the information it 
collects, Ross said.

Peter Harrop, chairman of RFID specialist IDTechEx, said that 
companies planning to use RFID must conduct trials that show 
customers the technology's benefits, such as well-stocked stores, and 
address potentially sensitive issues from the outset.

Harrop pointed to the decision by clothing retailers Benetton Group 
and Prada (I Pellettieri d'Italia) to drop their RFID trials after 
receiving negative reaction to tags being put in women's lingerie and 
women's dresses, respectively. "I think Prada was quite surprised by 
the reaction of women shopping in its New York store who didn't like 
the idea of the store recording dress sizes," Harrop said.

U.K.-based retailer Tesco, also found itself dealing with protests 
after it was revealed that during its pilot with Gillette razor 
blades, the tags were programmed to send instructions for in-store 
cameras to take pictures of people with the product at the check-out 
stand. "There was some protest, but Tesco completed the trial, which 
showed that the technology works," Harrop said. "Tesco has decided to 
proceed with its RFID trials but to focus on ones that don't have to 
do with catching criminals for the time being."

Harrop believes several of the privacy campaigners' concerns are 
contrived and, based on information culled from the 1,300 European 
RFID case studies IDTechEx has in its database, doesn't think privacy 
issues will derail the technology's use.

"People face more intrusion on their privacy through the use of their 
mobile phones, which can continuously track their whereabouts, and 
that hasn't kept people away from that technology," Harrop said. "The 
main thing that would keep RFID tags from becoming ubiquitous is 
cost."


-- 
Roger Clarke                  http://www.anu.edu.au/people/Roger.Clarke/
			            
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Visiting Professor in Info Science & Eng  Australian National University
Visiting Professor in the eCommerce Program      University of Hong Kong
Visiting Professor in the Cyberspace Law & Policy Centre      Uni of NSW