PI at Goldman - 9/11/24
CEO and CFO in a fireside chat
- Mentioned QCOM’s recent statement on RAIN RFID in handsets. Here are the statements from each company:
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Qualcomm statement: The integration of RAIN RFID technology into mobile devicesis rapidly progressing, with the initial rollouts focusing on enterprise mobile devices, expected within a few quarters. Consumer devices equipped with RFID technology are set to follow. Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. is actively involved in the ecosystem that is turning this vision into reality.
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Impinj statement: For the past two decades, Impinj has focused on developing innovations and partnerships to realize our mission to connect every thing and, in so doing, improve people’s lives. RAIN-enabled mobile devices are a critical next step on the path to enabling enterprises and people to connect with items everywhere and at any time, including in the supply chain, in stores and in everyday life – at work, in transit, at home and even at end-of-life recycling. They truly represent the next step in turning our mission into reality.
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Decathlon statement: Since 2004 we have been a pioneer in RAIN RFID technology, taking advantage of its full potential all over our value chain. In 2019, we took a significant step forward by equipping 100% of our products with RAIN RFID tags. With these new enterprise RFID smartphones, our teammates will turn product interactivity to an ultimate level to maximize operational efficiency and boost in store customer experience. By allowing our customers to directly connect with our products through RFID-enabled smartphones, we will empower them with unparalleled seamless omnichannel shopping journeys and open a new era of amazing experiences in sport practice and product services.
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Chris discussed the food opportunity. He is seeing a true ramp in the food freshness area at the item level. Pilots and deployments. NA is the leading geography by far. He gave a good description using bakery goods as an example. He said the industry loses $1B/year throwing away bakery goods. Since these items are tagged in store, this is not an area where suppliers need to get involved. This has been a holdup in the general merchandise category, and it does not exist for items tagged in store.
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Discussed the DPP legislation in the EU at length. Batteries are the first item, but he sees a huge opportunity with textiles, which has a 2027 implementation date. He already sees retailers working on this. There is work to do getting RAIN RFID as an approved data carrier. Even items manufactured outside the EU but sold there will need to comply.
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The RAIN Alliance produces market share data in the Feb/Mar timeframe, that’s when we’ll get info in that area.
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Expects the follow-on in general merchandise will be rapid once WalMart is deployed. Suppliers will have solved the issues with each product complying with WalMart, and the retailers already are familiar using RAIN for their apparel.
Cooters