International. IDTechEx has projected that the global RFID market will continue to grow in 2023, reaching a value of USD 14 billion, compared to USD 12.8 billion in 2022. Likewise, the firm will guarantee that this trend will be present in the next five years.
Now this market value prediction is made up of RFID tags, cards, key fobs and other form factors, as well as active and inactive RFID tags, scanners and software/services.
According to IDTechEx, specifically with its analysis titled "RFID Forecasts, Players and Opportunities 2023-2033", in the "Passive RFID Tags" segment it accounts for more than half of the total RFID market and 39.3 billion tags will be sold passive RFID in 2023, up from 33 billion in 2022, indicating a double-digit growth rate. One detail, most of this projected growth is due to passive UHF RFID tags.
However, UHF (RAIN) tag sales by value will only be 30% of HF (including NFC) tag sales. “This is primarily due to the higher price of HF tags used for security (such as payments, access, etc.) versus the cheaper and largely disposable UHF (RAIN) tags used to tag items.”
However, IDTechEx also delved into brand trends in each type of passive RFID tag market.
UHF (RAIN RFID): Apparel retail continues to dominate the UHF industry in terms of tag number and market size. IDTechEx forecasts that nearly 24 billion RFID tags will be used in retail apparel labeling by 2023. While 24 billion may sound like a large number, it represents only 30% of the total addressable market for retail apparel alone.
Despite the success of the apparel retail industry, another area where IDTechEx anticipates strong growth is the labeling of other retail products, such as electronics, furniture, and appliances, among others.
HF (incl. NFC): In the HF sector, contactless card sales remain the strongest, with an expected demand of 3.1 billion cards in 2023. These sales are mainly driven by contactless payment, transportation and secure access applications.
LF: In the LF sector, tagging of animals (such as pigs, lambs and pets) remains significant, as it remains a legal obligation in many more regions, with 771 million tags used in this sector in 2023.
