Metro Group Expands Its RFID Trial
Written by Evan SchumanOne of the more aggressive retail RFID backers in the world, Germany’s Metro Group, announced Friday that it is moving its pilot to the second phase and adding 70 more suppliers in China and Vietnam.
The program, which Metro calls "Tag it, Easy," is intended to better track products through Metro’s global supply chain. The first phase of the program, launched in May, used 30 Chinese suppliers. The second phase was launched at "a kick-off event for suppliers today in Hong Kong" and will start to ship the first tagged products by December, Metro said.
As products move from Hong Kong to its Unna, Germany, facility, the serial shipping container code (SSCC) is repeatedly read, delivering to Metro "an electronic advance shipping notice detailing the contents of each shipment and the suppliers receive automatic proof-of-delivery notifications," the Metro statement said.
Cards issued by European banks when used online cross border don't usually support AVS checks. So, when a European card is used with a billing address that's in the US, an ecom merchant wouldn't necessarily know that the shipping zip code doesn't match the billing code.
-Marc
