J.C. Penney Cuts Back On RFID Rollout

By PYMNTS | January 31, 2013

J.C. Penney has drastically reduced the number of items it plans to integrate with RFID tags, citing the cost barrier to RFID adoption as reason for the change in plans.

In July 2012, the company’s CEO, Ron Johnson, announced that J.C. Penney would aim to tag all merchandise with RFID tags by February 2013. Now, the company plans to limit RFID-tagged merchandise to shoes, bras and some denim and jewelry products, reports RFID Journal.

“The company recently postponed the implementation of RFID as part of a cost-saving initiative,” says Joey Thomas, J.C. Penney’s media relations manager, “but will continue to roll out tagging in bras, footwear, fashion jewelry, and men’s and women’s denim. We see the value and benefits of RFID, and will continue exploring the opportunity to further deploy the technology at a later date.”

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