RFID in the FMCG Market

Sammanfattning: As a result of digitalization, the food industry, along with the rest of the retail industry, faces many new challenges. With increased customer demand for sales and seamless experience through digital channels, larger companies, with a traditional store concept, need to adjust their business concept accordingly. Some of the world's most successful companies - Walmart and Amazon - has identified a need for implementation of digital tools in traditional supermarkets to meet new customer demands. One of the digital tools used is RFID, which is used to increase efficiency throughout the whole supply chain. Some companies have found the results of the technology to be satisfying, while some others have abandoned their projects, due to increased costs. The aim with this thesis is, therefore, to investigate if RFID could be the disruptive technology that ICA, the largest food retailer in Sweden, amongst others could use to stay attractive on the rapidly changing market. The technology is considered to both lower costs, increase revenue and to increase the shopping experience, hence the large interest of it. On the contrary, technology is not to seldom referred to be a threat against personal integrity - causing privacy issues. Surveys indicate that out of all industries, the fast-moving consumer goods sector is the slowest adaptor to e-trading. The research of this thesis investigates if there is a social acceptance of the usage of RFID-technology among customers in grocery stores, which will be cross-referenced with previous research. Further, the aim is to identify how such a digital tool affects the daily operations of ICA-stores and how it affects the profitability of such businesses.