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RFID Technologies Used in Conjunction with Social Media

Monday, October 18th, 2010

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE: WMT) benefits from RFID for inventory management and CYBRA Corp (OTC-BB: CYRP) benefits from providing RFID technologies to several industries, but perhaps the biggest sign of the ubiquitous nature of RFID is in new social media applications ranging from Facebook to Foursquare to Vail Resorts, Inc. (NYSE: MNT).

Vail Resorts’ Unique Twist on RFID

Vail Resorts will debut EpicMix, a platform that enables visitors to use social media tools to connect with each other, this coming ski season. In 2008, the company began incorporating RFID tags into its ski tickets in order to make it easier to check lift tickets at chairlifts.

EpicMix will expand upon that functionality by allowing users to earn electronic badges upon reaching different milestones, such as the number of vertical feet they’ve skied or by night skiing on three different chairlifts. Visitors can then publish their statistics on their Facebook or Twitter accounts.

RFID Adoption Rate Continues to Rise

While Vail Resorts’ move signals RFID’s usage as a social media enabler, other companies are using the same technology to improve retailing as well. For example, Dairy Queen recently started providing peel-off adhesive strips with RFID tags for their customers to stick to their wallets and cell phones. The RFID tags provide special discounts and offers for return customers, as well as track spending history and menu preferences.

Wal-Mart also began the rush to RFID earlier this year when it announced plans to put RFID tags on all of its apparel products. The retailer is hoping that this will help lower costs by decreasing the time it takes to count inventory as well as increase revenues by ensuring that the right items are always stocked.

Who are the Beneficiaries of this Trend?

Several companies stand to benefit from increased RFID adoption in addition to the end users themselves. For example, CYBRA Corp (OTC-BB: CYRP) provides RFID tag printing and encoding technologies that manufacturers can use to meet new retailer requirements.

With more than 20 years of industry experience, CYBRA Corp is well-positioned to capitalize on the tremendous market opportunity. In fact, the company already has thousands of clients using its bar code technology that are prime targets to switch gears into RFID.

Conclusions

Whether in the mountains of Colorado or in the local retailer, RFID technologies are rapidly becoming ubiquitous within our society. Many companies are poised to benefit from this transition, ranging from retailers like Wal-Mart to RFID technology companies like CYBRA Corp.

Investors may want to pay close attention to this secular trend as adoption rates increase, RFID tag prices decrease and the many benefits of the technology are realized.

Tags: NYSE:MNT, NYSE:WMT, OTC:CYRP
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OurPet’s: Revenue Rises 24%, Expanding in Emerging Markets

Tuesday, September 21st, 2010

OurPet’s Company (OTC:OPCO) distributes its products through PetSmart, Inc. (NASDAQ:PETM) and Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE:WMT) in addition to several others in the retail pet supply business. OurPet’s holds a number of patents that are essential in lifting the company to new heights, which could be seen in the near term.

Unique Market Advantages

OurPet’s Company develops, manufactures and markets products for the retail pet business. The company sells its products around the world and manufactures them through foreign and domestic subcontractors.

The company’s products are marketed under Flappy (www.flappy.com), SmartScoop (www.smartscoop.com), ecoPure Naturals (www.ecopurenaturals.com), Play-N-Squeak (www.playnsqueak.com) and other brands. As a public company, OurPet’s Company maintains a competitive advantage to raise the capital needed to develop and support its product lines, unlike the plethora of private pet companies.

The total USA pet industry has grown from approximately $16 billion in 1995 to over $45 billion in 2009. Pet owners spend approximately $1500 per cat and $2,500 per dog annually. According to the APPA (American Pet Products Association) there are 93 million dogs and 75 million cats in the USA. Approximately 70 million or 63% of American homes have at least one pet. OurPet’s has many products to offer this healthy, recession resistant, growing market.

The Play-N-Squeak is a very popular toy among cat owners. The product looks like a mouse, feels like a mouse and sounds like a mouse as it plays a realistic electronically pre-recorded live mouse squeak when agitated. A newer version coming soon will also include small LED eyes that blink when agitated for fun and games during the night. OPCO sells about $4 million of these adorable toys every year.

Bold Revenues and Capturing Emerging Markets

Of the annual $45 billion in pet market sales, approximately $12 billion is in pet accessories and treats. OurPet’s managed to increase their revenue by an incredible 24.2% for the second quarter of 2010 when compared to the same period in 2009. The Company has a five-year annual organic revenue growth goal of 25 percent and a minimum profit before taxes of 12-15 percent. Any strategic acquisitions would accelerate these results.

OurPet’s has found success in a recessionary market through extensive market penetration, market diversification, aggressive product innovation and expert implementation. OurPet’s introduced over 100 new products (SKUs) during the first half of 2010. Furthermore, the Company has an extensive intellectual property portfolio of over 100 patents issued or pending and over 75 trademarks issued or pending. This intellectual property base is expected to significantly increase over the coming years due to aggressive innovative product development.

OPCO managed to increase exports from $250,000 to over $2,000,000 over the past three years. The company’s exporting market is growing in Canada, the UK, Belgium, Norway, Finland, Denmark, Japan, Taiwan, Australia and New Zealand. The company is also making headway in South America, and has recently developed their first distributorship in India.

Places around the world that could not afford pets 10 years ago are now buying droves of household pets, especially cats and dogs. OurPet’s is capitalizing on both markets and is now targeting the 8,000+ independent pet stores and regional chains in the United States.

Sun Rising on OPCO

Investors may be scratching their heads at why this company is not huge already. Applica Consumer Products, who at the time was a subsidiary of Salton Inc., sued OurPet’s in the fall of 2007 when the Company introduced its SmartScoop Automatic Litter Box that competed with Applica’s LitterMaid Automatic Litter Box. The SmartScoop was developed by Nottingham Spirk Design (www.ns-design.com). Nottingham Spirk design is one of the top five one-stop ideation companies in the United States and a major OurPet’s shareholder.

Although it required significant expenditures of management’s time and financial resources, OurPet’s has successfully defended its SmartScoop intellectual property, continued the manufacture and sale of the product and was granted a patent in December 2009 by the U. S. Patent Office. Arguments on one remaining claim were presented to the Federal Court of Appeals in Washington D.C. District in September 2010 and a decision is expected in 30-90 days. A favorable decision by the Washington D. C. Court Of Appeals on this last claim will result in a dismissal of all eight claims filed against Smartscoop/OurPet’s in 2007. The other seven claims were dismissed by the ITC in 2009. OurPet’s feels that SmartScoop provides the most viable, economical and reliable solution to the $70-80 million annual revenue that automated cat litter boxes generate.

OurPets is developing quality products that animal lovers around the world adore. The company is serving the 75 million dogs and the 93 million cats that are in the United States, and is further expanding their foothold into international markets. The pet market is healthy, recession resistant and growing at an annual rate of approximately 6 percent. The accessory segment at OurPet’s is growing at double this rate. OurPet’s formula of aggressive product innovation and marketing should continue producing exciting revenue and profits into the foreseeable future.

For more information visit www.ourpets.com.

Tags: NASDAQ:PETM, NYSE:WMT, OTC:OPCO
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Wal-Mart Opens Doors to Widespread RFID Adoption

Monday, September 20th, 2010

Radio Frequency Identification, or RFID, companies like CYBRA Corporation (OTC-BB: CYRP) and I.D. Systems, Inc. (Nasdaq: IDSY) could benefit as Wal-Mart Corporation (NYSE: WMT), the world’s largest retail chain, moves to adopt the emerging technology on a huge scale.

After recent studies found that item-level RFID tracking can speed up inventory counts by an average of 96%, it is easy to see why Wal-Mart Corporation, the world’s largest retailer, is implementing the technology as quickly as possible into its supply chain.

Wal-Mart Pulls the Trigger on RFID

Wal-Mart recently announced that they are rolling out RFID technology to track individual garments along its supply chain. The technology will help the world’s largest retailer to increase revenues by ensuring that the right goods are in the right place at the right time, while reducing costs by enabling more frequent and rapid inventory counts.

While RFID tags may be slightly more expensive than bar codes, the cost savings realized from the technology make it very compelling. German research firm Soreon released a study in 2004 conducted at a department store with 90,000 RFID tags. With only 30% of its items tagged, the retailer was able to achieve a return on investment of 187% and payback within a year.

A recent Bloomingdale’s study also quantified just how much faster inventory counts are with item-level RFID – 96 percent. Item-level scanning of more than 10,000 items took only two hours – far less than the 53 hours required with bar code scanning. On average, 209 items can be counted per hour with bar code, while 4,767 items can be counted per hour with RFID.

With an initial rollout encompassing more than 3,750 stores, Wal-Mart’s move could signal big changes for the RFID industry. Many retailers, like Target Corporation (NYSE: TGT) and Dillard’s, Inc. (NYSE: DDS), are now considering RFID adoption in order to remain competitive. Meanwhile, the overall trend should also result in lower total costs, as volumes improve.

CYBRA Offers the Industry’s Best Solution

CYBRA Corporation (OTC-BB: CYRP), long known as one of the largest players in the bar code industry, has also been positioning itself in the emerging RFID industry. In the apparel industry alone, where Wal-Mart is initially focused on for RFID, CYBRA counts 46% of the top 50 public apparel companies worth over $100 million as its customers.

With more than 20 years of experience in the industry, the company has already amassed thousands of clients, as one of the only software vendors building solutions on top of IBM’s Power System. Now that the world’s largest retailer has jumped onboard with RFID in a big way, others are sure to follow suit, with IBM’s Power System as one of the premier platforms.

By moving into the RFID space at a key time and dominating one of the industry’s most-used platforms, investors may want to take a look at this relatively undiscovered stock as a way to take advantage of the coming wave of RFID adoption in retail environments.

Tags: NASDAQ:IDSY, NYSE:WMT, OTC:CYRP
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Wal-Mart Opens Doors to Widespread RFID Adoption

Wednesday, August 11th, 2010

Since its invention in 1945, RFID has been hailed as a breakthrough technology, but a lack of standards has kept it out of the mainstream. Since then, the technology has been standardized, miniaturized and enhanced to such a level that researchers at Bristol University actually glued RFID microtransponders onto ants!

A Supply Chain Management Overhaul

While studying ant movements may be interesting, the RFID technology’s real market potential is in supply chain management. Currently, most retailers use bar codes that must be individually scanned at each location along the supply chain. Additionally, this scanning requires a line of sight, meaning that the bar codes must be placed on the outside of packages.

For instance, a t-shirt sold by Wal-Mart must be scanned by the manufacturer when it is created, the shipper when it is sent, the warehouse when it’s received, the store when it’s placed on the shelves, and at the checkout when it is purchased. This process involves significant man-power and leaves a lot of room for error.

Since they can be scanned from 20 feet away and within the product carton, RFID offer an improved solution that can greatly enhance efficiency. Meanwhile, RFID tags can hold significantly more information and can be rewritten – and even re-used – along the supply chain, as needed.

Wal-Mart Finally Pulls the Trigger

Last week, Wal-Mart announced that they are finally planning to roll out RFID technology to track individual garments along its supply chain. The technology will help the world’s largest retailer ensure that best-selling sizes are always on the shelves for customers to purchase, improving both profits and the customer experience.

And with a planned rollout encompassing more than 3,750 stores, Wal-Mart’s move could signal big things for the RFID and retail industries. While approximately 30 retail chains are already testing RFID, larger ones like Target Corporation (NYSE: TGT), will now be forced to consider RFID adoption sooner than later order to remain competitive.

RFID Can Save Wal-Mart Millions

While RFID tags are slightly more expensive than bar codes, the cost savings realized from the technology make it very compelling. German research firm Soreon released a study in 2004 conducted at a department store with 90,000 RFID tags. With only 30% of its items tagged, the retailer was able to achieve a return on investment of 187% and payback within a year.

The majority of the savings was seen in the reduction of manpower that was previously required to scan each item as it was moved from warehouse and distribution centers onto retail shelves. Meanwhile, point-of-sale cashiers were no longer required to scan individual items and manually control inventories, since this was automatically done via RFID tracking.

Previously, the high cost of RFID meant that manufacturers hesitated. However, the sharp reduction in RFID costs and the standardization of the technology since 2004 has helped to eliminate much of that cost and pave the way for industry implementation.

CYBRA Offers the Industry’s Best Solution

CYBRA Corporation (OTC-BB: CYRP), long known as one of the largest players in the barcode industry, is also positioning itself in the emerging RFID industry. With more than 20 years of experience, CYBRA Corporation has already amassed thousands of clients, as one of the only software vendors building solutions on top of IBM’s Power System. Now that the world’s largest retailer has jumped onboard with RFID in a big way, others are sure to follow suit, with IBM’s Power System as one of the premier platforms.

Tags: NASDAQ:IDSY, NYSE:TGT, NYSE:WMT, OTC:CYRP
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Wal-Mart Brings RFID to the Masses

Monday, August 9th, 2010

Avery Dennison Corporation (NYSE: AVY), CYBRA Corp. (OTC:CYRP), and I.D. Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:IDSY) are in a great position to benefit from increased interest in the Radio-Frequency Identification market, as evidenced by Wal-Mart’s recent plan to implement expansion of RFID utilization. Starting this month, Wal-Mart plans to use RFID tags to better manage its inventory, which could lead to other retailers doing the same.

The Convenience of RFID

Unlike traditional bar codes that require line of sight to each tracked object, multiple RFID tags can be read at the same time enabling an entire case or pallet to be read at once. According to studies of an RFID pilot at American Apparel, RFID used to track clothing items can also result in a 14% increase in sales. At the same time, RFID can help reduce labor costs by up to 30% and inventory costs by up to 15%, according to data from the report.

Many retailers focused on niche markets have already begun implementing RFID to improve their inventory management and enhance their financial results. At the same time, many big box retailers, like Wal-Mart, have been conducting research and exploring their options. Finally, with Wal-Mart ready to roll out the technology, widespread adoption among mainstream retailers could soon be helping to improve efficiency and maintain competitive advantage.

Mark Gatehouse, director of replenishment for Wrangler jeans maker VF Corp. said, “View this as an investment in where things are going. Everyone is watching closely because no one wants to be at a competitive disadvantage, and this could really lift sales.” Indeed, many retailers have already started to experiment with the technology, enabling companies to analyze the size, color, and style that customers desire, but the real improvements may be to the top and bottom line.

CYBRA Corporation May Experience Increase RFID System Sales

CYBRA Corporation is provides bar code label and tag printing, bar code scanning systems and RFID technology to consumer goods manufacturers around the world. The company offers products that can assist companies in tracking assets, controlling inventory, and EPC (Electronic Product Code) compliance with a keen focus on the garment industry. Over the past five years, the firm has also been working on RFID technologies, and offers it as a natural upgrade to legacy systems using bar codes. And with Wal-Mart stepping up its requirements, CYBRA is well-positioned to profit from the upcoming switch to RFID technology.

Tags: NASDAQ:IDSY, NYSE:AVY, NYSE:WMT, OTC:CYRP
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