siliconindia | | December 20189technology like cashless payments to realize its full potential, a number of issues still need to be creased-out. Con-nectivity, for one, is of paramount im-portance as often weaker GPRS signals lead to failure with debit or credit card payments and absence or presence of a low internet signal cripple the usage of online payment methods complete-ly. While such issues might be unheard of in metros and Tier-I cities across India due to superior connectivity, it is a pressing challenge in the hinterlands that has deterred it from being widely implemented there. On the converse, while the afore-mentioned examples are manifestations of player-centric and consumer-centric technologies, there are several other ones which are still in the works and far from being ready for implementation. Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) and Near-Field Communication (NFC) are two such technologies. While the benefits that can be harvested from us-age of RFID are manifold, the single largest barrier for implementation of this technology is the cost component. Implementation of RFID at a single re-tail store can range anywhere between Rs.20-24 lakh. NFC, on the other hand, created ripples in the industry when it was first talked about. However, not much wide efforts have been made to bring this to see the light of day. As is the case with any technology, it can-not be fully implemented unless every party involved chips-in. To begin with, the onus lies with modern trade out-lets, which contribute approximately 10 percent of the FMCG market and have a significant influence in the way sales are converted. And for technol-ogies whose usage depends on a fair amount on the end consumer, it is im-perative that the buyer and seller both meet halfway. Consider QR codes, for instance, which require consumer acceptance in the purchasing process as much as from the seller implementing it. While certain m-wallets and even media channels have taken a crack at sensitizing consumers to it, it has not really caught on. Considering this, it is therefore safe to say that while we have made nota-ble inroads into manual processes and replaced them with more effective tech-nological solutions, we are still staring at a future where much work remains to be done to harness the potential of automated systems. And in a country with geographical, demographic, eco-nomic and cultural vastness as India, the efforts have only just begun. Since the advent of the bar code, it has arguably been one of the best technologies to be adopted by the FMCG industry
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