Smart Posters and Mobile Marketing are Major Opportunities in $300 Million NFC Tag Market, Says ABI Research

Smart posters and mobile marketing are the greatest opportunity for service providers and manufacturers of NFC tags; they account for over half of shipments to date and are expected to be the fastest growing segment, accounting for 70 percent of shipments in 2016. Companies, including Avery Dennison, Identive, and UPM Raflatac have all released products targeting the growing interest for the non-payment services that NFC enables. In total, this market is expected to be worth $298 million over the next five years.

“There are a number of high profile technology companies already rolling out smart posters and information pick-up using NFC,” says John Devlin, Group Director, security and ID. “Companies such as Google, Nokia, and RIM, as well as innovative MNOs, are all exploring new business models and looking for the revenue opportunities outside of payments.”

The ability to deploy, program, and quickly update NFC tags is what makes them so suitable for businesses and service providers in an area that is often price sensitive and needs to be able to react quickly to changing consumer trends. The ability to localize and tailor the offers, combined with the fact that there is little or no additional infrastructure required, makes NFC so well-suited to posters and other information pick-up services. Another beneficial factor: compared to Bluetooth and location-based services, NFC is opt-in by nature, giving the consumer more control and countering any concerns regarding privacy.

Devlin concludes, “Smart posters are not the only application for NFC tags; there are already large scale commercial systems in place for worker check-in within home healthcare. Further potential will also be realized as service providers develop plug-ins with gaming and social networking applications. The ability of NFC to extend companies' brands and mobile apps, making them more interactive within their physical surroundings, will allow them to improve customer loyalty and service experience.”