Smart signage

What is NFC?

NFC is a form of RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) that combines digital technology and print to educate, influence and inform your audience. Two objects that contain NFC tags can communicate with each other. Most modern smartphones are NFC equipped so any kind of sign, decal, wall mural, or display can have a small NFC chip installed to communicate digitally with your audience.

What’s the difference between RFID and NFC?

NFC is a subset of RFID as are both Bluetooth and WIFI technology. Currently, RFID is primarily used by retailers and manufacturers to track inventory. In contrast, NFC is used largely to add digital experiences for consumers. For example, the security stations exit at mall retail stores use RFID tags to know when active RFID chips leave the premises. Or, when you pay to have your pet tagged that is an RFID transmitter implanted into them. RFID can read 50-feet for handheld or 100-feet for fixed infrastructure readers. Even without an active internet connection or WIFI, NFC information exchanges can still take place when the device comes within 5 cm. of an NFC enabled sign. This is why NFC technology is used in the keycards you receive at your hotel. RFID tags are small, flexible and can take many forms which is a great solution for inventory tracking and tracing purposes.

Apple pay, Google pay, Android Pay, and Samsung pay also use NFC payment technology. NFC authentication helps protect brands from sales loss to confirm that examples of the product in the wild were acquired legitimately. With NFC, brands can link relevant information directly into the product itself.  NFC becomes part of the product after the sale in the post-purchase experience. Basically, a smart sticker with NFC technology communicates with the customer’s phone to deliver information, delivering short-range information. NFC chips are already in most credit cards and in the batteries of smartphones.