SUPERMARKETS are testing new electronic tags that could be used to track shoppers in the store and to keep tabs on goods after customers have taken them home.

The surveillance chips have the potential to trace the life of goods “from depot to dustbin”.

They are based on Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology and are being used to monitor products from warehouses to supermarket shelves. Some technology experts predict they will replace most barcodes by 2015.

The miniature tags, which evolved from bugging devices developed by the Soviet Union in 1945, contain silicon chips and antennas which transmit information to a receiver.

“Passive” tags do not need a battery but when the antenna is hit by a radio signal, a tiny electrical charge is generated which is sufficient to carry out the transmission.

Consumer groups in the US fear the tags could be used to amass detailed data on shoppers buying patterns and to build up a profile of their social circles by tracking products that have been passed on to other people.

They want the supermarkets to ensure all tags are de-activated after a product is purchased.

Asda said last week that it was introducing RFID tags to monitor goods in its warehouses and stores. Tesco and Marks & Spencer have been testing them on goods such as suits and DVDs. All the stores said that they had no plans to use tags to monitor consumers’ shopping habits.

Scott Granneman, a technology consultant and adjunct professor at Washington University in St Louis, said that the tags would give companies the power to ensure that all items were individually “numbered, identified, catalogued and tracked”.

“If you have one in your jeans, it could trigger an advertisement to play when you walk past a shop,” said Granneman. “Once it’s in a product it’s always there and it can always be read. There’s no legislation which says a customer should be notified when a product is tagged.”

The chips offer the potential to track items, such as a pair of shoes, and link them to the original purchaser whenever they pass a scanner. They are already being used in a wide range of products and services.

Tesco was one of the first companies to test the technology and said the chips were “the next big thing”. In one of its stores it used tags programmed to activate CCTV cameras each time packs of Gillette razor blades were moved. The aim was to deter shoplifters.

The supermarket chain added that the chips provided “accurate and near real-time visibility of all products” within a store. It said it had no plans to use the technology for customer profiling or to monitor products after they had been bought.

Marks and Spencer is testing the tags in nine branches. It said the tags were being used only to track items in stores, and that they were removed at the checkout.

Michelin has embedded tags in tyres, Transport for London uses them in its Oyster ticket cards to record a passenger’s movements around the city and some banks have incorporated them in credit cards.

They tags currently cost about 20p each but this figure is likely to fall significantly as production increases.

Many in the retail business are keen to calm customer concern and emphasise the practical benefits of the tags. Rexam, one of the world’s leading packaging companies, said: “RFID labels will mean food packaging can instruct an appliance on cooking instructions or remind the user when a product was frozen.”

A Tesco spokeswoman also wanted to allay shoppers’ potential fears about the technology. “We wouldn’t do anything to jeopardise the trust of our customers,” she said.

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