Shopping as we know it is about to change. In the near future, the first smartphones with embedded RAIN reader capabilities will become available to mainstream shoppers. RAIN is a battery-free wireless technology that connects everyday items to the internet for instant identification and engagement, giving every consumer the power to walk into a store and connect with the products around them—making the shopping experience effortless. For instance, using their phones shoppers will be able to RAIN read a jacket’s tag and discover its entire journey—from more sustainable and fair-trade farms to factories. And no more waiting in checkout lines—with their phones shoppers simply RAIN their items, pay using their digital wallet and walk out. RAIN-enabled smartphones are about to make this the new reality of shopping.
The numbers tell an incredible story. In 2024, 52.8 billion RAIN tag chips shipped globally, with retail leading the charge. Research shows 93% of North American retailers and 77% of Eurasian retailers are already using RAIN technology within their business. IDTechEx predicts retail apparel alone will demand over 31 billion RAIN tags in 2025. But here’s what changes everything: RAIN is about to leap from specialized enterprise equipment into the smartphones of billions of consumers worldwide.
This represents the most significant retail paradigm shift since e-commerce. While RAIN currently powers behind-the-scenes inventory management and supply chain optimization, the growing availability of RAIN-enabled smartphones will unleash unprecedented possibilities. This extends far beyond incremental improvements—RAIN enables retailers to fundamentally reimagine how consumers will discover, interact with, and purchase products.
Here are just three game-changing ways that RAIN-enabled smartphones will reshape retail:
Never miss a sale: Every item becomes instantly discoverable
One of retail’s most frustrating problems is losing sales due to misplaced inventory. RAIN technology has already revolutionized retail operations—using RAIN, retailers have equipped their stores with real-time inventory visibility that shows customers when and where items are available. This capability has been a significant competitive advantage, driving customers to physical stores when online inventory runs low. But there’s still a critical gap that costs retailers sales every day—a retailer’s inventory system shows they have that customer’s medium shirt, but staff can’t locate it anywhere on the floor. The customer leaves disappointed, and the retailer has lost a sale on a product that’s actually sitting in their building.
With RAIN-enabled smartphones, customers can walk into any store, open the retailer’s app, and their phone instantly maps every item around them. That missing medium shirt? Their phone discovers it’s actually on display in the front window. RAIN-enabled smartphones help eliminate missed sales while creating seamless customer experiences that drive loyalty.
A personal pocket-sized checkout: The end of waiting forever
Waiting in line to pay is about to become history. Research shows that after just 9 minutes in a checkout queue, shoppers abandon their purchases, and 70% won’t return after a single bad experience.
Retailers are already investing heavily in smartphone-based frictionless checkout solutions like Waitrose’s ‘Scan n’ Go’ and Costco’s new ‘Scan & Pay’ pilots and RAIN-enabled smartphones represent the natural next step. Instead of scanning individual barcodes, customers simply grab the items they want, RAIN their shopping bag with their phone, pay through their digital wallet, and walk out. RAIN-and-go isn’t just faster checkout—it’s the complete elimination of checkout as a barrier to purchase.
Catering to the conscious consumer: Radical transparency meets values-driven shopping
Every product tells a story. Today’s consumers don’t just want products—they want to understand their history and their impact. Is that cotton organic? Are those strawberries sustainable? What’s the true carbon footprint of this purchase? With the European Union’s Digital Product Passport mandate approaching, retailers must provide unprecedented transparency.
RAIN is a strong candidate to carry Digital Product Passport (DPP) data, and smartphone integration unlocks retail use cases that strengthen the argument for choosing RAIN as a DPP data carrier. Simply RAIN any item with your phone to access its complete journey—from raw materials to manufacturing to transportation, providing immediate visibility into organic agriculture, fair labor practices, and carbon footprint reduction efforts. This isn’t just meeting regulatory requirements; it’s empowering consumers to make purchasing decisions that align with their values, while helping authentic sustainable brands differentiate themselves in a market plagued by greenwashing.
Shape the future of retail technology
We’re on the brink of connecting billions of people to trillions of objects. When every smartphone becomes a gateway to the physical world around us, the possibilities extend far beyond retail.
This moment needs your voice. As industry leaders make key decisions about RAIN smartphone integration, your input can influence not just the future of retail, but the entire landscape of human-object interaction. The RAIN Alliance is driving this shift by simplifying, standardizing, and accelerating RAIN technology adoption through global collaboration and innovation.
Join the RAIN Alliance today to influence the direction of RAIN smartphone integration and make your voice heard in our RAIN in Smartphones Working Group. Help create a world where every pocket holds the key to connecting with the entire physical world around us.