Why Warehouse Tracking Is Easy to Pilot but Hard to Scale

In our calls, the same pattern repeats: a pilot works, leadership gets excited, and then the real world shows up. Returns. Layout changes. Forklifts. RF noise. Security reviews. Suddenly, “just add more tags” is not a plan.

This post is a practical look at the warehouse tracking trends shaping 2026, and the device selection signals that matter if you want something you can roll out site-by-site, not re-invent every quarter.

Key Takeaways Warehouse Buyers Should Know First

• RFID and RTLS are moving from pilots to programs, which means your hardware choices must be repeatable at scale. ⁽¹⁾
• AI-ready operations need better data hygiene, not just more location pings. ⁽²⁾
• Interoperability is shifting toward event thinking (what happened, when, where, why), which affects how you model tracking data. ⁽⁴⁾
• Cybersecurity is now a selection criterion, not a footnote. ⁽³⁾
• Bluetooth precision is improving (Channel Sounding), so you should design infrastructure that can evolve without a rip-and-replace. ⁽⁵⁾

6 Critical Warehouse Tracking Trends That Will Shape 2026

From Pilot to Program: Scaling Warehouse Tracking

Zebra’s 2023 warehousing study (published via Business Wire and republished by Nasdaq) is blunt: 58% of warehouse decision-makers plan to deploy RFID by 2028, and 91% expect to invest in technology to increase supply chain visibility by 2028. ⁽¹⁾

That’s not a “nice experiment” signal. That’s budget planning.

What it means for device selection in 2026:

Pick hardware you can standardize across sites. Same mounting. Same configuration approach. Same maintenance routine. The best-performing tag in a lab is less useful than the tag that a team can deploy 5,000 times consistently.

Selection signals to look for:

• Fleet-level management features (remote config, monitoring, updates)
• Clear installation rules (zones, chokepoints, anchor placement)
• Repeatable acceptance tests (coverage, accuracy, latency)

Automation Makes Reliable Location Data Non-Negotiable

Warehouses are automating workflows quickly. The same Zebra study reports 69% already have or are planning to automate workflows by 2024, and more than half plan machine learning and predictive analytics software by 2028. ⁽¹⁾

DHL’s Logistics Trend Radar 7.0 frames robotics, IoT, and the “digital backbone” as ongoing trend clusters affecting logistics, while AI expands into distinct trend areas like computer vision and advanced analytics. ⁽²⁾

What it means in practice:

Location data stops being “a dashboard.” It becomes an input to operations, sometimes to automation and exception handling. That changes what “good tracking” looks like.

Selection signals to look for:

• Predictable latency (especially at chokepoints like dock doors)
• Stable behavior under density (many tags, many faróis, many portais)
• Integration hooks that can drive actions, not only reports (webhooks, MQTT, APIs)

AI Turns Tracking Data Into Value—or Noise

AI adoption in logistics is no longer hypothetical. DHL Trend Radar 7.0 highlights an expanded AI cluster including Generative AI, AI Ethics, Audio AI, Computer Vision, and Advanced Analytics. ⁽²⁾

Here’s the catch: AI does not magically fix bad telemetry. If your system produces duplicates, missed events, inconsistent timestamps, or vague “zone unknown” states, your analytics becomes expensive guesswork.

What it means for device selection in 2026:

Choose devices and firmware that help you create clean events (arrive, depart, dwell, load, unload), with metadata that explains what you’re seeing.

Selection signals to look for:

• De-duplication options (especially for BLE gateway fleets)
• Device health telemetry (battery, link quality, last-seen reason)
• Configurable reporting logic (motion-based, schedule-based, geofence-based)

Why Warehouse Tracking Is Shifting to Event-Based Data

If you work across partners, warehouses, and carriers, you eventually need a common language for “what happened.”

GS1 EPCIS is designed for visibility data made of events. A GS1 EPCIS event records what was involved, when it took place, where it took place, and the business context that answers why. EPCIS 2.0 also supports status information like temperature or shocks. ⁽⁴⁾

What it means in 2026:

Even if you do not implement EPCIS end-to-end, your tracking system should model data in event form. That makes integrations easier and future-proofs you when customers ask for traceability exports.

Selection signals to look for:

• Stable identifiers for assets, locations, and readers
• Timestamp discipline (UTC handling, timezone offsets, clock drift awareness)
• An event pipeline, not only raw pings (filters, rules, mapping)

Cybersecurity Becomes a Core RFP Requirement

More digitization also means more attack surface. DHL’s Trend Radar includes “Cybersecurity 2.0” as a logistics trend, describing next-generation approaches that leverage AI and advanced methods to protect, detect, and respond to cyber threats. ⁽³⁾

What it means in 2026:

Security questions show up early: provisioning, credential handling, update mechanisms, access control, and audit logs. If your vendor cannot answer them crisply, the project slows down.

Selection signals to look for:

• Secure onboarding and identity management (no shared default secrets)
• Firmware update strategy that is realistic for warehouse operations
• Role-based access controls for dashboards, APIs, and device commands

Bluetooth Gets More Precise: Plan an Upgrade Path

Bluetooth Channel Sounding is designed to deliver centimeter-level accuracy (practically, “tens of centimeters” and early implementations around +/- 20 cm), and Bluetooth SIG notes accurate measurements up to 150 meters may be achievable depending on transmission power and conditions. ⁽⁵⁾

Two important nuances:

• Channel Sounding does not define a single distance algorithm (you still need one), which gives vendors flexibility but shifts responsibility to implementation choices.
• Upgradability may require new silicon and is manufacturer-dependent.

What it means in 2026:

If you are deploying BLE today for zone-level visibility, design your infrastructure so you can adopt higher precision later without tearing out everything.

Selection signals to look for:

• Infrastructure that supports multiple positioning approaches over time
• Clear roadmap for firmware and hardware compatibility
• A layered model (presence, zone, precise ranging) rather than one magic mode

Trend-to-Decision Map: What Buyers Will Demand in 2026

Trend	What buyers will ask for in 2026	Hardware decision signal
Scale beyond pilots	“Can we repeat this across 10 sites?”	Fleet tooling, repeatable installs
Automation pressure	“Can we trigger actions from location?”	Predictable latency, stable events
AI adoption	“Can we predict exceptions and dwell?”	Clean telemetry, metadata, filters
Event interoperability	“Can you export traceability events?”	Event modeling and mapping
Security reviews	“How do you provision and update?”	Credible security story
Better BLE precision	“Can we improve accuracy later?”	Upgrade path without rip-and-replace

The Practical 2026 Warehouse Tracking Device Checklist

If you only copy one section into an RFP, make it this.

Tags & Beacons: Long-Life, Predictable Devices

You want devices that can run long-term, behave predictably, and tell you when they are struggling.

• Configurable reporting logic (time, motion, zone change)
• Health telemetry you can monitor
• A realistic battery strategy for your workflow

Gateways & Readers: Where Most Deployments Fail

This is where most “it worked in the pilot” failures happen.

• Density tolerance (lots of advertisers, lots of RF reflections)
• Edge filtering and de-duplication options
• Simple coverage validation tools for installers

Platform & Integration: Event-First or Bust

If the data model is messy, everything downstream costs more.

• Event-first data pipeline (arrive, depart, dwell)
• Clean IDs for assets, locations, and readers
• Security controls that pass basic audits

Referências e leitura complementar:

1. Zebra Study: Nearly Six in 10 Warehouse Leaders Plan to Deploy RFID by 2028
2. DHL Logistics Trend Radar 7.0 unveils emerging AI trends and sustainable solutions
3. DHL: Cybersecurity 2.0
4. GS1: What is Electronic Product Code Information Services (EPCIS)?
5. Bluetooth Channel Sounding