1. A collation/retrieval system collating a product manufactured by or delivered from a producer or a distributor with a product to be collated wherein: a collation area is a partial area on a surface of the product; and a reference section is a product identifying label on the product which is common among products, comprising: a storage device that stores a surface pattern image feature of the collation area determined in advance at a position relative to the reference section; and at least one processor configured to: receive an image of the product to be collated; detect the reference section in the product to be collated from the received image; extract a surface pattern image feature of the collation area in the product to be collated as determined by reference to the detected reference section; and collate the stored surface pattern image feature with the surface pattern image feature of the collation area of the product to be collated, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to: store in advance a feature of the reference section and the position of the collation area in the storage device; detect the reference section based on the feature of the reference section; normalize the position and a size of the collation area by referring to the reference section to extract the surface pattern image feature of the collation area; and perform at least one of an identification of the collation area by a distance and angle from the reference section and a designation of the position and a range of the collation area by a relative value determined by reference to a size of the reference section.