RFID’s utility for retail environments is in inventory management. In Walmart’s case, it allows the retailer to track products within its stores, resulting in reduced stockouts and improved efficiency.
For those Consumer Packaged Goods professionals who have been following the industry for the last two decades, Walmart’s recent radio-frequency identification (RFID) tagging mandates may feel a lot like déjà vu. Walmart’s history with RFID mandates dates back to 2003 when it became the first retailer to require its suppliers to apply RFID tags to cases and pallets of incoming product or to individual products, if they were of high value. Per its mandate, its top 500 suppliers were to have implemented the technology by 2006.
