There are a number of hot new technologies on the forefront of online and offline retail including machine learning, the Internet of Things (IoT) and Blockchain, the information-sharing technology behind Bitcoin.
We have written a bit lately about machine learning because it perhaps has the highest “world-changing” potential. But the IoT – especially when it comes to radio frequency identification (RFID) – also has huge potential to transform any retail operation.
RFID has been around for many years and has been adopted by a range of retailers including Walmart, Macy’s and Amazon. The way it works is simply that each product is given a radio frequency ID tag and that tag has its own unique magnetic signature. That signature is picked up by a receiver or “RFID reader” that not only records the unique ID, but also the location of the tagged product.