Business Week reports on Wal-Mart’s decision to require its top 100 suppliers to start using RFID for some applications by January 2005.
Given Wal-Mart’s enormous size and influence, the technology could spread quickly: Not only will other retailers be forced to adopt it to remain competitive, the wider use will also bring down installment costs. “A lot of people don’t want to be the first in the water,” says Kevin Ashton, head of the Auto-ID Center, a consortium that is developing RFID. “But one Wal-Mart is worth 101 other companies.”