Scott Palmerino
Professor Lawson
M.I.S
April 4, 2012
Wal-Mart to Put Radio Tags on Clothes
Wal-Mart stores plans to roll out sophisticated electronic ID tags to track individual pairs of jeans and underwear, the first step in a system that encourages better controls inventory but some critics say raises privacy concerns. Starting next month Wal-Mart will start putting these removable smart tags on individual clothing that can be read by hand-held scanners. Employees will quickly learn for instance which size of Wrangler jeans is missing, with the help of ensuring shelves are optimally stocked and inventory tightly watched. If successful, the radio-frequency ID tags will be rolled out on other products at Wal-Mart's more than 3,750 U.S. stores. This ability to wave the wand and have a sense of all the products that are on the floor or in the back room in seconds is something that we feel can really transform our business," said Raul Vazquez, the executive in charge of Wal-Mart stores in the western U.S. just like a lot of businesses Wal-Mart used to use RFID tags witch stored identification codes that could be scanned from a distance to keep track of pallets and merchandise. With the removable smart tags Wal-Mart hopes to become the “Next Generation Wal-Mart” proving if these smart tags are a success. Keep in mind though that these removable tags can be shut off so if people are so worried about them they can talk to Wal-Mart’s managers and to see if they can turn off that specific clothing. Time will only tell what Wal-Mart will bring us, so we will see what happens. I personally don’t think it’s a big deal, I think it’s a great business decision.
I agree that this will be great for business because inventory will always be full and they will always know what is there and what isn’t. It is also great that they can be turned off. It is not a big deal to me personally, but there will be people out there who are concerned about being traced or something like that. Media will also probably try to make a big deal about this, but as long as it can be turned off safely after the purchase there isn’t much they can say. I am curious to see how well these work and look forward to seeing them in the stores. Wal-Mart is a great business and is not afraid to make the next step. They always seem to know what they are doing, which is why they have been so successful for so many years.
ReplyDeleteScott I really liked your thoughts on this article. I wonder myself however if there will be a big backlash in regards to people thinking that there privacy is being violated. I hope that Wal-Mart doesn’t get hurt business wise by having these new and improved tags. In a business aspect I agree that it will be very beneficial for them to know what is being purchased because it will allow them to always be ready to have the item purchased replaced. I think that this will help them make more sales because they should now not run out of a product as much because they will know exactly when the product left the store. I am curious though why they are not satisfied with their current RFID chips that they have. Since we recently learned about them in class they seemed to be successful, and somewhat of a new thing. I wonder what Wal-Mart will think of next.
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