6/26

On June 26 forty-two years ago the first retail product with a Universal Product Code was sold.  The immediate consequences were modest and actually increased marginal costs across the supply chain.

By the 1990s UPC and related processes had informed a stream-lining of logistics that substantially reduced distribution costs among leading competitors.

In the last decade these tracking technologies have transformed commerce by facilitating the capture and communication of increasingly granular expressions of demand... and the revolution is really just beginning.

The intersection of tracking buying behavior with online -- and especially mobile -- retail creates the potential for mass customization of production, distribution, and delivery that will drive competition for the next generation.

Sears and Roebuck claimed the potential of telegraph and railway. Sam Walton recognized the potential of Interstate Highways and UPC-driven supply chains. Jeff Bezos is battling with Sam's successors and others to own digital demand.

Data streams from consumer behavior -- facilitated by UPC-related technologies -- now allow designers, manufacturers, and retailers to "hear" and target demand as never before.  Most are not listening.  These will die.  Those who listen are more likely to continue competing, even as the digital domain dramatically increases its decibel level.