Our country is built on consumerism. It should come as no surprise, then, that much research and development has been spent on trying to track the habits of consumers, as well as track the millions of products that are manufactured and sold every day. In fact, the production of demographic reporting tools is a major factor in today’s world.
From spatial data analysis to location intelligence, our world is full of consumer centered technologies that help companies track what items are selling and what items need to be restocked. From the bar codes that are on individual products to geospatial technology that helps track everyone and everything, we live in a society where many things can be tracked.
Implementing location intelligence solutions is one way that stores can efficiently track the items that are on their shelves and the inventory that they need to reorder. By monitoring the products that come in on delivery trucks and go out in the hands of consumers, location intelligence solutions provide immediate feedback on what needs to be ordered immediately, as well as track the items that are not selling at all. Consider these facts and figures about the the technologies solutions that enable both manufacturers and retail stores to track products:

• 12 million radio-frequency identification (RFID) tags were sold in the year 2011. These RFIDs are used to capture data and track movement of objects. By the year 2021, it is estimated that this number will increase to 209 billion as the Internet of Things continues to expand.
• The Internet of Things refers to devices other than computers that are connected to the Internet and can receive and send data. Although this term only began gaining wide usage recently, The Internet of Things has been around for more than 15 years, t
• It is important to anticipate the right ratios when you are faced with planning, collecting, reporting, and analyzing data. One helpful suggestion comes from Google?s data experts, who suggest to follow the goal of 15% data capture, 20% data reporting, and 65% data analysis as reasonable ratios.
• There will be 4.4 million big data jobs available in the next two years, but only 33% of them will be successfully filled, according to the research company Gartner.

The fact that we live in a time when consumerism drives everything from politics and the economy is an indicator of how important the research and development of location intelligence solutions will continue to be. If your company is not yet making the best use of the tracking and location technologies that are available, it may be time to consider taking a step toward upgrading your current inventory and ordering system.