The next few years are going to be busy times for CIOs and IT execs in the retail industry. Especially for IT executives who understand the potential cost savings and efficiencies to be gained from recent technological advances.

The retail vertical is expected to undergo rapid change to its IT infrastructure over the next five years. That's according to a report by research firm In-Stat/MDR.

A host of exciting, emerging technologies are converging all at once.

These technologies hold tremendous promise. They include Wireless Local Area Networks (WLANs), Radio Frequency IDentification (RFID), smart cards, kiosks, biometrics, and electronic shelf labels.

Retail IT decision-makers who make investments in these technologies are finding they can improve productivity, build process efficiencies, generate greater revenues, and introduce labor-saving technologies.

RFID, of course, figures centrally into the picture. According to Stephanie Atkinson, an In-Stat analyst:

"RFID is expected to revolutionize may industries and in the near-term the retail industry. With Walmart leading the way with mandates, many suppliers and wholesalers in the retail industry will be adopting RFID techolologies in a systematic manner.

This specifically means that I expect to see adoption at the pallet or packaging level and then we will see migration of RFID at the individual item level. Those in the retail industry are still waiting for the chips/transponders to drop down to the penny and below cost for item level tagging."