The present invention devises a method whereby a retailer may upgrade his operation by providing his suppliers(the vendors) with labeling standards including RFID and RSS bar code, guidelines for formatting and including in those labels additional supply chain logistical information, additional information including the item number, lot and expiration dates, the time and place of manufacture, descriptions in greater depth then was hitherto possible about the goods themselves, and a method of capturing that information and feeding it into the retailer's information management systems through customized forms and middleware. The retailer uses the services of an information management corporation that sets up this program with the retailer's suppliers, thereby eliminating the associated costs of augmenting his own systems. The retailer, vendors and customers profit by that additional information through various means of feedback, and extracting that information in useful ways that provide for greater inventory control, consumer safety, more efficient movement of merchandize, information about product content to the consumer, security, supply chain logistics, compliance with government regulations for the sale of retail goods, the bioterrorism act as well as other government regulations and systems of pricing, rebates, coupons and returns by the customers. |