The IoT revolution is gathering pace, impacting people's lives and the way they interact with the everyday 'things' around them. According to Cisco's 11th annual Visual Networking Index: Global IP Traffic Forecast Update, the number of connected devices will have grown nearly 2.5-fold, from 4.9 billion in 2015 to 12.2 billion by 2020, when global IoT spending is predicted to have reached $1.29tr, as outlined in a new IDC Internet of Things Spending Guide.

In a move designed to save on shipping costs while offering flexibility to customers, Walmart will begin offering discounts when shoppers opt to pick up an online order in store.

North Carolina drug retailer Drugco Discount Pharmacy has employed an RFID light stick for pharmacy will-call. The Suncrest Solutions system - new to U.S. drugstores - automates the retrieval process for prescription drugs when customers arrive at the counter to pick them up.

Actility, the European startup battling with rival Sigfox to connect things from fuel tanks to Amsterdam's canals to the internet, has raised $75m from investors in a bid to win business in the industrial sector.

According to RFID solutions provider SML RFID, the apparel market is still in the earliest steps of a long race toward universal RFID tag use. In fact, the company estimates, apparel market penetration is a conservative 4 to 8 percent thus far. This is considerably less than indicated on some reports, such as one from GS1, which estimate the adoption percentage at more than half.

DNA tracking is being used to verify shrimp supply chains for U.K. retailers in what is claimed to be the first application of its type.

Leal Indústria e Comércio, a manufacturer of personal protective equipment (PPE), says it has reduced its customers' ordering times by 20 percent. This result was achieved thanks to the use of a radio frequency identification solution developed by PC Sistemas, a company acquired by Totvs, which also provides the enterprise resource planning (ERP) system used by Leal.