Forget the barcode, there's a newer way of labelling goods that could change the way we shop.
German retail giant Metro AG recently unveiled its vision of the near future, already being tested in the small town of Rheinberg in Germany.
Technology aimed at ending long checkout queues is centred on a radio frequency identification chip (RFID) that provides information passively and is the size of half a grain of rice.
When queried by a radio device, the chip responds by transmitting a unique identification code, often using the energy from the initial radio signal to power the reply.
You could be forgiven for thinking that Rheinberg is a long way away and South Africa is a long time away from such technology. But the future is not as far away as you think.
Lynne Stewart runs the Global Standards Division for the Consumer Goods Council of South Africa - the organisation that handles barcoding in South Africa.
She says South Africa does not lag behind the rest of the world when it comes to technological advances in retail stores, and is only a few years away from applying this technology.
She knows that razor manufacturer Gillette has already been conducting pilot studies with the Massachussets Institute of Technology, and certain retailers in America already use an electronic product code which serialises each item.
This means each item is individualised so it is easy to pick up exactly where a product was made, destined for and whether it was actually sold where it was supposed to be sold. This is especially useful for medicines.
"Right now we're waiting for the International Standards Organisation (ISO) to issue standards about which frequency to use.
"Then once that's done EAN International (the co-ordinating body for international identification standards for products, services and locations) will issue guidelines for the use of the tags in the retail industry. When the guidelines are released then retailers will start picking up on the technology.
"Draft comment is already available on the ISO standards."
Stewart believe that it will makes sense initially to tag bulk items such as cartons used to transport goods.
"It will be a Catch 22 situation at first. There will be no point in the supplier using the chip if the retailer doesn't have a scanner. And the retailer won't purchase the scanner if the suppliers don't use the technology.
"One of the retailers will pick up on the technology first and run a pilot project with a few suppliers," said Stewart.
Ronnie Herzfeld, Pick 'n Pay's director for Systems and Technology, says he'd welcome the new technology. "Every customer has to go past the till and they want the most efficient checkpoint they can get. But until the technology is pervasive in the store, you won't be able to do it.
"Before you can take your trolley through the till point for the goods to be scanned automatically, everything has to be tagged. This includes the items that you weigh on a scale, which need a printed label which then has to include the chip," said Herzfeld.
He does not believe that the introduction of this kind of technology will lead to job losses.
"It took many years to get the barcode, which is a simple print process, sorted out.
"At the time several people thought that scanning was going to do away with jobs, but that didn't happen.
"You won't need people to ring up the items, but you will still need people to take the money. It's still a South African trend to use cash to pay for purchases, and I don't think that's going to change any faster than the way purchases are rung up," said Herzfeld.