Tesco will have radio frequency identity (RFID) technology in operation throughout its supply chain by 2007.

The supermarket giant has secured its lead in the UK's RFID race by detailing a four-year timetable that clarifies its plans for the technology.

Tesco will focus on tagging cases of non-food items for distribution rather than individual items, and will work closely with suppliers to make sure they can meet its targets.

'We don't have an exact date for getting all our suppliers on board, but it is likely to be sometime in 2007,' a Tesco spokesman told Computing. 'We want to work at a pace that suits both us and our suppliers.'

Tesco is clearly aware of the privacy concerns surrounding RFID and is using its marketing savvy to promote the technology to customers and suppliers as 'radio barcode' technology.

'We will be putting radio barcodes on cases of non-food items, not at an item level, starting with a phased rollout in April 2004,' said the spokesman.

The firm will review technology standards next April before detailing its requirements to suppliers about what products will need to be tagged.

The company will start a two-year roll-out in September next year, covering priority products, before extending the technology to cover all remaining products by September 2006.

Tesco started a trial last month at its Milton Keynes distribution centre, tagging cases to improve supply chain visibility between the centre and two stores at Peterborough and St Neots. This followed on from an earlier DVD tagging trial in Sandhurst and Leicester, which will conclude early next year.

Alien Technology, IBM Business Consulting Services, Intel and Integrated Product Intelligence will supply all the necessary technology, although Tesco will not reveal how much it or its suppliers are expected to spend.

Earlier this month, Wal-Mart unveiled its plans to roll out RFID to 3,000 stores and 100 distribution centres by the end of 2005.

Tesco's RFID rollout timeline

Now: Suppliers encouraged to research RFID April 2004: Tesco reviews technology standards and details which products must be tagged July 2004: Live trial starts with first tagged cases delivered to distribution centres September 2004: Case-level tagging begins on 'phase one' products September 2006: Phase 2 starts, extending case-level tagging to all remaining products 2007: Case-level tagging expected to be complete