Which retail innovation was accidentally discovered when an inventor drew lines in sand at the beach and realized it could be used to encode product information?

Many revolutionary retail products and technologies we take for granted today weren't actually designed for their eventual purpose. This trivia question explores one such invention that transformed how products are tracked and sold worldwide, resulting from a chance observation rather than targeted product development. Test your knowledge of this pivotal retail innovation that connects product identification, inventory management, and checkout processes.

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The barcode (UPC), inspired by Morse code dots and dashes drawn in sand
RFID tags, conceived after observing how radio waves interacted with metal objects on a beach
The barcode (UPC), when inventor Norman Joseph Woodland drew lines mimicking Morse code in sand
QR codes, developed after a beach pattern observation was combined with traditional Japanese puzzles