Which retail technology invention, first patented in 1952 but not widely adopted until the 1970s, revolutionized inventory tracking and provided retailers with unprecedented customer purchase data?

The world of retail has been transformed by technological innovations that changed how consumers shop. While many retail technologies seem commonplace today, they were once groundbreaking inventions that revolutionized the industry. This trivia question explores a significant retail technology breakthrough that fundamentally changed consumer shopping habits and created new possibilities for market research and retail demographics tracking.

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Universal Product Code (UPC) barcode system
Electronic point-of-sale (EPOS) terminals
Radio-frequency identification (RFID) tags
Electronic shelf labels (ESL)