Retail
Digitizing the consumers experience
Reinventing Retail
Applying IoT In Retail
Micro-processors and unlimited Internet
connectivity means we’ve transitioned from a
retail world where the intelligence was all at the
sales counter and back office to one that sees
smart devices everywhere, and on just about
anything.
It’s a big concept, but it comes downs to this:
Billions and eventually trillions of devices are
being deployed and connected – everything from
the point of sales systems to sensors at dressing
room doors. They can differ wildly, but all have
enough built-in intelligence to report on what
they’re doing, and what’s going on around them.
When connected, those devices can send data
that can then be rolled up and analyzed in for
example SaaS platforms to provide rich,
invaluable insights about activity and status.
Here’s a simple example for that:
A motion sensor or security camera located at the
gateway to a dressing room triggers a notice to
portable devices carried by sales associates, or at
a service counter. The sensor has logged
someone standing there for more than, say, 10
seconds, so help is dispatched and shoppers get
a better experience, because they’re not left
waiting and the retailer can optimize their in-
store staff. The salesperson’s device might be
nothing more than a smart watch that vibrates
and flashes a notice: “Customer waiting at
dressing room B”.
That sensor or camera, and that watch, are IoT
“things”. So is the software that brings those
“things” together which raises a flag that
someone is waiting, and triggers that message.
Applications
• Product tracking / traceability
• Interactive consumer engagement and
operations
• Smart operations (dynamic local message
targeting)
• Smart operations (dynamic local message
targeting)
• Consumer intelligence (facial emotion
recognition)
• Mobile payments
• Inventory management
• Asset management
Consumer demand for convenience, product
availability, and both personalized and
contextualized interactions will drive retailers to
adopt multiple IoT technologies in the coming
years. IoT also has big implications for the in-
store marketing efforts of retailers and brands.
Connected devices – from POS and cameras to
readers and beacons – can all help drive better,
easier experiences for shoppers. Driven by live
data devices and systems, an “aware” store can
deliver smarter messaging on screens of any size.
Instead of pre-determined messaging, smart
screens in an aware retail environment are
providing shoppers deeper information about
what they’re looking at, and influencing buying
decisions, including up-sells. Smart systems will
trigger content based on multiple contributing
factors, including what’s under-performing and
overstocked, what’s running out of stock, time of
day, environmental conditions, online trending
and countless other potential variables.
Retailers can also market and merchandise based
on shopping and buying patterns revealed
through loyalty programs, online browsing and
search trends. Bluetooth low energy beacons,
when married to a retailer’s dedicated or partner
shopping apps on phones, can generate visual
heat maps that show how consumers move
around stores. To generate even more detail it’s
also possible to maintain individual privacy by
anonymously triangulate and map how shoppers
move around stores, based on their phone’s WiFi
being activated.
Retailers are looking for actionable insights to
tailor what they offer to what consumers actually
want. When they get that right, consumers tend
to be happy, make purchases, and most
importantly, come back for more. This highly-
tuned, hyper-local and dynamic marketing and
merchandising doesn’t happen without a back
office system and store-level messaging platform.
Those IoT nodes, that data, the many triggers and
actions, all need to be aggregated and
harmonized. Then a system is needed to
dynamically turn insights into actionable,
impactful messaging.
© Joobsa 2016
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