COMMUNICATIONS
Casino’s NFC app in action
“3G was very clunky to send video, but with
4G and fibre there are massive implications. All the big grocers and other retailers are looking at networking their CCTV,” he said. The plan for these retailers is to have a central
point – also known as a monitoring station – where all their CCTV footage can be handled and analysed either by an in-house team or as an outsourced service at a remote location. Atop this centralised arrangement can sit
the Facewatch solution that Gordon said signals the end of retailers sending video footage on discs to the Police following the committing of a crime instore. Instead, it allows them to send it all
electronically via email, according to Gordon, who added: “We report incidents to the Police online and can also send information (such as lists of criminals’ identities) back to security guards’ on the shop floor via their smartphones.” Although there are myriad opportunities
from having wireless capability – encompassing both store infrastructure uses and customer applications – Wi-Fi is not for everybody. This is partially because of the current cost involved in rolling it out to a large portfolio of stores. Avoiding such costs is France-based grocery
chain Casino that has shunned wireless in favour of using an app and near field communications (NFC) enabled electronic shelf-edge labels (ESLs) in its creation of the world’s first fully NFC- enabled store in Belles Feuilles in Paris. Vincent Berg, chief executive of Think & Go
NFC who is the provider of the technology to Casino, said that although this is the first NFC- enabled Casino store, the company has set it up whereby it can run cost-efficiently in stores where there is no Wi-Fi capability. Wireless is only needed at the entry to the store where the app is updated with the latest price list when the customer enters the shop. The trial involves the customer tapping their
compatible smartphone on the NFC-enabled labels that are integrated into 25,000 of the store’s 30,000 products. The other 5,000 are fresh items that have to be weighed, and their printed barcodes scanned. Such adventurous and varied initiatives give
a clear indication that the increased availability of mobile devices and enhanced communications capabilities present a very exciting future for both retailers and customers.
38 Autumn 2013
www.retailtechnology.co.uk
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