Business opportunities Business oportunities


a checkout-free ‘Scan Pay Go’ app that allows customers to scan and pay for items using their smartphones. The app is limited to Tesco employees in one store, but could be rolled out if successful. Tesco is not the first supermarket to do this – the Co-op has pay-in-the-aisle technology, while Sainsbury’s trialled a similar app in 2017. But


perhaps the most


ground-breaking and much-dis- cussed mainstream retail con- cept is that of Amazon Go. Here, customers can walk out of the store without queuing or paying at a checkout. Instead, sensors record the items they pick up and charge them to an Amazon Prime account. Ama- zon registered a UK trademark on 5 December, indicating it intends to bring the format to Britain.


Before the launch of Amazon Go, the British Retail Consor- tium predicted almost a third of the UK’s 3m shop jobs would disappear by 2025 as compa- nies use technology instead of people. If Amazon Go catches on in the UK, established retail- ers would probably be forced to match its convenience to keep their customers. The Bank of England’s Chief Economist Andy Haldane warned earlier this year that 15 million UK jobs could eventually be lost to robots.


Amazon has made it clear that it is targeting the UK re- tail market. In February, it an- nounced it would sell fresh and frozen food to UK consumers in a deal with Morrisons and in July it launched Amazon Fresh to sell fresh food to selected postcodes. It is also developing a clothes range, after helping revolutionise the books, music, home entertainment and con- sumer electronics sectors over the past decade.


Amazon Go might have com- petition in the UK. According to rumours reported by Reuters, it is said that Microsoft is also working on technology for au- tomated check-outs. Microsoft already enables retailers to sell online by offering technology solutions, such as cloud stor- age, but there is speculation that this new venture means it will allow established gro- cery brands to use automated shops. Chinese retail internet giant,


Alibaba has ‘walk-out’ supermarkets with no cashiers called Hema. Consumers buy their groceries in-store using an app and can have them de- livered to their home within 30 minutes. For a truly rounded service, customers can choose to have their groceries cooked in-store by Hema chefs and then delivered to them. French grocery


store, Carrefour has


announced a partnership with Google France, which could


create the country’s first gro- cery shopping experience through Google interfaces and is due to launch in 2019.


Clicks and bricks integration


Competition with traditional retail methods demands in- tegration of online and offline integration, but a recent re- port shows that this process is still languishing. Almost 1 in 3 retail businesses are still not ready for the onset Golden Quarter


traffic from October


– December; 37% have ad- mitted that their websites are not yet fully device responsive and a further 31% revealed they hadn’t performed any load testing on their website, ahead of the onset of golden quarter traffic.


Gareth Hoyle, Managing Di- rector at MarketingSignals. com comments: “The research shows there are many ways that online retail businesses are not ready for one of the busi- est times of the year for online shopping – the golden quarter. With events such as Black Fri- day and Christmas contained within this period, it is vital that retail businesses have their website fully prepared for the increase in online shoppers, so they can reap the rewards of this busy trading period.” “To maximise sales turnover during this period, businesses need an integrated approach to e-commerce so that all custom- er demands are understood. It is for this reason that it is so important that businesses plan well in advance, as knowing whether your site can cope with some of the busiest shop- ping periods of the year can make the difference between a bumper earning period or a companywide disaster.” Integration of online and in- store technology can make shopping a genuinely add- ed-value experience. Lloyds Pharmacy offers a diagnostic capability through its online presence, supported and com- plemented by ‘health kiosks’ in nine of its larger stores at the end of 2013. Known as the ‘Xen X5 kiosk’ these are interactive touchscreens and printers that allow customers to browse its entire product line, place orders and pay for goods via credit card. Customers can also scan products in the store for more information, watch de- tailed step-by-step videos and print health advice leaflets. Kiosk and touchscreen sys- tems and services provider Pro- touch said today in a statement that it was specifically selected to provide Lloyds with a cost-ef- fective kiosk solution that met the business requirements of the pharmacy retailer.


With the latest Pharmacy Ki- osk Management (PKM) soft- ware in place, the kiosks have been designed to improve their customers’ instore experience at the touch of a button. The interactive touchscreen kiosks give customers the free- dom to browse full product


range, place orders and make card payments. They also en- able users to scan products in the store for further information and watch step-by-step videos of how to use them. With this improved access


to informa-


tion, Lloyds customers will also be able to print health advice


leaflets from the touchscreen units.


Following an unsuccessful trial with tablet devices, Lloyds Pharmacy switched to kiosks and touchscreen systems, which proved to be a fast, reli- able platform. With greater ac- cess to a wider range of items,


Beacon technology as a store attractor


Integrated with online pres- ence, instore technology can transform a shopping trip into a truly memorable experience. But getting the shopper into the store or to a precise loca-


ers in shops or in the street can offer you discounts or informa- tion based on your preferences by a tap of your phone. Unlike iBeacon, NFC requires the co- operation of banks and credit


is pushed directly to the user, providing they have the brand’s app installed. The range of NFC is small, whereas the range of iBeacons is up to 50 metres without a loss of precision be-


iBeacon is based on, and is offered as an alternative to, an existing NFC (Near Field Communication) technology, This is the term used for the information exchange between two devices. It’s short-range, low powered and highly accurate way for your mobile phone to act as a credit or debit card, a loyalty card, a travel card and more.


(in a retail environment with no Wi-Fi or 3G signal). The smartphone uses BLE to com- municate.


iBeacons are currently being used in bars and coffee shops to


give customers access


to digital magazines. Lon- don-based Bar Kick gives ac- cess automatically to reading


these kiosks provided an al- ternative to purchasing and ordering specific products. As well as providing custom- ers with improved information access and engaging content, the kiosk systems also assist- ed staff in making sales.


tion within it is another matter. US department store Macy’s has recently been experiment- ing with iBeacons. Customers who enter the store with the Shopkick app installed on their iPhones will be alerted about deals and items they may be interested in. While iBeacon is a brand name, it is one that will likely fall into general vocabulary. iBeacon is a technology developed by Apple. iBeacons improve and extend the functionality of the Location Services within re- cent versions of the iOS. iOS software such as Maps, Camera, Safari and various other third-party apps use in- formation from GPS, cellular and Wi-Fi to determine your location.


iBeacon is based on, and is offered as an alternative to, an existing NFC (Near Field Com- munication) technology - the term used for the information exchange between two devic- es. It’s short-range, low pow- ered and highly accurate way for your mobile phone to act as a credit or debit card, a loyalty card, a travel card and more. NFC is also helping to re- place the hoary old QR code. NFC tags on adverts and post-


card companies to facilitate transactions. iBeacons just needs an Apple account. NFC users have to tap their device next to an NFC tag in order to be pushed content, but with iBeacons the content


cause iBeacons uses Bluetooth low energy (BLE) to place you within mere feet of a location. BLE allows smartphone pay- ments to be made even when the user’s device does not have a network connection of its own


material as soon as a custom- er walks in, then locks access when they walk out, but offer- ing a subscription opportunity for the particular magazine. Clever!


Macy’s has recently been experimenting with iBeacons. Customers who enter the store with the Shop- kick app installed on their iPhones will be alerted about deals and items they may be interested in.


AV News October 2018 P13


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