Internet of Things
What are some of the latest IoT technology innovations in stores? In today’s challenging economic climate, retailers are seeking new ways to drive growth and demand through their physical stores. As the evolution towards ‘phygital’ retail accelerates, physical stores are starting to fulfil their potential as local, fast, efficient and convenient environments that offer higher quality local jobs, as well as respect the environment and local communities – all of which is being driven by technology. Te digital transformation of physical retail starts at
the shelf – automating price and promotions with real- time visibility into shelf stock status via Computer Vision (CV) and Machine Learning (ML) technologies. With constant monitoring and instant detection, retailers can access valuable insights around position, price, stock levels and promotional execution. Electronic Shelf Label (ESL) technologies also have key
features to digitise physical commerce. Not only do ESLs effectively eliminate pricing errors and the time spent on manual paper ticket updates, they better impact shoppers’ decisions at the shelf via the availability of timely relevant and impactful information. Tey can understand the provenance of products, their efficacy and sustainability, and the value of any promotions and offers. Digital media at the shelf and in aisle showing
video content synchronised between devices and with price and promotional information, key messages, and attributes, further enhances the impact to drive sales and provides additional tools for the retailer to improve the shopping experience. Retailers can also deploy ‘spotlight’ messaging to better inform customers, engage them in local community initiatives, highlight key attributes, and even drive direct contribution to charities.
What are the biggest benefits of implementing IoT technologies in physical stores? A successful retail digitisation requires a scalable, secure, open, future-proof cloud-to-edge IoT management platform that can ensure ongoing innovation, optimisation, and improvement in the solutions it provides. By using IoT technologies, retailers gain greater
visibility into their operations as they’re able to access data they need to make informed, considered decisions. Tis might be around which items are selling particularly well and need to be replenished, which products need to be dynamically priced or promoted due to their use by date, or which items have not been in high demand and therefore do not need to be reordered. Tese technologies have the potential to sharply
decrease the volume of products that stores would otherwise have to consider for disposal - items unfit for consumption, past their expiration dates, or not wanted by customers. Triggering purchases when they matter, delivering impactful messages at the shelf, targeting
www.pcr-online.biz
shoppers when products are within reach generating in- store sales upliſt. Increasing the efficiency of replenishment and order
picking can also help retailers meet their sustainability goals. With clear insight into which products are popular, how frequently they are purchased, and when sales are slowing down, retailers can reduce over-ordering on certain items and together with optimising in-store production meet demand, avoiding excessive mark downs and waste.
With AI being a hot topic at the moment, what are some AI applications in retail? Deploying a greater number of IoT technologies comes with a wealth of data. When accessed, managed, and analysed correctly, this data can be turned into valuable, actionable insights. Retailers can then utilise these insights to optimise pricing, stock levels and other key metrics and compiling data from the aisles to generate recommendations on the most critical areas for tangible improvement to the bottom line. Optimising individual areas with AI-driven
analytics and compiling data from the aisles to generate recommendations on the most critical areas can bring tangible improvement to the bottom line. Te more visibility retailers have on their stores and shelves, the easier it can be for them to adapt their deliveries and logistics, opening an era of enhanced collaboration between suppliers and retailers to improve supply chain efficiency, transparency, safety, and sustainability.
You have recently worked with Kavanagh’s to open the UK’s first fully IoT-powered VUSION 360 store in Belsize Park, London. What key features does the store have? As the first VUSION 360 store in the UK, Kavanagh’s Budgens in Belsize Park has taken steps to radically reduce food waste, optimise pricing, increase on-shelf availability, and impact in-store advertising, including promoting more sustainable food choices. It combines Electronic Shelf Labels (ESLs), computer vision, sensors, video rails, analytics, and cloud technologies to achieve huge time savings, greater efficiencies, higher turnover, and an improved shopper experience. Te IoT technology implemented in the store has
contributed to lowering operating costs and resulted in the store trading significantly ahead of budget. Since deploying the technology, the in-store team now better utilise at least ten hours a week that would normally be spent changing and managing paper tickets. Automated shelf monitoring and alerting has also saved staff up to two hours per day and the tech delivers at least 2% higher sales due to better availability, clear customer information, and timely executed campaigns.
www.ses-imagotag.com July/August 2023 | 29
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52
