Enhanced In-Store Experience

About

The Store of the Future requires significant strategic investment in technology to provide optimised customer experiences and operational efficiencies. Digital and mobile systems apps can enable retailers to gain a 360-degree view on stock, sales, staff and, most importantly, shoppers instore – an advantage that pure online players and shoppers have had for some time now. Syscomm enables retailers to create a highly personalised and mobile-driven shopping experience to meet the expectations of today’s shopper who wants to stay connected. Syscomm’s retail networking solutions augment store operations and assets with network-powered analytics and improve the efficiency of an organisation’s distribution centres. Today’s consumers are digitally empowered and able to access information on products, price and promotions online and via their mobile devices. However, Brick and Mortar (B&M) stores typically lack the means to engage with shoppers digitally in real time whilst they are on the shop floor. In addition, today’s digital culture and fast-paced lifestyles are leading to shorter attention spans. The time retailers have to reach shoppers is decreasing. Consumers want instant gratification and expect retailers to respond quickly to their shopping preferences and behaviour as do best-in-class online operators. Online players enjoy the advantage of being able to gather considerably more detailed information on visitors’ shopping behaviour compared to conventional physical stores. They can identify recurring shoppers via cookies, for example. Clickstream analysis provides them with valuable insights on shopping preferences as well as on what drives shoppers to complete a transaction or abandon it. They can also immediately react to a shopper’s activities by offering support or recommendations, using chatbots, for example. This communication can be highly personalised, as many customers opt to log into the online shop before browsing as they value the bespoke recommendations and services, they can obtain from doing so. Most B&M retailers know little about shoppers passing by or entering their stores, let alone are able to identify and track them as they browse the aisles. B&M retailers are facing major challenges compared to online Without investment in digital and mobile, the gap between online and offline will persist. These enabling technologies can connect a retailer’s online and offline presence and provide transparency on inventory and shopper behaviour. Bear in mind that: • Typically, shoppers browsing a physical store remain anonymous – at least until they initiate the checkout process using a payment method other than cash and/or a loyalty card. A personalised, real-time marketing approach at the place where the shopping decision is made – during that shopper’s “moment of intent” – is often impossible. • Physical retailing often lacks visibility of in-store shopper behaviour of the kind available to online retailers through tools like clickstream analytics. • Many operations lack transparency and real-time information as to what exactly is happening in their stores. This is true regarding shopper behaviour, activities and the whereabouts of staff, as well as other store assets, such as inventory and fixtures and fittings. • In many cases, physical and digital channels are not integrated. This makes it difficult to track the customer journey beyond each visit to the store. • B&M often lacks immediate actionable insights and instead can only access such information after the event. The Solution - Network Elements for an Enhanced In-Store Experience The Syscomm solution provides the necessary network infrastructure elements instrumental in delivering an enhanced in-store experience for retail customers. The combined elements create an environment that enables seamless guest onboarding and access to strong, secure, pervasive WiFi, enabling granular understanding of the preferences and behaviours of shoppers – as well as analytics surrounding in-store staff and connected assets. Crucially, this includes location-based presence, zone, and position analytics. These network-driven insights translate to personalised, contextual engagements with onsite customers. Syscomm enables retailers to create a highly personalised, mobile-centric shopping experience, and to optimise store operations. Software-driven solutions leverage a secure, flexible, and smart network infrastructure that strategically integrates wireless and wired technologies, guest access, analytics, location-based services, and centralised network management. When implemented, retailers are able to provide more value to their customers, resulting in more revenue for the business. This type of network-based location solution has plenty of potential. Any important information that you want your visitors and customers to know can be transmitted directly to any receptive devices that are within the range of the signal. This could be a simple alert to notify the user that they are within range of your shop. Or, the alert could be something more complex, like sending messages related to discounts, loyalty programs, and competitions that you are running. Brands themselves can also push individual product discounts using your in-store network. Syscomm provides the building blocks retailers need to build the right architecture to fulfil the specialised demands of their business. We do not offer one-size-fits-all solutions because we recognise that every business is different. Robust, always-on WiFi connectivity and bandwidth are provided by ExtremeWireless access points and wireless controls, delivering highly-available, highly flexible, scalable and secure, easily-deployed and managed WiFi connectivity; solutions that are built for seamless, fast deployments to reduce installation time, minimising the impact to the store’s day-to-day operations and the shopping experience. Once deployed, artificial intelligence and machine learning automatically tunes and optimise WiFi RF across multiple environments, proactively identifying and mitigating issues before they occur, ensuring high quality of service in any environment – regardless of the inherent challenges. To better understand and engage with in-store shoppers, we deliver an extensive dashboard and guest analytics engine, with customisable rules and policies for guest on-boarding, out of the box (pre-built) splash page templates, and rest APIs and integration with 3rd party loyalty apps. Our location services enable valuable insights around business assets and visiting customers, with access to three levels of powerful location-based data analytics, including presence, zone, and position – giving you the ability to immediately engage with directly with individual shoppers in a contextual, highly personalised way. Through our Fabric Connect network infrastructure, retailers can securely on-board in-house, BYOD, guest, and IoT devices; safely and securely with minimal network administration. Retailers can institute an extensive, diverse set of role-based policies – providing network rules by user, device, time-of-day, location, and application. In short, we provide all the elements to build intelligent, adaptive, and secure autonomous network that strategically integrates wireless and wired technologies, guest access, analytics, location-based services, and centralised network management. This means that digital and mobile technologies running on our network offer retailers the ability to: Know your customer • Recognise shoppers passing by or entering the store – who they are • Recognise shoppers’ whereabouts inside the store – where they are • Engage with shoppers related to their location within the store – why they are here • Enable contextual marketing – how to engage? Optimise operations • React to events on the shop floor based on analytics • Alert employees to important customers entering the store or to important tasks in a timely manner • Provide visibility on available staff as well as store assets Analyse customer (and staff) behaviour to monitor results and optimise the store offering, services and experience. • Learn from traffic flows and patterns to optimise store layout, product placement, and staffing Wireless communications are fundamental to digitising the store environment. A reliable and secure WiFi infrastructure is the pre-requisite. It encourages customer engagement and interaction beyond basic mobile data access. It allows the retailer to recognise and engage with their shoppers in more contextually relevant ways. It also enables in-store staff to gather and access information without being tied to a terminal and to spend more time facing the customer. It also gives store assistants access to required information when serving shoppers. There are numerous opportunities that can be generated by offering shoppers mobile access to in-store WiFi networks. Welcoming visitors to the store and knowing who the shoppers are Nearly all consumers carry a mobile with them when they leave home. And a clear majority wish to use their smartphones while shopping in stores. Connecting via mobile must be seen as the best way to engage with modern shoppers. This can be achieved using smart network solutions and real-time WiFi and BLE-based location analytics delivered with minimal CapEx investment via the Cloud. Providing in-store WiFi is evolving from a value-added extra to a pre-requisite, not only to meet customer expectations, but also to provide innovative new forms of digital engagement, along with much-needed visibility on customer activity within the store. The power of contextual customer engagement Location-based services, using WiFi and/or BLE technologies not only provide retailers with valuable insights, they open contextual marketing opportunities similar to those enjoyed by online retailers. Understanding shopper behaviour, knowing which aisle they are browsing or which product category interests them, enables retailers to push: • Promotions or special discounts • Information on new product launches • Coupons, and/or Marketing messages according to location to their mobile device. Fully understanding customer behaviour in the store and being able to act on it in real time gives retailers abundant marketing opportunities. The use of in-store WiFi and digital technology provides both retailers and brands chances to generate impulse buys through highly targeted promotions. Personalisation Combining both information about the location and about the individual customer makes a real-time contextual marketing approach even more powerful. Recurring shoppers identified through the system can receive highly personalised offerings, relating both to their present location and personal preferences accumulated from previous store visits as well as from shopping behaviours across other channels. Helping shoppers navigate the store For shoppers it is often a challenge locating specific items in large–format stores. Retailers can help customers logged into the store WiFi navigate the aisles and find the zone where the item they are looking for is stocked. Guided by a store map, they will be able to see their current position and the product’s location is placed. The system then displays the fastest route between the two. Connecting shoppers and associates For shoppers it is often a challenge locating specific items in large–format stores. Retailers can help customers connect with a human interface as well. Using the shopper’s positional information to identify the nearest associate will result in quicker response times in helping customers. Very much the human equivalent of an online chatbot. Indoor locationing platforms also provide visibility on crowding – highlighting zones where the visitor-to-associate ratio is too high, as well as sending real-time crowding alerts to workforce management applications instructing them to deploy associates. Optimising efficiency of store associates Having oversight of and analysing whereabouts of store staff tells retailers how much time is spent in each department. It also delivers insights on the ratio of associates to shoppers in a particular area. This information helps operations to more accurately plan personnel deployment and better optimise workforce management. At times of rising staff costs and increasing difficulties sourcing capable employees in some markets this will significantly enhance operational efficiencies and profitability at store-level. An efficient and high-performance WLAN infrastructure across a retailer’s B&M estate requires effective management tools at enterprise level. Often, thousands of individual sites and several hundred thousand access points need to be managed. Simple deployment will enable faster rollouts and allow enterprises to set up new sites quickly. A Cloud-based locationing architecture will ensure scalability of the system, where millions of visitor devices are observed across all stores and all locations. It ensures that costs are tailored to the user’s requirements and they are paying only for the resources they need, when they need it. It also provides management with a single view and transparency across their entire network, offering meaningful, customisable dashboards that can be installed easily and swiftly. The convenience of Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) facilitates fast and easy integration with other enterprise solutions, enabling retailers to add follow-on benefits in the future. The Benefits Real-time WiFi analytics empowers enterprises to take their business to a new level with deeper insights. It will help retailers to engage their customers with a contextual-based personalised experience and, at the same time, improve operational efficiency. • Engage with customers through contextual-based personalised experience • Increased conversion rates • Increased sales • Enhanced shopping experience • Increased loyalty • Monitor workflow and assets to improve efficiency • Knowing where staff and resources are; connecting with customers that need assistance faster and utilising staff more efficiently • Understanding traffic patterns and workflow; resulting in improved operational efficiency or customer experience • Leveraging wireless LAN for greater return on investment • Engaged employees For both the retailer and the consumer, Syscomm’s solution offers an unparalleled buying experience. Consumers receive department-specific suggestions, special offers and highly relevant, highly personalised brand interactions delivered directly to their phones.