"Retail" Internet of Things
The emergence of the Internet has pushed many areas of business to the application of innovation and modern technology. Retail is no exception and in recent years has been actively using the capabilities of the Internet of Things (Internet of Things, IoT). At the same time, IoT has become for retail not just an abstract system of interconnected sensors, smartphones, computers and shops. It is a tool that provides an opportunity to improve business efficiency, study the behavior of the buyer and create new business models.
A few years ago, retail surprised by the presence of heat maps of attendance, control of the length of queues to the cash registers or counting visitors. Today, stores are massively using mPOS systems, tablet computers and various mobile applications in the trading floors to optimize and control trade processes. But for the further development and retention of the client, who wants to go online, traditional retailers have to constantly improve and use qualitatively new IoT solutions. They differ from the existing ones in their ability to collect and analyze much more information about customers, sellers and managers, goods movement, etc.
Today, collecting, analyzing and making the right decisions on streamlining the shopping process and establishing interaction with the customer are becoming the main drivers for the retail industry. Therefore, the majority of large retail companies have embarked on the use of IoT-technologies in order to increase their efficiency and retain the customer. In addition, with their help, they are trying to optimize the functionality of auxiliary services and logistics.
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It is safe to say that today retail trade is going through a phase of IT revolution, where the main tool is the Internet of Things. She promises to bring not only new opportunities to work with clients, but also to modernize the entire chain of the sales process, starting with the purchase of goods and ending with its payment upon purchase.
Today's shopper is quite spoiled and technically advanced. He has the opportunity to monitor the market, and acquire goods of interest in a traditional or online store, using a mobile application or making a call from the customer service. And he is not averse to trying new shopping technologies. Therefore, retailers through IoT are trying to analyze the behavior of customers and rethink their ability to please him. To do this, they use different "chips", for example, personalization of the proposal, and apply various innovations.
These can be electronic labels on shelves with dynamic pricing, self-checking via a smartphone, interactive digital signs that recognize the identity of the customer standing in front of them and arranging product offerings for them, and much more.
One of the largest international retail chains, Walmart, with over 10,000 stores in almost 30 countries, owes much of its success to the IoT technologies used. Thanks to them, Walmart provides customers with the goods in which they feel the need, which allows them to minimize damage and write-off.
The introduction of special sensors and the creation of a "smart" floor allows you to track the "consumer track" over the entire area of ​​the market and analyze which products cause the greatest interest among buyers.
Based on these data, the client’s specificity, needs and preferences are established. In turn, on the basis of this, commodity stocks will be formed, to which a particular buyer will prevail.
According to forecasts, already by 2021 over 75% of all the stores of the global retail chain will not only recognize which customers come to shop and when, but also adapt to their visits based on an analysis of the history of previous purchases.
It is also expected that soon a new generation of 5G wireless communication and “smart” low-power devices will allow the respective IoT technologies for retail to drastically change the buyer’s behavioral model, completely rebuilding the approaches to trade marketing.
Along with innovations in working with customers, the Internet of Things offers retail and a lot of innovative solutions for managing the movement of goods in the entire logistics chain. The specifics of retail trade are such that sometimes even small, at first glance, details and nuances matter. Today, retailers are actively introducing IoT technologies in such areas as supply control, inventory management and other assets, as well as payment processing.
Here, up-to-date and timely information is of paramount importance, and “smart” devices help ensure its prompt receipt. Thanks to them, it is possible to control the delivery time of goods, fix the time and place of its damage or deterioration, take into account temperature factors when building logistics, etc.
In order for a product to appear on the store shelf in a timely manner, a supply management system is created with the help of the Internet of Things, which can itself form an order while reducing a certain amount of goods. “Smart” shelves with built-in sensors that determine the reduction of the range, sensors monitoring the state of perishable products, applications that send personalized, taking into account consumer preferences, offers to customers - all this is only a small part of solutions to improve the efficiency of retail.
RFID technology (Radio Frequency IDentification, radio frequency identification), using special RFID tags, allows you to quickly track the entire supply chain of goods in real-time mode. It also allows retailers to increase accounting accuracy (up to 95%), reduce the risk of a sudden deficit, and thus reduce the potential loss. In aggregate, all these factors lead to an increase in the profitability of trade.
As you can see, the optimization of supply, and automation of the entire process of movement of goods from the manufacturer to the consumer is the key area of ​​application of the IoT concept in retail. To achieve this, retailers invest and will invest significant resources. In the end, they will pay off by meeting consumer demand at a higher level corresponding to today's customer needs.
The rapid development of technologies and the abundance of innovations, along with the unconditional profit, introduces certain difficulties, both in general for business and retail in particular. The point is that constant changes require frequent revision of already established business processes, as well as the overall strategy, as well as additional investments, the returns from which can be stretched over time.
In addition, if we talk about retail, the use of "smart" devices will bring real benefits only in the case of proper processing and analysis of information received from them. This is extremely important for personalized customer service and inventory management.
Therefore, retailer companies are forced to constantly analyze information flows from smart devices, and on the basis of them to adjust their strategy for working with customers. Data collection is not an easy task, despite the fact that they need to be “cleared” and transformed into the necessary information.
In order to quickly and correctly assess consumer behavior, it will be necessary to have an appropriate analytical system that is able to separate useful information from insignificant. In addition, it must integrate with the decision-making system. In aggregate, this is able to satisfy customer demand, increase revenue, and, of course, will allow the retailer to be one step ahead from less “advanced” competitors.
Today IoT is most applicable in large retail networks that can afford to modernize business processes and experiment with technological innovations. As wireless networks improve and some power consumption problems are resolved, smart devices will also be in demand in small retail.
Retail is no longer the same, IoT rules there ...
A few years ago, retail surprised by the presence of heat maps of attendance, control of the length of queues to the cash registers or counting visitors. Today, stores are massively using mPOS systems, tablet computers and various mobile applications in the trading floors to optimize and control trade processes. But for the further development and retention of the client, who wants to go online, traditional retailers have to constantly improve and use qualitatively new IoT solutions. They differ from the existing ones in their ability to collect and analyze much more information about customers, sellers and managers, goods movement, etc.
Today, collecting, analyzing and making the right decisions on streamlining the shopping process and establishing interaction with the customer are becoming the main drivers for the retail industry. Therefore, the majority of large retail companies have embarked on the use of IoT-technologies in order to increase their efficiency and retain the customer. In addition, with their help, they are trying to optimize the functionality of auxiliary services and logistics.
')
It is safe to say that today retail trade is going through a phase of IT revolution, where the main tool is the Internet of Things. She promises to bring not only new opportunities to work with clients, but also to modernize the entire chain of the sales process, starting with the purchase of goods and ending with its payment upon purchase.
"Digitize" the buyer
Today's shopper is quite spoiled and technically advanced. He has the opportunity to monitor the market, and acquire goods of interest in a traditional or online store, using a mobile application or making a call from the customer service. And he is not averse to trying new shopping technologies. Therefore, retailers through IoT are trying to analyze the behavior of customers and rethink their ability to please him. To do this, they use different "chips", for example, personalization of the proposal, and apply various innovations.
These can be electronic labels on shelves with dynamic pricing, self-checking via a smartphone, interactive digital signs that recognize the identity of the customer standing in front of them and arranging product offerings for them, and much more.
One of the largest international retail chains, Walmart, with over 10,000 stores in almost 30 countries, owes much of its success to the IoT technologies used. Thanks to them, Walmart provides customers with the goods in which they feel the need, which allows them to minimize damage and write-off.
The introduction of special sensors and the creation of a "smart" floor allows you to track the "consumer track" over the entire area of ​​the market and analyze which products cause the greatest interest among buyers.
Based on these data, the client’s specificity, needs and preferences are established. In turn, on the basis of this, commodity stocks will be formed, to which a particular buyer will prevail.
According to forecasts, already by 2021 over 75% of all the stores of the global retail chain will not only recognize which customers come to shop and when, but also adapt to their visits based on an analysis of the history of previous purchases.
It is also expected that soon a new generation of 5G wireless communication and “smart” low-power devices will allow the respective IoT technologies for retail to drastically change the buyer’s behavioral model, completely rebuilding the approaches to trade marketing.
IoT-product management
Along with innovations in working with customers, the Internet of Things offers retail and a lot of innovative solutions for managing the movement of goods in the entire logistics chain. The specifics of retail trade are such that sometimes even small, at first glance, details and nuances matter. Today, retailers are actively introducing IoT technologies in such areas as supply control, inventory management and other assets, as well as payment processing.
Here, up-to-date and timely information is of paramount importance, and “smart” devices help ensure its prompt receipt. Thanks to them, it is possible to control the delivery time of goods, fix the time and place of its damage or deterioration, take into account temperature factors when building logistics, etc.
In order for a product to appear on the store shelf in a timely manner, a supply management system is created with the help of the Internet of Things, which can itself form an order while reducing a certain amount of goods. “Smart” shelves with built-in sensors that determine the reduction of the range, sensors monitoring the state of perishable products, applications that send personalized, taking into account consumer preferences, offers to customers - all this is only a small part of solutions to improve the efficiency of retail.
RFID technology (Radio Frequency IDentification, radio frequency identification), using special RFID tags, allows you to quickly track the entire supply chain of goods in real-time mode. It also allows retailers to increase accounting accuracy (up to 95%), reduce the risk of a sudden deficit, and thus reduce the potential loss. In aggregate, all these factors lead to an increase in the profitability of trade.
As you can see, the optimization of supply, and automation of the entire process of movement of goods from the manufacturer to the consumer is the key area of ​​application of the IoT concept in retail. To achieve this, retailers invest and will invest significant resources. In the end, they will pay off by meeting consumer demand at a higher level corresponding to today's customer needs.
"Hear" sensor ...
The rapid development of technologies and the abundance of innovations, along with the unconditional profit, introduces certain difficulties, both in general for business and retail in particular. The point is that constant changes require frequent revision of already established business processes, as well as the overall strategy, as well as additional investments, the returns from which can be stretched over time.
In addition, if we talk about retail, the use of "smart" devices will bring real benefits only in the case of proper processing and analysis of information received from them. This is extremely important for personalized customer service and inventory management.
Therefore, retailer companies are forced to constantly analyze information flows from smart devices, and on the basis of them to adjust their strategy for working with customers. Data collection is not an easy task, despite the fact that they need to be “cleared” and transformed into the necessary information.
In order to quickly and correctly assess consumer behavior, it will be necessary to have an appropriate analytical system that is able to separate useful information from insignificant. In addition, it must integrate with the decision-making system. In aggregate, this is able to satisfy customer demand, increase revenue, and, of course, will allow the retailer to be one step ahead from less “advanced” competitors.
Today IoT is most applicable in large retail networks that can afford to modernize business processes and experiment with technological innovations. As wireless networks improve and some power consumption problems are resolved, smart devices will also be in demand in small retail.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/374117/
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