Retail’s digital detail

Imagine that you are strolling idly through a mall, glancing at the display windows. Some are static displays – classic store windows, with models and merchandise displays – while others are digital displays, streaming video displays and commercials.

Suddenly, one particular item catches your eye. As you focus on the dress that the model is wearing in the video, unseen sensors track your eye movements and area of focus. So your attention has been grabbed by the top the model is wearing? Within milliseconds, the display has subtly changed, with the models now sporting more of the kind of items that you have displayed an interest in. If you move in towards the store, an alert goes out to the store managers – and a sales person has already been forewarned on his or her handheld device what you are interested in, and what needs to be shown to you to convert that interest into a sale.

Sounds futuristic? Most of what has been described above has already been launched, or is in advanced stages of testing and development. Welcome to the brave new world of retail, where advanced biometric software, new age displays and devices and gigabytes of cloud computing power are all converging to change the way you shop – as well as the way businesses run their retail enterprises.

“Retail businesses are leveraging many forms of technology to enhance the customer's ‘experience’. Retailers want to understand their customers in real time so have applied technologies such as digital signage and shopper intelligence,” says Kevin Taylor, President (Asia Pacific) of global communications and services major BT.

The new technology is designed to provide an astonishing level of detail to businesses, right from whether store displays are being noticed, to the impact of new advertisement campaigns and even how shoppers react to the in-store layout. This is being combined with new advances in technology, as well the multi-media capabilities being carried around by the customers themselves, by way of their converged mobile phones or other devices – to radically change the shopping experience.

Korean electronics giant LG, for instance, debuted its new generation ‘transparent displays’ in the US this week. The new device enables retailers to change a shop window to a giant display screen and back again in the blink of an eye. If they want, both product and ad can be on show simultaneously.

“The effect is stunning, visually,” said Y.K. Cho, senior vice-president, LG Electronics USA. “Turning a ‘window’ to a piece of signage then back again — it gives users options they didn't have before. Transparent technology has the sort of dynamic, attention-grabbing effect that halts consumers, engaging as it delivers messaging.”

BT, for instance, has just launched its ‘Retail in a box’ solution, which aims to integrate the front- and back-end operations, along with BT’s traditional strengths of managed virtual private networks.

Already being test-driven by Armani in China, ‘Retail in a Box’ is a complete managed services solution, covering different aspects such as online store performance monitoring, remote management, network security and disaster recovery.

“Customers have access to the latest designs and want to be connected to the retailers. This relationship is key to retailers and using multichannel techniques, which allow for greater interaction with their customers,” points out Taylor.

Mobiles – or the new generation smart devices, to be more precise – are transforming retail technology and practice out of all recognition. A recent study in Europe by credit card payments company Visa estimated that half of all its transactions will be done on a mobile device by 2020.

Today’s retail software is already gearing to cope with the demand, seamlessly integrating the user’s device with in-store displays and purchase processes, displays and out of home advertising.

BT’s retail solution, for instance, will be integrating the customer’s device with the enterprise software. “Our first step was to design a managed VPN solution so BT can provide the access retailers need to cover all points in China. Tier 1 and 2 cities are easily to gain access but now retailers are looking to stretch into cities with populations of 1 million or less,” says Taylor, adding, “The second phase of our solution will provide applications across the access such as digital signage, shopper intelligence, POS systems.”

The thrust now is to basically complete the shopping experience right on the customer’s device. Already, most phones can identify products either by an infra-red scanner, a QR code or bar code reader, or even by image search. If the retailer has the software which can then complete the purchase and pay for it right on the mobile, the biggest hurdle faced by brick-and-mortar retailers – the hassle faced by customers in reaching the store, picking the product and then getting it billed and paid for – can be sorted out seamlessly.

It promises to be the biggest change in retail after credit cards enabled the concept of impulse shopping without physically carrying money.

Watch this space.

COMMENT NOW