Trust and Visibility: how the Internet of Things supports Retail in a reopening Phase
If I were questioned what was the most crucial aspect that the retail world had to come to terms with, after the great lockdown, I’d probably answer trust.
Reopening non-essential stores was certainly long-awaited, yet it brought along a number of complex operational and experiential implications that retailers have now to address all at once: making shoppers feel comfortable and protected when moving around commercial premises, reassuring investors and developers on a new brand ramp-up after the downturn, counting on institutions and regulators in supporting an industry that has been harshly shaken.
Mutual trust and expectations in protecting each other’s interests (whether it is about medical safety or economic continuity) is what keeps in place that invisible consortium that links together consumers, stores and their underpinning economic framework. And it is probably the most sensitive challenge of the new retail normalcy.
Trust implies the ability to deliver on promises. This is where technology can help and support.
How can a high street apparel store guarantee their visitors that proper social distancing and sanitisation measures will be not only enforced but tracked, preventing non-compliant behavior? How can a retailer protect their liability versus authority regulations? How can a store protect their profitability and ensure the resiliency of their business before investors and stakeholders?
The internet of things can answer all these questions and, consequently, can help retailers commit to meet consumers’ and investors’ expectations, which ultimately will pay off in terms of brand positioning, customers retention, the ability to sustain margins, in an ever more competitive world.
Computer vision can be used to detect and track footfall capacity and location. Hands sanitization can be implemented and enforced, tracking this practice down to the single employee of the store. Energy consumption and lighting in the store can be calibrated effectively, based on capacity and premises usage. Supply chain can become trackable mile by mile, from manufacture to delivery, and can protect itself from sudden disruptions that may be worth millions, thanks to the predictive power of AI. The examples could continue and extend into the realm of the experience in the store.
The line between ecommerce and physical retail has become almost intangible: ecommerce will revive again, as it did over the long lockdown weeks. But it will grow more and more intertwined with the physical store. Nothing more than the recent lockdown taught shoppers the unreplaceable value of the physical surroundings and tangibility of the shopping experience, which accounts for a big part of its subliminal appeal. Whatever the touchpoint, online or offline, what counts is the ability of the retailer to be there, for the shoppers, along their journeys: providing options that are personalised, making them available, deliverable and returnable 24/7, prompting new visits and purchases. And this is where data make the difference but also where data makes the retailer.
Camilla Bonanni
IoT/Data Retail Industry Lead | TD SYNNEX Europe