Real Time Store Monitoring

Understanding the customer is key in any business. In a highly competitive industry like retail, it is becoming increasingly relevant to understand the customer preferences and buying patterns to stay head. In traditional in- store retailing every customer is considered similar, which contradicts from the personalized shopping experiences in online retail space. To implement this tinge of personalization in in- store also, retailers are exploring new avenues of disruptive technologies like mobility, analytics, IoT and so on.

Retail in-store monitoring is a significant way of creating a much better retail in- store selling experience. It enables retailers in finding meaningful insights based on the analysis of data on customer preferences, purchasing patterns, demographic attributes, which are collected through multiple technologies. With the analysis of the in-store performance, retailers can better optimize their business, be it in terms of targeted promotions, staff optimization or increased sales conversion.

Relevance of Real Time Store Monitoring and In-Store Analytics in Retail

As the competition increases in retail space, the requirements of the customers are also increasing. Customers are expecting the retailers to anticipate their shopping requirements and offer them a convenient shopping experience, which is completely personalized in nature. The insights generated from analytics helps retailers to customize their products and services and to engage in better interactions with the customers thereby making the selling- buying experience an unforgettable one. The retail in- store analytics strategies enable to boost the customer loyalty along with increasing the store footfalls and sales conversions. It also helps in the effective segmentation of the customers which makes targeted campaigns effective. It better maps the customer journey and helps build stronger connects with the brand.

The four major aspects in which real time store monitoring and in- store analytics play a key role includes:

• Improving the overall in-store experience by analyzing customer preferences and providing targeted promotions or contextualized offers.

• Improving the store inventory positioning and management with a real-time tracking on top-performing/ worst performing SKUs, real-time alerts on potential stock outs, soon to expire items, and most profitable / least profitable items and so on.

• Better managing the store employee health with a track on number of employees deployed, their performance, learning metrics and customer service

• Better managing the store health with a track on whether all the store systems and infrastructure are up and running in good condition – especially cold chain units, physical security and surveillance systems, Point of Sales (PoS) terminals, other hardware like in-store beacons/ Wi-Fi routers etc.

How In-Store Analytics Works?

In- store Analytics leverages multiple data collection sources in the store which can include Video cameras, in- store beacons, Thermal based imaging systems, Point of Sales systems, Store shelf monitors, Wi-Fi enabled mobile devices and so on to collect customer like- path to purchase, dwell time, traffic at departments and store data like inventory movement, stock outs, system health, PoS terminal usage and even security data like un-warranted movement near entry/ exit gates, unauthorized access to PoS terminal, intrusions etc. It is then passed on to an analytics engine in batch, near real time or real-time mode for segregating and analyzing the data as per the context and actionable steps that can be expected out of the data. The next step involves visualization of the data in multiple formats, deriving insights out of it and connecting to actionable outcomes and processes (e.g. auto re-order, instant notification to store manager to send store staff at high traffic zone etc.)

Happiest Minds’ In- store Analytics Solution

Happiest Minds’ In-store Analytics solution – Store Streamer that is available on the cloud or on premise leverages digital technologies like mobile, beacon/ location tracking devices, video based people counting, analytics to monitor and improve retail in-store efficiency, boost their employee productivity and increase the sales growth. Our In store conversion dashboard with multi-dimensional drill down views provide location view, time view and demographic view of key in- store metrics and KPIs for the retailers.

The Future of Real Time Store Monitoring and In-Store Analytics

Digital Transformation powered by digital technologies is significantly impacting the retail industry, merging the traditional retail and online retail.

According to the Omnichannel Retail survey done by Happiest Minds Technologies, over 90% of revenue still come from physical stores for large Omnichannel retailers. The report also says, over 60% of retailers have embarked on transforming in-store customer and associate engagement with connected experiences and capabilities. Stores are driving the change today and are on their way to becoming mini-fulfilment hubs. This shows, despite the revolution of e-commerce, the relevance of brick and mortar stores is not going to diminish in the future. Physical stores are getting transformed into experience centers focusing Omnichannel retail customers. Insightful solutions like in-store analytics will enable retailers to realize the true potential of physical stores.