Infrastructure is the bridge between application and experience. The digital infrastructure deployed by retail giants today needs to be overhauled to create a compelling experience for consumers and staff. The last 18 months has made this clear.
Retailers need to re-think how they go digital – connecting warehouses, brick and mortar stores, and their digital presence – to ensure customers can buy from anywhere and pick up or request for delivery anywhere, and enable different teams within the organization to deploy cutting-edge technologies such as the cloud, internet of things (IoT) and IoT-based devices such as sensors and smart cameras, and so on, to ultimately offer better experiences online and offline.
The goal is to provide better experiences to consumers; it’s also to remove the drudgery for staff and so anything that can be automated must be automated – and that’s cutting down errors and downtime.
That’s the reality one of our clients, a globally recognized retailer, was faced with.
The organization has tens of billions of dollars in annual revenues and tens of millions of square feet in retail space under its control. Keen to hold on to its position in the market, it decided to make a slew of carefully selected investments in IT with a view to honing its edge as it transitioned into a chain of future-forward retail spaces.
In recent years, like many of its competitors, the organization had built a great online shopping platform and experience. However, during the pandemic, this needed to be integrated with its network of brick-and-mortar stores and warehouses to ensure inventory can be managed better and logistics can be optimized to ensure customers get what they want, when they want it.
In order to achieve this vision-driven future state, it required a feature-rich, dense IT backbone and decided to build it using hardware and software from Cisco’s portfolio. Of course, our switches, routers, and access points were part of the solution – but there was more.
With help from Cisco DNA Center, Meraki smart cameras and sensors, and support from vendors, the retailer was able to expand its digital blueprint to include intelligent internet of things (IoT) use cases that made online shopping better and in-store shopping delightful.
One IoT use case that is making a big impact on the retailer’s strategy on multiple fronts is electronic shelf labelling (ESL). While other IoT use cases such as smart cameras and social distancing dashboards and robotics for warehouse operations seem more ‘cutting-edge’, the ESL solution is something that shows how customers returning to the store can be provided with an experience that builds on what they remember about retail and make it better with technology-powered initiatives.
What electronic shelf labelling or ESL does is it uses a vendor-provided shelf label in stores, potentially across the tens of millions of square feet that the client owns, that is connected to the store’s network to track items on shelves and give information to customers about the product and its price.
Before we dive into the benefits of using an ESL solution, let’s talk about why it needed a modernized network to deploy this solution.
A modernized network enables everything, everywhere
In the traditional scenario, the retailer would need to deploy electronic shelf labels as well as ESL “gateways” (think of them as access points for labels) or add USB dongles/PCI add-on cards to their existing wi-fi APs. This is in addition to the existing wi-fi infrastructure it has in place. Sometimes, an on-prem price update server needs to be set up as well. All of this involves cable runs, additional PoE switch ports, IT security provisioning and monitoring, and labor, meaning additional costs. Further, maintenance is an added ongoing cost which rises in direct proportion to the complexity of the ESL deployment.
Cisco’s ESL solution is simple. It provides a unified connectivity layer, allowing customers to leverage our access points as ESL “gateways” through the IoT radio in the device to control electronic shelf labels, push price updates via the cloud, and so on, all without requiring an on-prem server. Of course, the device can also continue to provide wireless access to store staff and customers – no extra hardware is needed at all.
With our solution, customers benefit from lower Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) and simplified operations. But what’s really attractive is the fact that a simple deployment means fewer outages, lower downtime, and easier maintenance – making life for retail executives who rely on the technology less complicated; In this case, ESLs actually make life better for staff and executives and provides a delightful experience to customers.
The resulting modernized infrastructure also supports other cutting-edge technologies such as Meraki sensors and cameras that enable use cases such as digitally-managed social distancing, in-store security and monitoring, and more, all without exponentially piling up recurring network and infrastructure-related costs.
Coming back to the ESL use case, since they are digitally connected, the retailer can alter the price if required and most importantly, offer discounts and promotions to customers by digitally altering the electronic label from a centrally controlled dashboard.
Can you imagine the man-hours it would save? The impact of this is phenomenal when you really think about it. As a result of this technology, companies could alter their in-store promotions based on the time-of-the-day or the day-of-the-week or think about other campaigns that would otherwise be unimaginable to implement.
From a customer’s perspective, coming to a physical store to find that some of the items on their cart aren’t available is disappointing. Armed with an ESL system, retailers can suggest alternatives right in the aisle or even allow customers to scan and add to a virtual cart which could check for inventory in a centralized warehouse and tell customers when they can expect to have it delivered to them. Think about it – these initiatives could lift the in-store experience and really engage customers while they shop, boosting loyalty in this new era.
Another benefit of the ESL system is the ability to serve as a beacon to customers looking for the product while in-store. Using the retailer’s mobile or web-based app, customers can search, find, and be directed to aisles where products they need can be found.
Finally, when products fly off the shelf thanks to amazing campaigns and promotions offered by the retailer, the ESL system alerts store personnel and enables them to find the right shelf to quickly replenish the goods even if they’re not very familiar with the section or aisle it belongs to.
At the end of the day, the ESL system is just one example of how IoT helps the retailer gain an edge in the market and allows it to not only provide a distinguished offering to customers but also an integrated solution that combines the in-store and online shopping experiences.
Other popular IoT use cases in retail include Meraki cameras and sensors which are secure devices that help organizations
To enable IoT, and really, to gain the capabilities that modern technology can provide to retailers looking to digitally transform themselves, focusing on the IT backbone is essential. With a strong network and a dense grid to support in-store use cases spread across thousands of square feet at each location, thriving in the new normal will be a breeze for retailers.
