Playing catch-up is a dangerous game according to
Tacoma, WA based global retail
foodservice consultancy Foodservice Solutions® Grocerant Guru® Steven
Johnson. When technology
giant Amazon announced it plans for Amazon Go (a checkout free,
ultra-convenient shopping experience powered through a free-to-use mobile app
and Amazon Prime membership) grocery stores, C-stores, and Dollar stores were
taken aback.
Foodservice Solutions®
Grocerant Guru® Steven Johnson stated in earlier this year that Mobile Augmented-Reality Save Full Service
Restaurants for those willing to move forward with consumers. Regular readers
of this blog called or Emailed asking why are they doing that already? There are other retail
innovations could help retailers to stay one step ahead of the game, according
to Neil Gowing, EMEA managing director
at Trax. Let’s look at what He thinks:
Whilst
still in its infancy, such a disruptive concept is set to change the game for convenience
store retailers as Amazon Prime members (of which there are estimated to be up to 80 million
globally)
and other shoppers will undoubtedly flock to these stores for a speedier and
more convenient shopping trip, if not just for the sheer novelty.
However,
new technologies are proving equally disruptive and are giving traditional
convenience stores the tools with which to compete against new players.
According to the 2017 World Economic Forum Report ‘Shaping the Future of Retail for Consumer Industries’, eight new technologies
are expected to change the face of the retail landscape. Of these eight, the
internet of things, artificial intelligence and robotics are expected to reach
“full readiness” within 2-5 years.
Image
recognition has already been adopted by big brands and the convenience sector
is starting to follow suit. This kind of technology works by capturing images
of in-store shelves and uses Artificial intelligence (AI) to analyse them. This
can provide a convenience store with a wealth of highly useful data, which can
drive category growth in stores through promotion and planogram compliance and
reduction in out of shelf/stock. This technology is being used by sales and
merchandising staff to provide highly accurate shelf insights, and as an
alternative to manual store audits that can be costly, time consuming and prone
to human error.
Internet
of things (IoT) technologies are also beginning to provide important real-time
data for in-store execution. An example of their use can be seen in fridges
where IoT cameras, discretely placed behind fridge handles to face the
contents, take an image every time a customer opens or closes the door. The
images are then automatically uploaded and analyzed to provide real-time data
on product spacing and availability, and can alert staff when certain products
are out of stock. These technologies can also alert staff when a particular
brand is being stocked too often and doesn’t comply with the agreed planogram.
Similarly,
robotics will play a crucial role in capturing data across stores. They can be
used either once a day for a full sweep of the store between 3-6am, or in
between peak times to ensure maximum availability and compliance during the
busiest hours of the store. Cameras, fixed on top of mobile robotics platforms taking
a full sweep of a store at intervals, can provide constant data about shelf
space, product placing and pricing data. This frees up sales staff to make
corrections to pricing or spacing and improve product placement, which in turn
will improve the customer experience.
So
now let me ask you are you waiting and watching to see who will be the next
industry leader? What are you testing?
Are you moving with your consumers or monitoring your consumers and
customer count decline?
Do your marketing
tactics look more like yesterday that tomorrow? Visit www.FoodserviceSolutions.us for more information
or contact: Steve@FoodserviceSolutions.us Remember success
does leave clues and we just may the clue you need to propel your continued
success.
No comments:
Post a Comment