Technology has impacted nearly every point of our lives, and retail has not been left behind. It would be an understatement to think that it hasn't changed how we see retail. Technology has created a revolution, whether it is in eCommerce or self-checkouts and online stores. However, one area that can hardly go unnoticed is how technology has changed retail, especially on the shelves. Smart shelves are here, and if there was ever an incredible innovation, this is among the very best. Retailers are now using various tools to enhance their in-store buying experience.
How to Use Smart Shelves
Smart shelves are the latest sensation and use RFID technology to track inventory in various retail stores automatically. They have weight sensors installed underneath them to track the amount of stock they hold at any particular time. But how do you use the intelligent shelves? Being a new technology is not something that most of us are conversant with, but they make our shopping experience better and exciting.
As a retailer, you can use the intelligent shelves to check the inventory levels and not miss out if any product is out of stock. You will keep the progress of what you have and what you do not more comfortably. Your smart shelves can also be a massive addition to your security system. If there is any theft of goods, they can alert you and allow you to take the proper measures. If you have installed the smart shelves, they will provide additional data and tools to enable you to offer more engaging and exquisite shelves. As for the shoppers, you can rest assured that you will be getting meaningful product information, such as the pricing of items on these shelves. You can also check out a product in detail before deciding to purchase it.
Why Interactive Retail Smart Shelves are the way to go
The importance of providing nutritional information, offers, and real-time prices are becoming more of a necessity than a luxury. The technology can allow approaching a multi-brand over the counter display and promote comparing different products and their benefits within the same shelf. With these shelves, you are promoting sales and engagement and getting to keep track of your products and their quality. It is a win-win investment.
While you might think that all these shelves are capable of is communicating genetic information and ingredients, that is not the case. Occasionally, customers engaged in a business's rewards program and have their application installed may be rewarded with a tailored in-store experience in some circumstances. When they approach the smart shelves, they spring to life with tailored information. So, why should shoppers, retailers and brands turn to smart shelves? Here is why:
· Retailers
It is not business as usual for retailers, considering big-box retailers, grocery chains, and e-commerce is unrelenting in their efforts to control the market. The current market is pretty competitive, and the only way to emerge on top is by going the extra mile. If nothing is done, then retailers can settle for being fulfilment centres.
Adapting to increased customer demands in terms of pricing, accessibility, experience and curation is necessary. Smart shelves offer better cost-effective methods of updating prices, delivering media content, harmonizing digital and in-store networks, and explaining the brand choice. When the competition gets tough, you must look for ways to cope and remain relevant or else you will be out of the market.
· Brands
Brands are suffering rising competition, losing consumer trust, and seeing their profits undercut by e-commerce, even though 85 per cent of transactions take place in-store, with minimal insight into customer behavior. Suppliers of brands anticipate more visibility into engagement data, tailored messaging and extra information.
· Shoppers
The customers are arguably the most vital part of any successful business. If they are not behind you and your brand, then you are getting it all wrong. You will never be at a level to compete in the market. Unfortunately, due to the covid-19 pandemic, customers are on high alert, and they are genuinely worried about things like physical conduct or engagement with a salesperson who might put them at risk.
With the greater variety and access to the latest sensations, customers' tastes shift to excellent multichannel shopping, powered by personalization, convenience and openness. One of the best ways of achieving this is through smart shelves. This is the selling point and the technology that is highly luckily to meet the demands of most shoppers. They want an experience they have not had before but understand their needs and does not leave them frustrated. Customers need when they walk into a store to be able to go through what they need from an interactive display and pick up as much information as possible. Smart shelves are well-equipped in that department.
Where to use smart shelves
Smart shelves are not just displays. The display they offer is not "smart" for nothing. But instead, they are a plug-and-play software system with a screen, touchpad, and inbuilt ARM processor, as well as a Wi-Fi connection, allowing you to access and control your material and apps while on the road. It is well-suited for applications on the sales shelves, making them perfect for use in the retail sector. The following are some areas where smart shelves are a welcome addition:
- Supermarkets
- Any sales shelves, including in grocery stores
- Interactive touchpoints in public transport
- Entertainment zones
What smart shelves are doing is combining information with interaction and emotion, which are the three retail selling points; they exploit that gap so well that users have no choice but to oblige to what they discover. In the retail sector, you get a combination of electronic shelf labels and digital signage, which is the only way to develop a holistic user experience.
The smart shelves are mounted directly on the sales shelf, making them comfortably accessible to offer users information about prices and products while influencing their emotions using videos and images. Likewise, since a customer can use the screen and navigate from one area to another, it offers exciting interaction that cannot be found elsewhere.
