Becoming a hyper-aware store: Edge computing and retail

[Al_Madden]

Old habits die hard – for me at least. Although I shop online, there is nothing like shopping at brick-and-mortar stores to fully appreciate what I am buying. And I’m not alone, as shoppers still prefer to purchase inside an actual store.

Whether in person or online, consumers are demanding more from their shopping experience. Retailers are finding ways to meet this need using digital technology.

HPE’s weekly newsletter, enterprise.nxt, covers the trends in retail. The article, Lessons for retailers: Finding opportunities in challenging times, details how the pandemic has forced retailers to rethink their businesses – and offer more services enabled by edge computing. The author states, “... from implementing faster shipping and delivery to offering new ways of contactless product pickup, the industry has seen an increased focus on the edge of the retail experience.”

Improving customer experience

Retailers are focusing more time, money, and other resources on digital acceleration to keep pace with current and future demands. These trends are not only forced by the pandemic. Instead, retailers are taking a longer view – trying to anticipate what will benefit their customers in years to come, and often those new capabilities are driven by digital technologies at the edge. 

Becoming hyper-aware is the goal. I discussed this with my colleague, Gerri Hinkel, who is the director of solutions and vertical markets with Aruba Networks. She explained that hyper-aware means applications know the status of numerous areas and aspects of the store. These may include: the store’s temperature, how many people are currently shopping, how much power is being used, what services are being offered, or what products are currently on the shelves. Edge-aware applications will all work together to help make the shopping experience better – both online and in the store.

Meeting the needs of today's shoppers can be challenging,” says Hinkel. “They have higher expectations than ever before for touch-free, interactive, and personalized services. I think you'll see a continuing retail appetite, therefore, for smart technologies that facilitate shopping online or in physical stores, making them as smooth, efficient, and enjoyable as possible—for shoppers and workers alike.

Shopping in a hyper-aware scenario

Below is an example from the article of a store becoming hyper-aware using edge computing. The result is almost as if the store can read my mind.

The article details a scenario where someone like me is a loyal customer searching for an electric toothbrush on the store’s website. Instead, let’s say I decide to go to the store in person to compare products. As soon as I enter, the store’s cameras recognize me through facial recognition and based on my browsing history, AI technology determines I’m there to shop for electric toothbrushes. To make a long story short, the technology provides all the information I need to make an informed decision – even to the point of offering me a discount if my first choice isn’t available.

Breaking data silos and using analytics

Sounds great, but it’s not that easy.

"Ensuring a consistent shopping journey across different interfaces—such as online, in store, and so on—is a key challenge for the application of digital technology in stores,” says Filippo Battaini, a retail industry analyst at IDC in Europe. “Retailers need to effectively harness customer data gathered from different sources by breaking data silos and employing the right analytics tools to achieve a single view of the shopper."

Edge computing (which includes the networking, computing, and data storage) can help here. According to Hinkel, "Edge computing provides the unified infrastructure retailers need to connect POS, scanners, kiosks, and shopper devices together while bringing management, security, and troubleshooting onto a single platform."

Edge computing also lets retailers to provide digital security framework to ensure anyone accessing the networks is approved through zero trust technologies. Edge devices can also automatically optimize network performance and reveal issues before they can cause problems.

So, for those shoppers out there like me (who still appreciate physically seeing products before purchasing), it’s nice to know my in-person experience may get even better. And when my favorite store doesn’t have the shirt I want in the right size or color, instead of being frustrated, I may be pleasantly surprised to get a nice discount on an even better shirt.

Check out the complete article, Lessons for retailers: Finding opportunities in challenging times. You can also read the Retail Technology Guide: Digital Transformation at the Edge or view the 1-page infographic, Delivering Unsurpassed Shopping Experiences.

Al

Hewlett Packard Enterprise

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