The Background
The Internet of Things (IoT) is powering smart retail, via preconfigured solutions that include the deployment of interconnected devices, equipped with sensors and dedicated software. These solutions help convenience retailers leverage data and insights to increase profitability by building customer loyalty, managing inventory, conserving energy, and creating an ideal shopping experience for customers.
The data – once collected, analyzed and transported – can also provide personalized incentives and discounts, and tailor content to specific customer segments. An example of this includes the implementation of smart inventory management systems, smart shelves, and digital price tags can significantly improve procurement planning across the entire supply chain. When a particular item is depleted, the system can autonomously reorder necessary items based on IoT data analytics. Those same analytics can also provide data on energy usage, enabling retailers to optimize energy consumption. In crowded stores, IoT-enabled solutions facilitate enhanced, automated checkout systems that help customers bypass long checkout lines by automatically charging their payment app as they leave the store.
The Challenge
The challenge for retail companies in orchestrating IoT solutions is reliable connectivity from ‘day zero’. Smart shelves, for example, utilize radio frequency identification reader (RFID) tags that alert retailer workers when a shelf is empty. Those chip-enabled tags can also automatically scan items as customers leave the store and automatically charge whatever payment method the customer has on file – with security systems sounding if no payment method is detected; however, without reliable connectivity, none of those processes can function properly. Ultimately, to create solutions that are viable for convenience retailers, managed service providers (MSPs) had to make sure the connectivity fueling them was infallible.
The Solution KORE provides pre-configured iot retail solutions supporting convenient retail use cases like gas stations, convenience store chains, and single-site operators – making it simple to achieve infallible connectivity to support data-driven smart retail solutions. By partnering with KORE, MSPs can use KORE’s global IoT connectivity to reliably connect their solutions in a lasting, scalable manner. Also, retailers can use a connectivity management platform that puts the control and management of SIM cards for connectivity, usage, and reporting directly in the customers’ hands.
The Result
Reliable, primary connectivity is necessary to reap the benefits of IoT-enabled retail solutions such as marketing personalization, automated checkouts, inventory management, and energy conservation. By using KORE’s IoT connectivity, MSPs can be confident their smart retail solutions will deliver valuable, data-driven insights timely, efficiently, and reliably.
