The Retailer Spring Edition 2023

THE RETAILER

10

ENHANCING RETAIL SHOPPER EXPERIENCES USING LOCATION BASED SERVICES

Todd Nicholson Director, Vertical Marketing Juniper Networks

C ustomers want to be treated as unique individuals throughout a seamless and well-paved shopping journey that caters to their distinctive tastes in real-time, with minimal shopping efforts and simplified solu tions for their demands. In today's retail climate, it is crucial to treat each customer as a unique individual. However, to deliver a personalized and engaging experience and maintain the shopper's interest to upsell and drive loyalty, it's essential to anticipate the demands of the customer. According to the 2022 Fifth Edition State of Connected Customers • 73% of customers expect retailers to understand their unique needs. • 62% of customers expect retailers to anticipate their needs. • 56% expect offers to always be personalized. • 56% feel they are treated as a number. Location-based services (LBS) technology is transforming the retail industry like never before. To maintain their competitive edge and stay relevant with their customers, retailers are adopting LBS technology to engage with customers more effectively, provide a personalized shopping experience, increase basket size, and drive higher in-store foot traffic. With the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) and an integrated Wi-Fi network approach, LBS technology can learn and adapt to changing customer behaviors over time, enabling retailers and their staff to predict customer preferences and personalize the shopping experience in real-time, with recommendations and promotions which best fit the profile of and interest of the customer. The adoption of LBS technology varies across different retail sectors. For example, the fashion and apparel industry are one of the leading sectors in the adoption of LBS technology. Retailers in this sector are using LBS technology to provide customers with real-time promotions, recommendations, and indoor navigation, which help elevate their shopping experience by making it more enjoyable and convenient. The grocery and food industry are also one of the earlier adopters of LBS technology to help improve store operations by tracking inventory levels, predicting demand, and optimizing their supply chain management. Grocery and food retailers are also using LBS technology to optimize warehouse operations and reduce cost. By tracking inventory levels in real-time and predicting demand signals based on customer location data, retailers can better manage their back-end operations and staffing. Location-based services are not limited to just the larger big box retailers. Small and medium-sized retailers are also leveraging LBS technology to compete with larger retailers to create a personalized shopping experience for their customers.

One of the key benefits of LBS technology is the ability to leverage customer location and other contextual data to provide real-time infor mation, in-store greetings, promotions, and shopping recommendations. Retailers can use this technology to deliver relevant offers and promo tions to customers in real-time based on shopper location. For example, if a customer is in a shoe store, the shoe store can provide real-time promotions and recommendations for shoes based on their historical shopping behavior, lifestyle preferences, and purchasing habits. Taking a personalized approach can help retailers build stronger engagement and relationships with their customers, increasing loyalty, basket size, and ultimately driving higher sales. LBS technology is also driving innovation within retail operations. By tracking inventory levels in real-time and predicting demand based on customer location data, retailers can better manage their back-end oper ations and staffing levels. This technology is becoming an integral part of supply chain management by enabling retailers to predict inventory levels and demand based on customer location data which can help reduce overall operating expenses and improve profitability. In addition to enhancing the in-store experience, LBS technology offers many ben efits to retailers and their staff by providing real-time data and insights, to assist in optimizing workstreams and improve staff performance. For example, retailers can use LBS technology to track employee location, and productivity which helps them better manage their staffing needs and respond to changing patterns in customer footfall traffic. Staff members can be redeployed to other departments based on the busier areas of the store by using LBS to track the density and location of customer in-store traffic patterns which helps drive staff productivity and ensure that customers are enjoying the highest quality experience possible during their store visit. In conclusion, location-based services technology is transforming the retail industry by providing retailers with the tools they need to engage with customers more effectively, provide personalized shopping expe riences, increase in-store foot traffic, and enhance retail operations, which ultimately drives better top and bottom-line revenue. As the LBS market continues to evolve and grow, retailers that fail to adopt this technology may fall behind their competitors. Todd Nicholson is the Director of Vertical Marketing at Juniper Networks . He is responsible for leading vertical go to market strategy in Juniper’s target industry verticals. Todd has an extensive 25+ year tech industry background working in executive level sales, marketing, and product management roles for small emerging startups and large enterprise IT industry leaders including IBM, EMC, and Gartner.

Todd Nicholson tnicholson@juniper.net