As digitalization takes center stage, the world is getting more interconnected than ever before. Leveraging evolving technologies such as connected sensors, digital twins, 5G, augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR), artificial intelligence (AI) and blockchain, retailers are empowering their front-line to gain a performance edge in enhancing operational visibility.
Retail industry is on the forefront of digital innovation and 2019 will witness retailers investing to increase front-line associates’ effectiveness by arming them with the technologies that help to drive higher customer satisfaction with a great frictionless experience – whether it is to help them find the right products, enhance the buying experience online and offline, and address stock availability.
In turn, these technologies need to be combined with collaborative solutions coupled with indoor locationing that allows for instant access to a wide variety of subject matter experts to be effective.
Here are the top retail trends to look forward to in 2019:
AR and Heads Up displays – New emerging technologies such as AR and heads-up displays will drive transformation in the user experience and reset the expectations from a mobile edge device – the embodiment is likely to evolve into very different avatars in the long run as they augment the human workforce to be more effective. In retail, store associates using AR can quickly be instructed on how to position items on the shelves or identify goods that are out of stock.
Two-dimensional bar code scanning – In terms of data capture, two-dimensional (2D) bar code scanning continues to gain acceptance and outpace the global market as the preferred track and trace method.In the bar code scanning handheld space, the transition from 1D to 2D imaging has seen huge growth, with more than 70% of total handheld scanners sold today equipped with 2D scanning capabilities.
RFID – Ultra-high frequency (UHF) RFID will continue to expand beyond the item level inventory use case in retail back into the supply chain and manufacturing spaces. Over 10 billion UHF RFID tags will be used throughout the retail, manufacturing and transportation industries by 2019.
Machine vision and integrated technologies – Technologies like SmartLens integrate RFID, vision, micro-locationing, analytics and other machine vision technologies to provide nearly 100% accurate real-time inventory, primarily in retail settings. Retailers in particular are demanding this capability, as the need for omnichannel fulfillment from the store means that they can no longer live with 80% accurate inventories – they now require 100% accuracy.
AI, automation and augmentation – While adoption of AI and automation technologies is steadily increasing globally, we are seeing that retailors are also leveraging on augmentation technologies in complement. Organizations are harnessing mobile technologies to empower their front-line workers with tools and data that enable them to become more productive and be able to make real time decisions at the edge of the enterprise. This frees workers from repetitive tasks, allowing them to focus on tasks that bring greater impact on delivering a better customer experience.
In addition to new technologies, we also see an increasing business need for smart actionable data to solve specific problems and achieve desired outcomes, beyond traditional data capture capabilities. Integrated data solutions offer real-time guidance by leveraging enhanced analytics technologies that empower businesses to deliver intelligent insights and help the retail industry to better serve their customers.
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