The Internet of Things presents retailers with a huge opportunity to revolutionise the way they manage their businesses. IoT can free staff from focusing on menial, labour intensive tasks to spend it on activities that will help grow the business instead.
By using IoT-enabled technology like smart shelving, which detects when stock is low and automatically reports on this, or sensors that monitor the quality of perishable items and can send alerts when items need to be discounted or removed from the shelves, retailers can relieve staff from mundane tasks such as stock control, letting them provide more personalised and improved customer service.
Ben Johnson, National Business Manager, Data Insights and Integration, Empired, said, “The burden of performing stock checks can be substantial and costly, particularly for retailers of perishable goods. In order to comply with Australian Food Safety Standards, retailers must ensure that food is stored correctly and at the right temperature. If something goes wrong and isn’t detected in time, the retailer may have to destroy a lot of stock that they are no longer permitted to sell.
“The task of manually checking stock is carried out intermittently, rather than constantly monitored. By installing IoT technology which provides constant monitoring, such as RFID sensors, retailers can reduce the risk of losing stock as issues can be identified faster.”
This was the case for South Australian retailer, Peregrine Corporation, which owns and operates the On The Run convenience stores as well as the Giftbox and Smokemart chain of retail outlets. It now uses technology deployed by Empired to monitor the temperature of their food storage systems automatically, rather than have staff perform time-consuming manual checks every four hours, as they did prior to the implementation.
Ben Johnson said, “By automating this process and installing sensors, Peregrine was able to identify issues immediately, greatly reducing the risk of equipment failure and stock wastage. The results of checks are now more accurate as the sensors are implemented in consistent areas, rather than the service person checking temperatures in different areas of refrigerators.”
IoT-enabled stock control also greatly improves the accuracy of stock checking. It can predict and send reminders to increase inventory to meet a spike in demand for certain products at certain times, so the store doesn’t run out of stock and miss out on sales opportunities.
In addition, IoT has the capacity to transform the customer experience, with innovations such as sending coupons and offers directly to mobile device as customers enter a store, based on their previous interactions and expressed interests.
Ben Johnson said, “By having much greater control over inventory, supply chain management, and loss prevention, retailers can focus their efforts on improving customer service. Customers will receive better service, and retailers will be able to offer better deals on purchases. It’s a win-win situation.”
