Peeking in the fitting room: How to get real-time data on buyer behaviour

There are complex patterns in shopper behaviour that modern analytics is only just beginning to unravel, providing extraordinary insights into the decisions people are likely to make at all points along the customer journey. Retailers taking steps to digitalise their processes are now benefiting from data that accurately describes consumer pathways in e-commerce, while they’ve often been less proactive in making similar ground through analyses of behaviours in-store. Critical conversion zones in physical retail such as the fitting room – where insights into which items are commonly tried on together, left behind or not purchased could dramatically improve targeted marketing opportunities on the shop floor – are rarely investigated using digital tools.

One of the more visible outcomes of the coronavirus pandemic has been a growing awareness and urgency for many physical store retailers to accelerate their digitalisation efforts. The unpredictable and disruptive changes brought about by the pandemic, with its uncertainties and lockdowns occurring at short notice, have presented multiple challenges to unprepared retailers – who may not know, for example, exactly how many units of inventory they have in their warehouses and stores. Without such visibility, retailers may not have the confidence to sell their inventory to the last unit, even if they do have an online store. Digitalisation solutions can resolve these uncertainties – and can also provide other operational data applicable to the pandemic environment, such as in providing real-time, unbiased monitoring of store occupancy to ensure adherence to social distancing regulations.

The evolution of the industry is now creating conditions for a close-knit integration of digital and non-digital solutions to become the gateway to success in the market. In this environment, in-store sensor technologies are now providing the insights retailers need about their inventory, labour optimisation, shopper behaviour, liability and loss prevention, through to marketing impact and beyond. Physical store “operating systems” such as Sensormatic IQ are now working to unify various in-store solutions into a platform capable of providing retailers tailored, unparalleled visibility into their operations and shopper preferences similar to the analytics they have come to expect from e-commerce operations.

“There are many possibilities, because the challenges faced by each retailer will be very different,” says Sensormatic Solutions regional GM for Australia and New Zealand Michael Day of the range of retailer challenges their system can help resolve. “As we expand the data sources through working with esteemed partners such as Intel, PENN Connected, Zebra and Unacast, just to name a few, the kind of answers, backed by data, we have for the myriad of retailer questions are both varied and vast.”

The kinds of outcomes that Sensormatic IQ  is capable of delivering span from store occupancy monitoring and floor planning through to labour optimisation, inventory accuracy, real-time replenishment, fitting room analytics, organised retail crime event tracking, shrinking management and even loss event predictions. These added capacities to business are now allowing retailers to offer seamless and next-level customer experiences in stores, taking advantage of opportunities to thrive in the contemporary retail environment.

“To put it in simple terms, rather than having data from different sources reside in siloes, Sensormatic IQ unifies retailers’ data from loss prevention, inventory management and other in-store insights to provide a holistic view of their business,” says Day. “In having all their data reside in a ‘data lake’ running through the AI predictive and prescriptive model within Sensormatic IQ, retailers will be able to benefit from data-driven outcomes such as optimised inventory holdings or labour allocation that is relevant to the store customer traffic situation. These actionable insights derived from all channels will help deliver a better shopper journey.”

With the installation of smart sensors, IoT infrastructure and other external applications in physical stores, retailers have the opportunity to capture more data about their shoppers and have that data at hand than ever before—regardless of where they stand on their road towards digital transformation. As a leading technology in this breakthrough area, Sensormatic IQ is capable of integrating diverse data streams and merging those into a single platform, allowing retailers to take decisive, data-backed action to effect intelligent, data-driven outcomes. In short, systems such as Sensormatic IQ are powerful enough to generate those predictive and prescriptive insights necessary to take retail to the next level.

“With Sensormatic IQ, physical stores will be able to equip themselves with data that will give them the insights on inventory, shopper behaviour, loss and liability, and more,” says Day. “And with all the current challenges retailers are facing, we hope retailers will entrust Sensormatic Solutions to provide them with the data-driven recommendations they require to thrive.”

Learn more about the Sensormatic IQ solution at sensormatic.com/sensormatic-iq.