The past few years have seen an explosion in online retail. And paradoxically, this has re-shaped what customers look for when they visit a physical store. Expectations have changed. Customers now demand a more personalised, immersive shopping experience, and retailers are scrambling to implement a range of technologies to ensure that shopping in-store is as convenient, helpful and informative as buying online.

That said, retailers face a status quo that has inherent pitfalls. They confront a startling array of connectivity and data technologies; each with their own APIs and dashboards, usually provided via multiple partners. It’s a kind of tech tower of Babel, with the retailer trying desperately to make sense of the hubbub.

Time to get smart

For retailers, the simple aim is to provide a joined-up in-store and digital experience for their customers. And an intelligent way to collect, analyse, and act on data to improve the shopping environment and boost ROI. A truly transformative, straightforward solution has been long overdue.

Good news, TalkTalk Business has reimagined the entire Smart Retail ecosystem, bringing all necessary technologies and services together in a seamless, single-source offering.

It’s the only such service currently available on the market, and it can instantly eradicate the need for retailers to juggle a number of disparate tech or IT service contracts, each with their own (often conflicting) SLAs, lifespans and associated costs.

TalkTalk Business’s Smart Retail service is an intelligent, unified offering that simplifies implementation, integration and management. Retailers can spend less time firefighting and navigating multiple suppliers and contracts, and more time staying competitive.

ViewSonic defines Smart Retail as “the hybridisation between traditional shopping methods and modern 'smart' technologies. Through the Internet of Things, AI, and cloud computing, data is accumulated by way of communication between implanted devices and computers. As a result, consumers enjoy a more personalised, faster, and smarter experience.”

For customers, it can result in things like personalised discounts or individually customised and curated shopping suggestions. The tech can also be used to monitor and track customer shopping habits in-store, helping retailers to modify and enhance merchandising and product placement to maximise sales.

But the benefits for retailers go far beyond the customer experience. It’s a powerful business tool too. By unifying all related retail technologies and services, TalkTalk Business fuses fit-for-purpose bandwidth with the intelligent IoT data needed to operate in the new world of retail. You can enjoy an end-to-end solution with technology that puts an end to the large file constraints of IoT cameras and effortlessly integrates them with access points, sensors and the like. Imagine a fully integrated IoT ecosystem powered by our partners including Cisco Meraki running over the UK's largest and ultra-reliable leased line network. So not only can visual and other data be smartly collected, but also trigger follow-up actions – turning data stories into actionable insights.

Five pillars of the smarter retail store

These five areas are key factors within the smarter retail store:

One connectivity partner. Multiple data opportunities

It’s a perfect example of the whole being greater than the sum of its parts. With TalkTalk Business’s support, retail security can be easily transformed, enabling people-counting, and tracking how customers move within a defined space. You can collect data on entries and exits, as well as visit duration. Data can highlight theft and object detection, such as weapons or balaclavas. Alarms can then be triggered in the event of suspicious and potentially dangerous activity or objects, with correlated data to train AI for enhanced future risk identification.

Likewise, store management can be transformed. Things like compliance, audits, digitised logbooks, temperature and air quality checks can all be monitored via a single channel.

Store marketing and merchandising can get sharper, with technologies to measure, analyse and enhance marketing content effectiveness. Also, vision analytics can anonymously track 'eyeball-to-content' for target segments by combining audience data and proof of play. This tracking produces insights on content performance, shelf and product engagement, POS correlation and overall campaign strategy. Add to this the ability to monitor audience demographics and sentiment, and retailers have a powerful set of marketing tools at their disposal.

Futureproof your organisation today

When you choose TalkTalk Business as your partner, you can create stores that are primed and ready to take on the challenges of the future. You will benefit from having a single connectivity provider with access to our Smart Retail service that provides a greater, personalised experience for the customer and more business intelligence and profitable insights.

You'll also have access to our:

• Sector and technical subject matter experts

• Service design and delivery consultation

• Project management

• Hardware supply and support services

• Financing options

And we can also manage the Smart Retail service for you, giving you peace of mind and predictable costs, allowing your team to focus on business and operational optimisation.

In the words of Robert Kennedy, “the future doesn’t belong to those who are content with today”. So let TalkTalk Business’s Smart Retail service power your bottom line and shape the future of your business.

To find out more, call us on 0333 777 6445. Or you can get in touch via email at EnterpriseBusinessDevelopment@talktalkbusiness.co.uk.