Detego, a market leader in real-time business intelligence for the fashion retail industry, is releasing its latest whitepaper, “Omni-Channel Fashion Retail”, providing a checklist for the fundamentals of efficient omni-channel retailing. It is focused on how retailers can meet customers’ expectations regarding omni-channel services such as “Availability Check” in stores, “Click & Collect”, “Ship-from-Store”, “Return-to-Store” and “Instore Ordering” in an efficient way in order to provide an optimum shopping experience across all channels.
With this practice-oriented guide, Detego responds to the request of many fashion retailers for specific recommendations and actions to take according to the different stages of omni-channel development the companies are currently operating on. In the implementation of omni-channel services, Detego distinguishes between four development stages: the orientation-, the start-, the expansion- and the stability-stage. At each stage, processes, systems and data accuracy are at different levels, which makes the realisation of omni-channel services in lower development stages more difficult.
“In practice, we constantly see that the right basis for omni-channel services is still missing. Therefore, it is not surprising that expectations of a consistent positive customer experience are simply not met. In order to reliably offer services like Click & Collect or Return-to-Store, complete article transparency in real-time across all channels is crucial, not to mention needing the appropriate processes, in-store technologies and involvement of the sales personnel as well,” says Uwe Hennig, CEO at Detego. “We offer fashion retailers a free maturity check which helps identify the current stage of omni-channel development and provides recommendations for the next steps to take.”
The publication is available in English and German language and can be downloaded for free on the Detego website https://www.detego.com/en/insights/download-center.html
The annual convention and expo “Retail’s BIG Show” is the NRF’s flagship event and was held in New York City on January 15th – 17 th, 2017. Every year more than 40.000 attendees gather to get insights into new technologies and solutions to support retailers to gain greater customer understanding and future-proof their business.
In cooperation with Intel, Detego introduced attendees to some of the newest and most advanced retail experiences out there. Visitors gained insights on how Detego’s software, part of the Intel® Responsive Retail Sensor Ecosystem, powers intelligent article management and unified commerce.
Brian Krzanich, CEO at Intel, presented the joint Intel-Detego Smart Fitting Room Showcase in his keynote speech at the second day of the conference. Attendees were also able to explore this showcase at the Intel booth #3125 and see how embedded sensors and real-time analytics are changing the way retailers manage merchandise and learn about their customers.
Read more: LIVE on Stage – Smart Fitting Room to improve the digital shopping experience
Retail software vendor, Detego, will be showcasing a range of IoT and Artificial Intelligence solutions for retailers at NRF, the world’s largest retail industry show, taking place from January 15th to 17th in New York. Detego has been helping a number of global fashion and sportswear brands to get the most out of using RFID and smart devices for achieving near 100 percent inventory accuracy. This has included some pioneering projects involving digital fitting rooms and interactive screens where customers can simply click on a button to automatically request staff bring different sizes or styles without having to return to the shopfloor.
Detego’s predictive, real-time analytics software into merchandise flow and consumer shopping behavior is part of the Intel® Retail Sensor Platform ecosystem, a fixed-reader system that continually tracks and monitors the movement of goods around a store.
Detego will be a co-exhibitor on Intel’s booth (number 3125). Intel’s CEO Brian Krzanich is a keynote speaker at the NRF conference, being joined by Levis Strauss to talk about how data and smart connected technologies deliver a more personalized shopping experience for customers.
Underpinning many retail industry advances, data increasingly pushes the customer experience to new levels and helps deliver brand loyalty. IoT solutions, like the Detego Suite for real-time analytics in combination with Intel´s Retail Sensor platform, help deliver omni-channel services at any time using the fewest resources possible. This brings consumer demand to the forefront and ensures retailers have the right articles available at the right place and the right time.
The joint Intel-Detego Smart Fitting Room showcase will demonstrate some of the latest retail IoT technologies and show how embedded sensors and real-time analytics are changing the way retailers manage merchandise and learn more about their customers. For instance, Detego is the first company to offer retailers detailed information on fitting room sales-conversation rates by tracking which articles get tried on a lot, but often don’t get bought (possibly because of a poor fit).
“Digitalization and customer-centricity remain at the heart of what most retailers are looking for today, technology wise, with the always-on consumer still very much in the driving seat,” says Uwe Hennig, CEO of Detego. “Shoppers decide when, where and how they’d most like to shop, but many retailers have been slow to adapt to a digitally connected age.”
Hennig says that retailers over the next few years are likely to opt for software applications that deliver real added-value with regards to analysis, efficiency and customer centricity, including actionable insights that put the consumer in focus, such as how to reduce out-of-stocks or guarantee faster deliveries.
“These days, retailers prefer to pay for software as and when required, on a rapid deployment, cost per usage basis,” concludes Hennig. “With the Detego Suite, fashion retailers can transform the in-store shopping experience and use data-driven recommendations to optimize the entire customer journey from online to store.”
UK retail software vendor, Detego, is partnering with French RFID systems integrator IER to help fashion retailers improve inventory accuracy for more effective omni channel strategies. According to the two companies, the combination of Detego’s in-store analytics and merchandising software and IER’s IOT tracking solutions will offer the best of both worlds: item-level stock management and visibility which means knowing exactly where an article is in real-time.
“Knowing whether a particular t-shirt is hidden on a shelf, in a store, in transit, or in the warehouse, is something that’s crucial to effective customer service and can make the difference between making a sale or not,” says Uwe Hennig, CEO at Detego. “So without reliable information on stocks and sales, retailers can’t possibly expect to deliver on their omni-channel promises for ‘click and collect’ or same-day deliveries.”
Detego has already helped a number of retailers – including the UK’s largest clothing retailer – make the most out of digitally connecting every item of clothing and using its software to analyse stock movements thanks to tiny, imbedded radio-frequency identity (RFID) tags. This has typically led to near 100% stock accuracy and a considerable reduction in out-of-stocks and lost sales.
IER provides RFID-enabled self-service checkout machines and handheld scanners for automatically counting and processing bulked goods and 24/7 services and support.
“By partnering with IER, we look forward to bringing our software and improved visibility to French retailers across Europe,” says Hennig. “It will bring fashion retailers a step closer towards more connectivity and ensure a digital transformation that’s essential in today’s connected world.”
The Detego solution can be viewed in IER’s Lab in Paris, showing a mock ‘store of the future’.
“In combination with Detego´s real-time in-store analytical software and merchandising applications, IER can assure the integration of end-to-end solutions for omni-channel retailing, from warehouse to store,” says Christophe Agaësse, Director of Business Unit Track & Trace at IER. “Our shared resources and know-how will multiply the opportunities and benefits they bring to our joint customers. Retailers expect the best overall offer and the best services and, through our partnership, we expect to become a key player in a very competitive market.”
Understanding your customer remains paramount
Today’s “always-on” customers jump between sales channels on a whim, forcing retailers to meet growing expectations for “shopping anywhere, anytime”. The focus is no longer so much on which articles a retailer wants to sell, but rather to whom they want to sell as well as their individual wants and needs. Any friction between offline and online retailing consequently leads to lost sales. Customer centricity demands a complete realignment of in-store processes, technologies and personnel. More specific trends triggered by this “customer centricity” are described below.
Trend #1 Mobile Interactions
Using the internet, customers are accustomed to fast answers; especially when it comes to the availability of a desired article – if no information can be found promptly, the customer will be lost to the competition. Spoiled by the speed of getting information online, the customer now expects the same service in a store. This trend will mean even more mobile devices – such as tablets and smartphones – being used by sales personnel to provide information on individual articles at the point-of-sale (POS). The use of mobile RFID readers for inventory or goods-inbound procedures in the store accelerates in-store processes and ensures real-time information. New forms of mobile interactions will increase due to digitised customer cards via smartphones, just as mobile payments will be used more extensively.
Trend #2 Omni-channel Forward
Omni-channel retailing will continue to develop. Services such as ‘click & collect’ are known and have been widely implemented. This service will be followed by ‘return-to-store’ (eCommerce returns) and ‘ship-from-store’ to provide customers with a consistently positive shopping experience. Fulfilment from the store (ship-from-store) is necessary in order to make prompt deliveries and so that retailers can offer services requested by the customer such as same-day-delivery. An efficient implementation of omni-channel services requires real-time transparency of inventory. The integration of all channels, as well as digitalisation in the store, not only ensures a successful customer journey, but also reduces over-stocking and generates additional knowledge about the customer.
Trend #3 Real-Time In-Store Analytics
Asking the question “what does the customer actually want?” will lead bricks-and-mortar retailers to more digital intelligence, especially at the POS. Up until now, a customer entering a store was often an unknown entity with regards to their buying intentions. Reliable data in real-time, its evaluations and the derivation of recommendations to take will allow bricks-and-mortar retailers to use similar customer profiles to those typically used by online retailers. Retailers will be able to actively manage their store business based on evaluations on availability of items from the current collection, or the number of items that have been tried-on but not bought, as well as article dwell times on the sales floor. The use of real-time data at the POS is the basic requirement for merchandise planning, controlling and presentation.
Trend #4 Internet of Things (IoT)
More and more retailers will use the numerous possibilities of the Internet of Things (IoT) and cloud-based services to better understand their customers, increase effectiveness and further improve their customer’s shopping experience. The buying behaviour in the store can be evaluated in real-time with the use of IoT: e.g. RFID sensors combined with analytical software to optimise the shopping experience of customers. In addition, IoT enables the personalisation of offers and digital signage that increases the probability of self-service and more intelligent and extensive interaction with consumers in the store. Using mobile devices at the POS, retailers can inform customers directly or send individual offers to them. The Internet of Things is undoubtedly here to stay.
Trend #5 Consumer Engagement
The trend for interacting with customers – the so-called consumer engagement – involves adapting processes as well as technologies (see IoT trend above) and customer-oriented sales personnel (see mobility trend). Sales staff need to be able to inform customers about the availability of articles in real-time – regardless of whether the article is available in a store, in the warehouse, or at a franchise store. Interactive systems (e.g. in the fitting room) collect information on customer preferences and can recommend suitable items to customers accordingly. The customer can communicate directly from the fitting room with store staff who can support the buying and decision-making process.
Trend #6 Predictive Recommendations
Artificial intelligence will gain importance in the retail industry as part of a digital transformation. Self-learning systems and predictive recommendations will establish themselves, starting from customer requirements and sales-oriented forecasts for purchasing and merchandising up to buying recommendations for consumers in a store, fitting room or online store.
Trend #7 Cloud-based Services
In the future, cloud-based in-store services will be the most affordable and flexible solution for medium-sized and larger store chains. When expanding, services can simply be switched on or off when a new store is opening or closing using Software-as-a-Service models. Roll-outs, maintenance and reliability are generally more cost-efficient and cloud-based services will continue unabated as a trend.
Did we spark your interest?
The one-size-fits-all sales approach is outdated. In the store, intelligent systems are needed to provide the customer with a personalised experience. Key elements for this are individual and personalised recommendations from the current product range and simplified processes that give stores associates more time for the customers.
In this webinar you find out how “Data Driven Empowerment” activates cross-selling potential, increases the number of articles per receipt and finally leads to satisfied customers and happy retailers.
Retail software specialist, Detego, announces today that it has reached the milestone of having now digitally connected over a billion items of clothing, in a bid to help several European retailers gain actionable insights into product ranges and customer behaviour. Both the UK and Germany are leading the field in adopting RFID (radio-frequency identity) technology, accounting for around seventy percent of the European fashion business. However, only a small percentage of the total fashion retail market has yet to fully embrace RFID and connected smart devices, say experts.
According to research by IDTechEx, RFID in retail is seeing rapid growth. IDTechEx estimates the total value of the RFID market to be worth over $10 billion and expects it to rise to $18.6 billion over the next decade. This is largely attributed to the falling cost of tags – today just a few pence each, depending on volumes – not to mention the advantages offered by automated tracking and real-time visibility of every article in stock.
“The cost of RFID tags has fallen so much over the last decade that most fashion retailers are now seeing the sense of item-level visibility and the more detailed analytics it supports,” says Uwe Hennig, chief executive at Detego. “Connected technologies enable fashion retailers to automate processes and reduce administrative duties, freeing up staff to focus on customer service. Combined with near 100% inventory accuracy, this leads to an enhanced shopping experience and higher sales conversion rates.”
Hennig says that with so many consumers now expecting higher levels of service, such as ‘click and collect’, retailers are coping by sending more inventory to stores and over-compensating: “This is a bad idea. Too much stock always leads to excessive discounting and lower margins.”
Detego is currently rolling out its software across 900 stores for a global sports brand, at a rate of about twenty stores a week, to improve the in-store experience for consumers and to support the brand´s omni-channel strategies. The retailer is gradually adding RFID tags to every article of clothing and footwear so that it can manage all 80 million items in real time. Using Detego’s software, it will even be able to measure the time it takes to replenish shelves. This will mean that if, for example, it takes longer than ten minutes for a pair of running shoes to be replaced on a shelf, an alert can automatically be sent to prompt sales staff to do so.
Other Detego customers are using fixed ceiling reader systems and RFID to track the movement of goods; while people counting systems can recommend the ideal number of staff needed at different times of the day. Using Detego’s software also helps redistribute merchandise after seeing that some products appear to be more popular when sold online, whereas others never make it beyond the fitting room. Customers can even look forward to being able to try on a different size or colour of garment, simply by clicking on an interactive mirror to alert sales staff to bring another directly from the back-room, or shop floor.
The technology company itself is enjoying significant growth of around fifty percent a year, as more and more retailers are turning to analytics, RFID and other in-store technologies. It puts its success down to retailers increasingly wanting cloud-based retail solutions with the promise of faster, pay-as-you-go software implementations, Hennig says.
On November 8th – 9th the annual EHI Technologietage took place in the World Conference Center in Bonn, Germany.
On their joint booth, Intel and Detego demonstrated how the Internet of Things (IoT) transforms fashion retail. Visitors of the Intel-Detego booth at the EHI Technologietage saw how retailers gain data-led real-time insights into merchandise assortment as well as customer behaviour in bricks-and-mortar stores, are able to manage processes efficiently, deliver a service-oriented shopping experience to consumers as well as manage their business across all channels in order to increase sales.
If you would like to receive more information, please get in touch: events@detego.com
On October 25th, the event “Fashion Retail Transformation – Connected Reality and how the Internet of Things is changing Fashion Retail” powered by Detego took place in the premises of Intel’s IoT Ignition Lab London.
Participants from the fashion retail industry gathered to gain new insights on how retailers can embrace and benefit from the connected reality. The guests of the event enjoyed presentations by adidas, Intel, SAP and Detego unveiling the transformational potential of IoT in retail. The speakers presented how data-led insights are used to strategically redefine the store, to improve operations as well as to offer a better in-store experience for customers.
Showcases presented in Intel’s IoT Ignition Lab gave participants the opportunity to engage with latest in-store technologies and to see how embedded sensors and real-time analytics are changing the way retailers manage merchandise and learn about their customers.
On October 4th, 2016 the the ScanSource Conference “Everything’s POSsible” focusing on POS and retail solutions took place in the Hightech Campus in Eindhoven, Germany.
Uwe Hennig, CEO at Detego, was invited to join the event as a speaker. In his presentation “Big Shift in Fashion Retail – How consumers and technology disrupting an industry” he gave insights into the massive changes the retail industry faces and how retailers can master the challenges involved.
For more information, please contact us: events@detego.com