How Edge Computing Powers the Retail Store of the Future – Retail Touchpoints

The past few years have been a roller coaster ride for the retail industry. The pandemic and related supply chain disruptions have led to widespread store closures and bankruptcies. Then last year, in-store sales grew faster than online sales, while e-commerce stocks took a big hit.

A survey from this year’s World Retail Congress shows that the period of uncertainty is not over for the industry. Retailers cite rising costs, falling consumer spending and supply chain volatility as their top concerns. The survey also found that less than 13% of retail organizations are investing in technology to address these challenges, instead remaining focused on short-term solutions such as increasing prices and running marketing campaigns. .

That’s worrying in an increasingly competitive environment where customer engagement and user experience are more important than ever. Technology – specifically edge computing – provides the foundation for better customer experiences, real-time inventory management, enhanced security and loss prevention, and in-store analytics.

Customer experience

It’s been five years since Amazon Go opened to the public, setting the template for future retail by allowing shoppers to skip the checkout line entirely. Since then, innovations have slowed, but edge computing will usher in a new wave of personalization and self-service for the modern shopper.

At the top of the list is computer vision – a field of artificial intelligence that allows computers to interpret digital images or videos. Because sending these images to the cloud for analysis is not fast or cost-effective enough, processing of those images must take place at the edge.

Computer vision at the edge will create more personalized shopping experiences, synchronizing in-person, online and mobile interactions. Your favorite store will recognize you when you walk in and already know your preferences (possibly through information provided to the loyalty program), so you get a customized experience. adjust for yourself. That can include customized digital signage and instant discounts based on your purchase history.

These same cameras and sensors are also at the heart of the grab-and-go payment system in Amazon Go stores. The store knows what you took from the shelves and put in your cart and can charge you on an account linked to their system.

Inventory management

Edge technology gives retailers greater insight into what they have in stock, cuts down on inventory, and provides real-time insights into best-selling items. Sensors, such as RFID tags, are attached to each product and communicate instantly when the product leaves the shelf. By continuously evaluating and updating inventory levels, a margin-enabled inventory management system provides managers with valuable context for their purchasing decisions.

Protect

Unfortunately, theft is an inevitable aspect of retail. The National Retail Foundation estimates that retail loss is a nearly $100 billion problem, with evidence that the problem is growing. By leveraging the ability to process video feeds locally (instead of waiting for access to the cloud), security teams can act faster on suspicious activity or fraud.

Self-checkout kiosks are everywhere these days, but they add to the security challenges retailers face. The “banana scam,” in which customers call in a product using the code for a cheaper one, is a real problem. In cases like this, computer vision combined with RFID sensors can make a real difference. A camera can detect the difference between an item of clothing and a television, but probably cannot detect the difference between a Rolex and a Timex. AI models that can coordinate video feeds, RFID, and point-of-sale transaction logs, all processed at the edge in real time, can help solve the problem of price tampering and ensure ensure that customers leave with the products the store believes they have.

There is also the issue of security of the computer hardware that runs the store’s operations. Many retailers are using in-store computers as edge devices but are not locking them down. A sensitive piece of hardware can be compromised by something as harmless as someone plugging in their phone. On the more dangerous side, hardware can be susceptible to tampering and theft. That makes deploying edge devices designed for remote management important when considering edge computing deployments in busy retail environments.

The World Retail Congress report speaks volumes about the current thinking of retail executives. It’s difficult to think of short-term solutions in terms of pricing, marketing, and planning for the longer-term success of your business. But the technology is there to address those long-term concerns while quickly impacting short-term problems. It’s worth noting that many retailers have invested heavily in legacy software and those systems cannot be abandoned. Any native application must be able to integrate with existing systems.

Admittedly this may not be particularly appealing, but the future of shopping is data-driven. Retailers will use it to enable real-time interactions with customers and automation to free up supply chain constraints. Moving retail infrastructure to the edge is key to making that future a reality.

Said Ouissal is the CEO and Founder of ZEDEDA. He founded the edge software infrastructure company based on the strong belief that this decade will be all about edge computing and that like previous major shifts, this trend signals a new and fundamentals of existing OT, network, and compute architectures.