IoT in the Retail Industry: Revolutionizing Shopping Experiences with The Internet of Things

From fast-paced change to high employee turnover, the retail industry has always faced unique challenges; over the last few years, the pressure has rapidly increased. The COVID-19 pandemic has brought a number of challenges to supply chains, such as keeping shelves stocked, shifting to e-commerce buying, and closing thousands of brick-and-mortar stores. With a record number of employees leaving and stores closing, it’s clear that retail has been struggling to adapt.

IoT sensors can significantly alleviate these challenges. From real-time supply chain tracking and visibility to automating time-sensitive sales associate tasks, and maximizing efficiency, IoT can help businesses improve customer satisfaction and work through disruptions such as those caused by the pandemic. Businesses must adapt to survive in the post-pandemic world, and using IoT technology is the first step.

What is IoT and why is it important?

The Internet of Things (IoT) is a network of physical objects embedded with software and sensors that use the internet to communicate and exchange data with other systems. IoT is revolutionizing the way businesses operate through sensors that can monitor things like motion, light, temperature, moisture, air quality, and more. These sensors enable businesses to anticipate potential needs before they arise, ultimately saving time and money. With IoT, companies can gain real-time access to critical information from any location.

IoT is transforming the retail sector by providing endless new possibilities. It is quickly becoming an essential part of any supply chain, whether to provide highly tailored shopping experiences or offsite product interactions. IoT also aids retailers in leveraging real-time data to determine when a product is about to run out of stock or what customers have purchased that day. Retailers have started taking advantage of incorporating the Internet of Things into their operations. Let’s have a look at the key benefits of deploying IoT apps in retail:

• Improved supply chain management: Since each object is identified and inspected, the overall logistics management process may be substantially optimized with RFID and GPS technologies.
• More advanced in-store inventory tracking: IoT helps collect data necessary for the purposes of inventory management, optimization, and enhanced visibility of products.
• Better customization and customer experience: IoT and machine learning algorithms analyze customer data in real time, providing useful insights to increase consumer engagement and participation.
• Reduced shrinkage and fraud: Biometrics powered by the IoT offers businesses massive amounts of factual data that enables them to monitor items and delivery operations, reducing theft.
• In-store staff optimization: A frequent occurrence in retail establishments is shoppers requesting assistance or recommendations. To simplify their purchasing choices, business owners use motion sensors, face recognition sensors, and cameras powered by neural network models.

IoT integration in the retail sector has helped maintain and grow the quality of service by relieving employees of routine duties and allowing them to concentrate on high-value tasks, improving overall customer satisfaction and creating a competitive advantage in the market.

How can IoT benefit the retail sector?

The leisure and retail industry, which accounted for much of the country’s job growth before the pandemic, is currently facing a national worker shortage, creating issues many businesses are unequipped to handle. Many stores had to switch from employing retail employees to warehouse workers during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic because of a lack of foot traffic. However, as storefronts are now seeing more customers come in, many retailers are struggling to fill open positions. This labor shortage shows no potential for improvement either. Many companies struggle to find and retain the staff needed to fill their job vacancies, with retail employment having fallen by 62,000 employees since August of 2022.

As the world gradually returns to normalcy, many of these businesses are faced with the challenge of meeting high consumer expectations and delivering outstanding customer service despite having a smaller workforce. The retail sector is anticipated to take on new responsibilities, such as "buy online, pick up in-store," while continuing to carry out their original responsibilities. Extreme multitasking is becoming the new norm, resulting in increased worker tension and, ultimately, decreased workforce productivity.

To address the growing demands of consumers in the retail sector while operating with reduced staffing levels, the implementation of IoT technology has the potential to enhance the manner in which the retail industry caters to the needs of both customers and employees. Here are a few of the most noteworthy advantages of the Internet of Things:

Overcoming staff shortages with predictive maintenance

Retail workers are at the heart of the economy, making the continued labor shortage a top challenge for business owners. If one looks at the likelihood of retail workers leaving the industry, it is almost two times as high as the national average. Employees in the retail sector are leaving their jobs more often than employees in any other sector.

There are currently 5.5 million more retail job openings than there are workers to fill them. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the retail labor market shortage saw its most drastic increase in November 2021, when almost 700,000 people resigned from retail positions. Those vacancies only continued to rise, and now, nearly a year and a half later, there are two open positions for every unemployed worker. Not only does the retail worker shortage affect businesses in the long run, but it also disrupts the day-to-day operations of workers, managers, and customers alike. Employees had plenty of responsibilities before this talent shortage; now, not only do they have to do the job they were initially hired for, but they also have to take on additional tasks to compensate for the shortage.

Like the hospitality industry, the retail sector works directly with customers. Employees must always be welcoming and cheerful, even while customers are increasingly negative and demanding; these employees must endure customers’ frustration over supply shortages, price increases, under-resourcing, and health and safety policies. Managing challenging customers can ultimately result in staff burnout in an industry that is already mentally and physically demanding. With employees stretched even more thinly as more and more people leave the industry, those remaining are left to somehow keep businesses afloat.

Relying on overworked, sleep-deprived, and unmotivated employees is a recipe for disaster, and mistakes are bound to happen. However, Telesystem's IoT sensors can fulfill tasks without human intervention, reducing the chance for errors, improving safety and efficiency, and increasing organizational productivity. For instance, retail grocery markets lose an average of $70 million annually due to spoilage and degradation of sensitive food. However, IoT sensors can prevent these losses by alerting a manager if freezer temperatures begin to drop.

Maintaining the cleanliness, aesthetic appeal, security, and overall pleasantness of the retail space is another significant, time-consuming responsibility for employees. A variety of Telesystem IoT retail solutions can assist in expediting these activities while lowering expenses. For example, people-counting data paired with presence-detection data may be used to identify how often customers use sections of the store, such as washrooms and changing rooms, in order to better manage disinfection and cleaning schedules. Also, with wireless IoT sensors, facility managers can monitor when consumable supplies run low at entrances and throughout the shop, allowing for smart inventory management and timely replacement. By relieving some employee responsibilities, they will be able to concentrate on the customers at hand and provide the best customer experience possible.  

Telesystem's IoT sensors offer the retail industry the capability to monitor their resource consumption, manually manipulate the sensors, or program the sensors to activate or deactivate when employees enter or exit the area. The money saved by deploying IoT sensors would alleviate financial strain, and by delegating tasks to machines, employees would have more time to care for customers and enhance the service experience through co-creative activities, thereby providing customers with a superior experience and fostering greater consumer loyalty.

Ensure the safety of retail staff

The increasing frequency and severity of retail crime affects consumers and businesses alike, generating headlines nationwide. According to the CDC, retail work is one of the highest-risk jobs in terms of workplace violence, with eight out of ten retailers reporting a rise in violent and aggressive incidents last year. Violence consists of more than just striking, fighting, and shooting; it can also include sexual harassment, rape, bullying, stealing, or verbal abuse.

Since the COVID-19 pandemic, store violence and theft have increased even further. To exemplify, in 2020, more than 82,000 of the over two million assaults reported to the FBI by law enforcement agencies nationwide occurred at shopping malls, convenience stores, and other similar locations. Unfortunately, labor shortages have also contributed to increased violence and theft in this sector. According to retail and crime prevention researchers, in recent decades, the push to increase store convenience and reduce labor costs has had the unintended consequence of making stores more susceptible to theft.

In addition to impacting revenue, the less discussed—but equally detrimental—consequence is the heavy toll that retail crime is taking on employees. A 2021 study reported that 86 percent of asset protection managers said that an organized retail criminal had verbally threatened an associate with bodily harm, while 76 percent stated that an associate had been physically assaulted. As shown by these numbers, the retail sector is becoming an increasingly unsafe working environment. This hinders companies from hiring and retaining employees in an industry already stretched thin by labor shortages. To help alleviate this problem, retailers need to take an integrated approach to employee safety and building security because basic measures that address only parts of the problem are no longer enough. Fortunately, there is a way for retailers to develop a culture of security to protect their employees and make stores less likely to be targets of theft or property crime: Telesystem's IoT panic button.

Telesystem's IoT panic button provides a dependable and real-time duress-alert system that can prevent threats from escalating into violent situations. A wearable badge allows staff members to discreetly send a panic alert to the security team, indicating a need for assistance and their location. Improving emergency response times prevents injury to staff, creates a safe working environment, and decreases the number of workdays lost. Companies should always provide a way for employees to discreetly call for immediate help if they feel threatened, whether it's an armed break-in or a belligerent customer. This is particularly important in high-risk conditions, such as when opening or closing stores or changing shifts in high crime areas.

IoT panic buttons can also prevent repeat incidents of theft. For example, many shoplifters and thieves are repeat offenders. Having previously managed to avoid getting caught, many continue to commit theft or vandalism, often despite surveillance measures being in plain sight. Unfortunately, successful repeat offenders may also pose a greater risk to employees as they commit crimes with less concern for the consequences. IoT panic buttons can forestall repeat offenses and keep employees safe from harm by allowing them to quickly and discreetly call for help while also providing real-time location tracking, allowing for shorter response times from law enforcement or security personnel. This technology can significantly reduce the risk of harm to employees and put a stop to repeat offenders.

Ultimately, the effects of retail crime have far-reaching consequences on employees. Apart from the need for increased security measures, it is becoming harder to retain employees, as they feel unsafe in their job. Thus, companies are forced to spend more time and money hiring and training new employees. Combined with product shrinkage, this can create real revenue challenges for retailers. Fortunately, the IoT panic button from Telesystem provides employees with a sense of security. This contributes to increased productivity and job satisfaction among staff and results in a better customer shopping experience. The IoT panic button also enables your business to operate more efficiently and securely ultimately improving the overall profitability and reputation of the business.

Telesystem is Here for your Retail Institution

From rapid changes to high employee turnover, the retail industry has always faced unique obstacles. In recent years, however, the pressure has increased significantly. Since the pandemic, customers' expectations have risen dramatically, thereby placing greater emphasis on the retail sector to not only serve as a "shopping assistant" by providing customer support but also to undertake additional responsibilities to compensate for staff shortages and resolve customer disputes, all while fulfilling their original duties.

With the capabilities of our IoT sensors, such as asset management, predictive maintenance, and emergency response, we can work together to alleviate employee stress and responsibilities, allowing them to concentrate on enhancing the customer experience, while ensuring they’re being taken care of as well. The industry that continues to selflessly adapt to the changing landscape of customer needs and expectations will undoubtedly thrive in the long run, and our IoT sensors can be a valuable tool in achieving this goal. By providing real-time data and insights, retailers can make informed decisions that improve both employee satisfaction and customer experience.