Indoor positioning service enhances collection by knowing the locations of both the Collector and each product. The collection time is halved and the cost for collecting decreases per basket.

How to make customers happy and better profit to the merchant?

Collecting products on behalf of customers is an increasingly popular service, which, however, increases costs, i.e. takes off time from employees who are away from other tasks. The Finnish start-up company Iiwari Tracking Solution’s indoor positioning service enhances collection by knowing the locations of both the Collector and each product. 

An average home delivery order usually lacks at least 3 products! Why is that? Well, the reason for this is simple: The ordered products cannot be found easily and since the collector is in a hurry, he/she skips the search after a while. As a result, the customer is dissatisfied and the merchant loses revenue.

Based on the location information of the products, the Iiwari’s indoor positioning service creates the fastest possible collection route. This makes collection more efficient and faster and allows you to collect multiple orders at the same time much more efficiently than before. All goods will be delivered when everything is found. Merchants are able to serve customers better and get better profit. The collection time is halved and the cost for collecting decreases per basket. Interesting, isn’t it?

The topic becomes even more interesting when considering the payback period of the investment. With the monthly sales of 1,000 collectible Shopping Carts, the merchant’s investment in indoor positioning has paid for itself in two weeks!

Also, the location information of the products is updated thanks to the collection. Each time the Ean code of a product is read by a scanner or telephone used for collection, the location information of the product is updated in the system. Very convenient.

With the help of accurate indoor positioning, a digital leap can be taken in retail stores, with which the customer’s average purchase increases, space management improves and work in the store becomes easier.

In addition to product location information, the retailer should monitor the movement of shopping carts and baskets in the store.

Location data enriches traditional retail data in an unprecedented way. In addition to current door counters and cashier transactions, there is actually lack of recorded detailed information on customer behavior. This changes when a tracking device is placed in a shopping cart or basket, the amount and value of data to be analyzed explosively increases.

Iiwari Tracking Solutions brings high-precision positioning to stores, which provides information on the location of both the customer and the products. Used indoor positioning technology enables the real-time data collection of the number and behavior of customers in a store: where customers go, how long they stay within a certain aisle or category, what do they buy and how do they react to campaigns. And, most importantly, in terms of trade space use: which corridor has only little traffic and why? Enriching the data collected by the checkout system with location data opens up a whole new chapter in the ability to evaluate store performance.

The products are easy to find

Once the coordinates of the products are known, the store’s own employees, collectors and customers can easily find the product they are looking for. For example, on a tablet attached to a shopping cart, a customer can tap the name of the product they are looking for and display the exact location on the store map. Customer satisfaction increases and the shopping experience is pleasant when the products are easy to find.

When UWB enters widely to mobile devices during 2021, the retail chain can also utilize location information in its mobile applications and offer product route guidance and targeted advertising directly to the customer’s own device.

Electronic shelf labels have already entered a few pioneering stores. Here, too, Iiwari’s technology goes a step further, with shelf labels telling the exact location of the product.

Easy installation and competitive price

Iiwari uses Ultra Wide Band (UWB) technology based on radio signals in its patented indoor positioning solution. Technology is coming to mobile phones as well.

Iiwari offers turn-key service with a SaaS model. The delivery includes the necessary UWB network, base stations and positioning devices. The system is mostly wireless, so installation is quick and easy. And as already mentioned the payback period of the investment in indoor positioning has paid for itself in an unprecedentedly short time.

– I have been working for the past 10 years with multiple commercially available indoor positioning methods. Positioning based on Iiwari’s UWB technology is the only system available for retail that meets the strict requirements of accuracy, reliability, scalability and cost structure. We are constantly seeing more positive opportunities in indoor positioning. With the help of location data, retail is entering a new digital era, where efficiency and customer satisfaction is on a level never seen before, says Ville Kolehmainen, CEO of Iiwari.

Stay tuned and feel free to contact Ville with any questions by email ville.kolehmainen@iiwari.com or phone +358 50 352 6458.