Robots in Retail: Elevating the In-store Experience of Customers and More

By Abhishek Mitra

Image source: https://www.ubtrobot.com/?ls=en 

The role and prevalence of Internet of things in retail (IoT) is on the rise and will be for a good time to come. Retailers are looking to connect almost everything to the internet these days. They are constantly on the lookout for elevating the in-store experience of customers by driving their levels of convenience while shopping.

On the other hand, they themselves seek a certain degree of convenience while discharging their day to day operations. With IoT in retail booming and the need for convenience on the rise, the implementation of robots in retail can make significant contributions in empowering the customer and retailers of today. Let’s see how.

Offering Convenience to Retailers: Reducing Labor & Revenue Loss

Robots deployed in warehouses for the distribution and shipping of products is a huge boon for retailers. They not only perfectly complement the human workforce, but also perform the bulk of the laborious and repetitive work. This spares the staff a lot of time to concentrate on the more skilled and strategic work of developing customer relationship for establishing customer loyalty.

One of the easiest ways that retailers can provide an enhanced in-store experience to their customers is by providing them with what they want when they come shopping. Robots can efficiently survey the condition of the store shelves by roaming to and fro on the store floor. This will help in maintaining the overall levels of inventory in the store and ensure that everything is in accordance with the store planogram. It will help retailers reduce out-of-stocks, and thereby maintain the revenue flow.

Offering Convenience to Customers: Providing a one of a kind In-store experience

Imagine if you entered the store and knew straightaway where to find your product? Better yet, what if there was someone who would carry your shopping cart for you in-store? All of this is possible now. Robots have the capability of delivering a one of a kind in-store experience to customers. Shopping has never been more convenient before.

Mention should be made of how Lowe’s is using their robot ‘LoweBot’ in some of their stores to help customers find items within a vast store. All shoppers need to do is tell the robot what they are looking for. The robot would then expertly guide them to their relevant location. Walmart’s robots also provide their customers the facility of carrying their heavy basket while shopping, in addition to finding items on the shelves. When it comes to retail, robots are ‘the ones for the future’.   

Empowering Customer Analytics by capturing Real time data

Robots on the aisles of shopping malls don’t just merely assist the shoppers by providing a helping hand. There is a lot more that they can offer. With the help of various technologies like video analytics, computer vision, etc. they can capture real time data by detecting shopper movements in-store and their purchase behavior. Apart from this, robots can also understand customer sentiment and assist them in their decision-making by efficiently tracking the facial expressions of customers.

These insights provided by robots can really make the retailer very powerful. The data accumulated from these bots perfectly complement the customer analytics data that the retailers otherwise have access to. Both can be combined to produce powerful real-time insights on customers. This will enable retailers to better attend to shoppers while they are in-store. Retailers can also make use of the valuable insights to personalize the shopping experience of their customers with the help of personalized offers and recommendations. This will help in enhancing the in-store experience of the customers and increase the chances of scoring more conversions.

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