Page 12 - AeM_July_2020

RESEARCH
ANALYSIS
TRENDS

COVID-19 accelerates digital

transformation in retail, says GlobalData

retailers around the world are using digital technologies
As the entire world is scrambling to come back to
normalcy under the COVID-19 pandemic-induced to increase the customer footfall while meeting the
social distancing guidelines, brick-and-mortar retailers safety standards.
are shifting gears to rapidly embrace digital Footfall Analytics
technologies to bridge the physical distance and
navigate the crisis. With increased competition from e- Kroger has deployed QueVision technology to monitor
commerce, reduced foot traffic and low consumer customer footfall and activity inside its stores to curb
confidence, the need to build digital capabilities is now the spread of COVID-19. The system can count the
or never for physical retail stores, says GlobalData, a total number of shoppers entering and exiting the store
leading data and analytics company. using IoT-embedded cameras. It alerts operators when
the store reaches 50% of its capacity, prompting them
Venkata Naveen, Disruptive Tech Analyst at
GlobalData comments: “As stores began to reopen to open additional checkout windows to speed up the
doors, retailers are leveraging artificial intelligence (AI), process.
Internet of Things (IoT) and virtual reality (VR) to offer
hygiene-centric shopping experiences to customers Virtual Queuing
with ‘contactless retail’ and increase their confidence to
shop during the COVID-19 pandemic. Tech-enabled British supermarket chain Asda has launched a virtual
queuing initiative, the first of its kind in the UK, which
applications like virtual queuing, footfall analytics, allows them to register and check-in into a virtual
contactless payments, self-checkout and chatbots have
suddenly seen an uptick at point-of-sale for retailers.” queue on their smartphone and then wait until their
turn. Shoppers can check the waiting time and choose
a store according to their convenience. The new
The Innovation Explorer database of GlobalData’s system has been trialed at Asda’s store in Middleton,
Disruptor Intelligence Center highlights how various
Leeds and the retailer plans to implement across its
stores in the UK.

July 2020: Virtual-, Augmented & Mixed Reality: revolutionizing the customer experience 12