Retail News CRM

Tag: Technology

  • Capillary Technologies Announces Continued Business Momentum in Southeast Asia

    Capillary Technologies Announces Continued Business Momentum in Southeast Asia

    Capillary Technologies, a leading provider of CRM and digital retail solutions, announced results for 2018 that show significant year-over-year business momentum. The company highlighted many significant developments that contributed to its most successful year since its entry into Singapore in 2012. In 2018, the company posted a record 100% growth from sales of its omnichannel retailing and CRM software in Southeast Asia. From its headquarters in Singapore, Capillary has established a growing presence in Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia, servicing more than 14 million customers regionally and over 450 brands such as Courts in Singapore, Caring Pharmacy in Malaysia. With over 10 million monthly transactions across 1,400 regional stores, global revenues witnessed an exponential increase of 55% in 2018.

    Solving the region’s retail challenges with AI technology

    The use of artificial intelligence (AI) has been growing by leaps and bounds amongst Southeast Asian retailers. According to a recent report on artificial intelligence in Southeast Asia, more than 24,000 AI-related papers have been published in the Southeast Asia region, with Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand accounting for 86% of the output.

    To help brands realise the full potential of AI and machine learning, Capillary launched several AI-powered solutions: VisitorMetrix, Personalized Campaigns and Instore AI. These innovative products help brands to access accurate and real-time data on visitors and integrate it with transaction data.  Retailers can get insights on store staff effectiveness, power hours, conversion rate, and campaign effectiveness among others. Moreover, personalised analysis of each customer’s needs, preferences and motivations empower retailers to create an ‘offline clickstream’ of data which can be used to provide relevant recommendations and a highly engaging shopping experience.

    Abhijeet Vijayvergiya, President & Managing Director, Global Accounts and APAC, Capillary Technologies said, “Capillary is delighted with the results that we have achieved in Southeast Asia for 2018. The regional retail industry is moving towards providing personalised and seamless experiences to the ever-changing digital consumer. With greater AI implementation, we will see brands capturing more and more data on consumer behavior and preferences across multiple channels to start building individual profiles for each consumer. We are proud to work alongside these online and offline retailers to deliver superior experiences.”

    Leading brands tap on Capillary to drive customer engagement

    In Southeast Asia, Capillary Technologies has partnered with leading brands such as Bata, a leading shoe retailer, to strengthen its omnichannel CRM strategies. “To really improve our brand-customer relationships, we feel it is imperative for us to find ways to walk and talk with our consumers across the various channels they use in their buying journey. The engagement had to be consistent, connected and seamless across platforms,” said Roberto Longo, President – Asia Pacific, Bata on the brand’s objectives for its CRM initiatives. With Capillary, Bata was able to achieve 2.2 times higher returns from targeted campaigns in Singapore and registered 57 times more ROI from Facebook campaigns in Malaysia. In other markets as well, the brand has seen 10 times increase in ROI from its overall CRM investments.

    One of Singapore’s leading F& B chains, TungLok Group recently partnered with Capillary to drive digital customer loyalty and personalised engagement. As a result, TungLok Group experienced a 350 percent increase in sales and a 139 percent increase in loyalty sales. Carolyn Tan, Senior Vice President, Marketing & Corporate Communications at TungLok Group said: “TungLok Group takes immense pride in serving its customers a high-quality experience at every touch point. With Capillary, we extended this beyond our restaurants and outlets. Their inputs on who to target, when and with what offer has been key to improving customer relationship and in turn, contribute to our growth.”

    Ready for 2019

    Capillary Technologies is preparing for even more significant growth in 2019 with the aim of achieving 70% growth globally. In February 2018, it announced an approximate US$20 million funding raised from investors, including its existing investors, Warburg Pincus and Sequoia Capital. This was followed by another round of funding led by Warburg Pincus in October later the same year. Plans are also officially underway for expansion into Vietnam and the Philippines by the end of 2019.

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  • VinaPhone launches eSIM technology in Vietnam

    VinaPhone launches eSIM technology in Vietnam

    Vietnam has today officially become the 25th nation in the world to launch eSIM technology.

    VinaPhone, the mobile subsidiary of state-owned operator VNPT, has held the official mass market launch of eSIM technology, Vietnamese state news agency SGGP reported.

    VinaPhone has already distributed nearly 5,000 eSIM preorders to customers.

    The company is also offering customers the ability to change to an eSIM by entering their EMEI and a one-time password, and then scanning a QR code sent from the system, and has revealed it received more than 7,000 eSIM registration requests in less than a month.

    VinaPhone deputy general director Nguyen Truong Giang told the publication the operator is now developing applications designed specifically to be integrated into eSIMs and introduce more features and utilities for users.

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  • Technology helps to boost Carrefour China profit

    Technology helps to boost Carrefour China profit

    Carrefour China has boosted its profit 11-fold according to documents filed in France, where its parent company is based. In China, Carrefour achieved €45 million operating income from its 245 outlets and online business, which it put down to investments in previous years in boosting its operations and profile there.

    The company said it has transformed the commercial model of its Le Marche hypermarket chain, and boosted sales online. An investment in technology allowing facial recognition and Scan & Go had particularly paid off.

    “China is a retailing laboratory for the world,” said Thierry Garnier, president and CEO of Carrefour China. “For Carrefour, China is a specific market that has helped us to learn and to understand the future.”

    At the end of last year, Carrefour opened a flagship on Tmall which is expected to further improve sales.

    Globally, Carrefour increased its sales by 1.4 per cent to reach €85 billion.

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  • Western Union Debuts New Payment Option for Amazon

    Western Union Debuts New Payment Option for Amazon

    Cross-border, cross-currency money-movement firm Western Union has unveiled a new payment option that allows Amazon customers in Hong Kong and other Asian markets to pay in local currency for their purchases. The service is being offered initially in 10 countries – Chile, Colombia, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Kenya, Malaysia, Peru, the Philippines, Taiwan and Thailand – enabling customers who prefer to pay in cash to shop Amazon.com’s vast product selection.

    The new platform is called Amazon PayCode, which processes the complex foreign exchange, settlement and money movement requirements for international e-commerce transactions. After selecting PayCode on the Amazon.com checkout page, customers will be sent a code along with instructions on how to pay in person at a participating Western Union agent location.

    The move by Western Union and Amazon will provide greater access to online goods for customers who have largely been excluded from e-commerce shopping due to lack of accepted payment methods.

    “We’re helping to unlock access to Amazon.com for customers who need and want items that can only be found online in many parts of the world,” said Khalid Fellahi, SVP and GM of Western Union Digital.

    “This is a great example of two global brands innovating and collaborating to bring customers more convenience and choice. In a world where cross-border buyers and sellers are often located on different continents and in completely different financial ecosystems, our platform is ideally suited to solving the complexity of collecting local currency and converting it into whatever currency merchants need on the other end.”

    “Amazon is committed to enabling customers anywhere in the world to shop on Amazon.com, and a big part of that is to allow customers to pay for their cross-border online purchases in a way that is most convenient for them,” said Ben Volk, director of payment acceptance and experience at Amazon. “Amazon PayCode leverages the reach of Western Union to make cross-border online shopping a reliable and convenient experience for customers who do not have access to international credit cards, or prefer to pay in cash.”

  • Convenience drives Chinese smart-home market

    Convenience drives Chinese smart-home market

    New research from market intelligence agency Mintel has suggested that convenience will drive the future of the Chinese smart-home market. However, affordability is the biggest barrier to purchasing, in an environment where today’s Chinese consumers are growing increasingly familiar with smart home devices. According to Mintel, as many as 68 per cent of urban Chinese consumers who have purchased or are interested in smart-home devices say that convenience is a primary reason for their interest. Meanwhile, 60 per cent attribute their interest in smart-home devices to trying new technology and half because smart home devices make them feel more relaxed at home.

    “Chinese consumers are now increasingly knowledgeable about how smart-home appliances can help to simplify daily lives,” said Mintel China research analyst Kaye Huang. “Convenience as well as an interest in trying new technology are big reasons for Chinese consumers to purchase smart-home devices. Parents are showing more interest in smart-home devices than those without children; which is likely to be attributed to how the devices can help parents save time and effort. On the flip side, price, more so than privacy, is what is keeping Chinese consumers from purchasing these devices. This indicates that companies in the smart-home market need to put more effort into communicating why these products are value for money.”

    Meanwhile, Mintel research reveals that automatic adjustment to environmental changes is a big opportunity for players in the smart home devices market; more than half of urban Chinese consumers think that this function is a necessity.

    “What will stand out in the smart-home market is the ‘automatic adjustment of parameters’ which enables smart-home devices to automatically respond to environmental changes, such as temperature and humidity. Today’s Chinese consumers have higher expectations on their living conditions and automation is an important part of making the living environment ‘smarter’,” said Huang.

    “Voice control has been a popular area of development in recent years especially since the industry believes that it could be the next generation of user interaction,” continued Huang. “Yet, our research finds that voice control, while widely-known, is a less-used smart home function. While playing music and asking for general information are two main functions that Chinese consumers are using for voice control, in reality this only counts for a handful of consumers, suggesting consumers’ habit of using voice control is far from being firmly established. In the future, brands can look at rolling out strategies and initiatives to instil the habit of using voice control among consumers in China.”

  • ViSenze AI technology helps people shop on Samsung phones

    ViSenze AI technology helps people shop on Samsung phones

    Visual commerce AI firm ViSenze has partnered with Samsung to help users easily discover and purchase products using the Shopping by Bixby Vision app on the electronics firm’s mobile devices. The partnership employs ViSenze’s automated visual-commerce technology and visual-search capabilities customised to consumers’ personalised shopping demands.

    “Consumers are exposed to countless products in their everyday lives that inspire and empower them to explore new trends,” said ViSenze CEO Oliver Tan. “Samsung is one of the first major companies to capitalise on this, recognising how essential it is to ensure the path from discovery to purchase is effortless.

    “At ViSenze, we work globally with some of the largest brands and retailers. Coupling this knowledge with our market-leading visual commerce technology, we are able to provide our partners with the insights and capabilities they need to find success with visual search and the commerce it’s driving each day.”

    According to material released by the brand, “Visual commerce solutions enable mobile shoppers to seize inspirational moments instantaneously by enabling them to find the same or visually similar products directly on their devices from top retailers such as Rakuten, Urban Outfitters and Zalora.”

    “Thanks to ViSenze, customers in this region can now take mobile shopping to new heights via Shopping by Bixby Vision, which makes shopping easier than ever, via your camera,” said head of mobile services & partnerships for Samsung Southeast Asia & Oceania Christopher Tarr.

    “From inspiration to instant gratification – it is that simple.”

  • India’s Tanishq brings its first Augmented Reality experience for its customers

    India’s Tanishq brings its first Augmented Reality experience for its customers

    From social media filters, to reshape the concept of traditional retail, Augmented Reality (AR) is rapidly growing in popularity because it brings elements of the virtual world, into the reality, thus enhancing the things we see, hear, and feel. AR has made retail engagement all the more experiential, fascinating and personal and it’s often considered to be in the middle of a mixed reality spectrum; between the real world and the virtual world.

    Tanishq has taken one step further to be more accessible to its customers by launching into the Augmented Reality experience at the Bangalore and Delhi airports. For the first time in India, a jewellery brand is doing an Augmented Reality/ hybrid reality (combination of physical space Augmented Reality) campaign at an airport to engage with a large audience at a completely new level. Tanishq is leaving no stone unturned to keep their customers happy by adopting innovative ways to display their product range.

    With this technological advancement, customers will have the option of ‘Try and Buy’; trying out the jewellery virtually looking at the AR screen. Customers can benefit from this advanced jewellery experience for a month starting from February 06, 2019 at Delhi airport and February 08, 2019 at Bangalore airport.

    Tanishq is implementing MirrAR, an Augmented Reality software platform in collaboration with StyleDotMe, a startup focused in innovative application of Augmented Reality (AR) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) for providing the next generation experience to consumers who are interested in the Gems and Jewellery industry. Using the platform users can virtually try on the jewellery in real time, without actually having to wear them.

    Sharing her thoughts on the launch of AR experience, Deepika Tewari, Associate Vice President, Marketing, Jewellery Division at Titan Company Limited said, “Tanishq has always aimed at providing the best for our customers and this fascinating initiative is one such approach in achieving the objective. Consumers have the option of browsing through multiple jewellery pieces virtually with just one click. The real-time customer experience will definitely strengthen the retail connection between the brand and our esteemed consumers; a transformative step on how India will shop and purchase jewellery in the near future.”

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  • LG skips foldables, opts for two screens instead

    LG skips foldables, opts for two screens instead

    LG Electronics launched the V50 ThinQ on the eve of the MWC 2019 in Barcelona on Sunday, presenting its vision of how the much-hyped 5G network can take a mobile device’s multimedia experience to the next level. The V50 ThinQ is the tech giant’s first 5G smartphone, a direct competitor to Samsung Electronics’ Galaxy Fold and Huawei’s Mate X, both of which are equipped with foldable screens.

    Rather than a foldable screen, LG Electronics has opted for a secondary detachable 6.2-inch screen, slightly smaller than the main 6.4-inch screen.

    When the second screen is attached, users can activate multiple apps at the same time. The screen on the left, for example, can have the YouTube app playing a video, while the second screen on the right can be simultaneously used for chatting to friends.

    Held horizontally, the top screen could be displaying a smartphone game, while the screen on the bottom could be used for a virtual joystick to make the game experience more immersive.

    “We believe in multimedia,” said Kim In-kyung, a senior vice president at LG Electronics in charge of 5G and network technology at the unpack event on Sunday in Barcelona.

    “Creating content and broadcasting live are most relevant to our 5G products today.”

    To help the hardware endure the increased data processing derived from 5G connectivity, its CPU, developed by Qualcomm, has been upgraded to the latest Snapdragon 855 and the battery capacity has been increased by 20 percent compared to the predecessor V40.

    LG Electronics also unveiled the G8 ThinQ on Sunday, which is dedicated to the existing 4G network.

    The G8 ThinQ, however, has been upgraded with what’s called “Time of Flight” sensors in the front camera, which are able to read palm veins in a 3-D image. The “Time of Flight” sensors are developed in partnership with German tech firm Infineon.

    Placing the palm in front of the front camera will unlock the phone, while moving the fingers in specific ways will give various orders to the G8 ThinQ such as taking screenshots, activating music apps and controlling the volume.

    Such functions will come in handy when users’ hands are too busy to actually touch the smartphone screen, such as when cooking or driving, according to the electronics company.

    “Installing vein recognition in a mobile device is [a] first,” said David Montanya, a product evangelist from LG Electronics’ mobile communications team at the unpack event. “It [allows the users] to make more intuitive interaction[s] with the smartphone. It anticipates your moves and intentions and reacts accordingly.”

    Montanya also added that palm veins are a safer way to protect the phone compared to other biometric methods such as fingerprints.

    “The probability of two people having the same vein structure is less than one in a billion,” he said.

    While an innovative feature is always a selling point for mobile devices, an experimental one that doesn’t yet work properly is not a good sign.

    The new palm-reading feature required intensive training in order to get the hang of the specific hand gestures needed to activate the sensors.

    A specific timeline for the two new phones’ launch in Korea hasn’t been revealed.

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  • 5G to change life, drive innovation

    5G to change life, drive innovation

    Korea’s Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki said once the world’s first 5G smartphone is introduced at the end of March and 5G connectivity is in full swing, life will improve significantly.  “Commercialized 5G is a core infrastructure of the fourth industrial revolution as it superconnects everything in real time and transfers massive amounts of data at high speeds,” Finance Minister Hong said during a meeting on innovation-led growth Wednesday. “The 5G smartphone, which is to be launched for the first time in the world in March, and 5G telecommunications services will be used in interactive education and digital health care, which will contribute significantly to the quality of life.”

    He said the government has been working on establishing the foundation for the commercialization of 5G, including distributing the 5G frequency to telecommunication companies in June 2018, expanding R&D investments and even setting a new tax rate – a maximum of 3 percent – for companies building the 5G network.

    “This year, the three telecommunication companies – SK Telecom, KT and LG U+ – are expected to invest more than 3 trillion won [$2.67 billion]” in 5G, Hong said.

    Samsung Electronics is expected to hold an event at the end of March to introduce its first 5G smartphone, dubbed the “Galaxy S10 X.” It will also be celebrating 10 years since the mobile phone manufacturer released its first Galaxy phone.

    In December, the company tested its 5G smartphone as the three Korean mobile telecommunication companies officially switched on 5G-network services for clients in the greater Seoul area and in some of the larger cities in the country.

    Finance Minister Hong said the commercialization of 5G services will spark innovation and convergence in various industries, including manufacturing, logistics, health and medical services, even in disaster prevention and management.

    5G is estimated to have maximum data transmission speeds 20 time faster than 4G.

    According to the government, 5G connectivity will not only increase the access to virtual and augmented reality, including wireless holograms for education or entertainment, but with the help of 5G, autonomous vehicles will roam the streets while traffic control will be managed more efficiently by applying artificial intelligence technologies in real time.

    Smart factories with wireless robots and quality control and delivery by drones will become a reality.

    By 2026, the global 5G equipment and device market is expected to be worth around 344 trillion won, while the telecommunication service market will be worth around 410 trillion won and the 5G-based convergence market about 1,440 trillion won.

    By 2030, the economic effects of 5G will be valued at an estimated 47.8 trillion won in Korea, which is equivalent to 2.5 percent of the country’s economy.

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  • Smartwatch market set for a shakeup: Juniper Research

    Smartwatch market set for a shakeup: Juniper Research

    Big brands are set to lose share in a major shakeup of the smartwatch market. According to Juniper Research, the largest brands in the category now will see their market share fall by 2023 as new niche players gain ground. Four leading brands including Apple, Samsung, Fitbit, and Fossil will see sales decline from an estimated 58 per cent of the market last year to 47 per cent by 2023. The decline is due to the growth of smaller players such as Garmin, Huami and Huawei.

    Smaller players will thrive thanks to strategies tailored for niche markets, their choice of cases or price points, while other brands are releasing premium smartwatches combining the best of fitness, outdoor activity and health features. While Apple will remain the largest single vendor in terms of shipments over the next four years, Huawei will enjoy the fastest growth, at a CAGR of 20 per cent.

    An intensified focus on healthcare integration will also contribute to an increase in smartwatch shipments over the next few years. Juniper forecasts that Apple and Withings will lead this section, followed by Fitbit and Garmin.

    China to become the biggest market

    The rise of smaller players is linked to the rapid expansion of the Chinese market offering lower-priced smartwatches. The Far East and China have now overtaken North America as the largest geographical market, with more than 24 million smartwatches shipped last year, compared to 19.5 million in North America.

    The gap between these two markets will widen by 2023, with the Far East and China trebling its shipments by then.

    Slower hybrid market

    The adoption of hybrid smartwatches will be slower than expected. Last year, hybrid smartwatches represented about 22 per cent of all smartwatch sales. The slower growth is linked to smaller players focusing on digital smartwatches offering more possibilities in terms of apps, connectivity and sensors than hybrid watches, which remain limited in their functionality.

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  • LG Electronics to debut dual display phones

    LG Electronics to debut dual display phones

    LG Electronics’ major release of the year will be dual display smartphones, which the company hopes will recover its reputation as consumers flock to next-generation 5G smartphones. “There were internal discussions on releasing foldable phones at the same time but we concluded not to apply the form to early 5G models,” said LG Electronics President Brian Kwon during a press conference at LG Science Park in Magok, western Seoul, Friday.

    The event was the first time since he was appointed to head the smartphone business in November that Kwon shared future strategies for mobile business in front of the local press.

    “Our direction will allow consumers to enjoy 5G network content through dual displays to be showcased at the Mobile World Congress (MWC).”

    “Speaking of displays for early 5G phones, a major question to ask is whether we really need them, is there enough user content that requires such screens? In that perspective, I believe it’s too early to present [foldable phones,]” he added. “In terms of technology, we’re already prepared to make foldable and rollable screens.”

    Changes in form, especially screens, will be a major attraction point at this year’s MWC, the world’s largest trade show for phones. Samsung Electronics and Huawei will be rolling out foldable phones that come with two screens overlapping one another.

    LG’s dual display phone is rumored to come with a separate second screen that can be attached to the back or beside the main screen, although the company did not confirm the details. Its price remains undecided but Kwon said internal discussions were ongoing over whether to set it above or below $1,000.

    The form-factor competition comes in line with the commercialization of 5G networks expected to be realized this year. 5G will transfer data at an extremely high speed, enabling smartphone users to enjoy movies and games at unmatched quality and speed. Phone makers are eyeing the opportunity to win over consumers as they upgrade their phones to models that support 5G.

    LG’s strategy for this generation shift is “two track,” Kwon said Friday. Apart from the dual display phones, the V50 ThinQ 5G and the G8 ThinQ will also be showcased at the MWC. They are the latest models from the company’s high-end V and G lineups. V50 will support 5G networks, while the G8 will remain a premium phone for 4G, or LTE, network users.

    Underlying the two-track strategy is an uncertainty about how fast it will actually take for 5G infrastructure and related services to expand and how many consumers will jump from 4G to 5G.

    “Our plan for the year’s first half is to release the V50 to tackle the 5G market but our direction for the second half will depends on the 5G market,” said Kwon. “If it expands quickly we’ll look into developing a lower priced model that supports the network; if it doesn’t we’ll still have the 4G lineup.”

    LG’s smartphone business has been in the red for 15 consecutive quarters as of last year. Kwon was successfully heading the company’s television business when he was appointed to additionally take charge of the mobile division three months ago.

    “It’s true that industry insiders are hoping the 5G era will push growth of the smartphone market but as there also conservative projections, our goal for the year is not to make a drastic turnaround in the business but to see sales grow and restore our reputation in the smartphone market,” said Kwon.

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  • Huawei confident of 5G role in Vietnam

    Huawei confident of 5G role in Vietnam

    Huawei Technologies says it has a good chance to be a supplier of 5G equipment to Vietnamese service providers. Fine Fan, CEO of Huawei Vietnam, said that the Chinese company is in talks with Vietnamese partners on conducting 5G trials later this year. “We are confident of expanding in Vietnam,” Fan said, adding that Vietnamese Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Manh Hung “is open to every provider.”

    Fan said that Huawei cannot be beaten on quality or cost in Vietnam. “Huawei will provide better technology and solutions, along with financial support to local operators to deploy 5G.”

    Huawei’s expression of confidence comes as major mobile carriers in Vietnam have previously announced plans to develop 5G networks using equipment from other suppliers, including Ericsson, Nokia and Samsung Electronics.

    Viettel, the country’s largest telecommunications company, became the first firm to receive permission to trial 5G services last month.

    The company has earmarked $40 million for the development of its own 5G chipset, but was also considering using technology from Ericsson and Nokia, its president and CEO Le Dang Dung said.

    Last November, Minister Hung said at a conference that Vietnam should test 5G in 2019 and ensure nationwide coverage by 2020.

    “Vietnam should be one of the first to launch the network, at least in Hanoi and HCMC,” Hung said. The country had been one of the last in Southeast Asia to roll out 4G services.

    Huawei has been the largest provider of 2G and 3G network equipment in Vietnam, though the company lost its lead when 4G arrived, CEO Fan said.

    Vietnam’s telecom market was estimated at more than $16 billion in 2016, with the three state-owned providers, Viettel, MobiFone, and VNPT, accounting for 95 percent of the market.

    5G is said to offer speeds 100 times faster than 4G, primarily used for smartphones and other similar devices. 5G is also expected to support new applications like remote medical procedures and autonomous driving.

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  • Lifestyle deploys new retail technologies

    Lifestyle deploys new retail technologies

    A part of Dubai-based retail and hospitality conglomerate Landmark Group, Lifestyle has been enhancing its Omnichannel experience for its customers at a very fast pace in the recent years. With 75 stores at present, Lifestyle is now also available online through www.lifestylestores.com where customers can shop from the convenience of their home.

    Offering men’s, women’s and kids’ apparel, footwear, handbags, fashion accessories, beauty products and much more, all under the same roof, the fashion retailer has added features such as ‘Self-Checkout Kiosk’, ‘Mobile POS’, Fitting Room Assistance’, etc., to augment its in-store experience.

    “Lifestyle has always endeavored to provide its customers the best-in-class shopping experience. With technological advancements, the shopping experience has evolved and we, as a progressive retailer, have embraced many of these technological advancements to further enhance the shopping experience we off er our customers,” says Vasanth Kumar, Managing Director, Lifestyle International.

    New Tech-Advancements

    Lifestyle has introduced ‘Self- Checkout Kiosk’ in a few key stores, a facility that allows customers to bill their merchandise and complete the payment transaction in a few simple steps on their own with no or very little intervention from the staff thereby greatly solving the long queue by enabling quicker checkouts. Another initiative to further ease checkouts is the ‘Mobile POS’, which was introduced for billing products such as watches, fragrances or cosmetics.

    Using insights from customer shopping behavior, the retailer has also launched ‘Fitting Room Assistance’ program that allows for size retrieval with the help of technology where the store assistants are alerted on the size and style required in the fitting room. “This initiative has helped in enhancing our conversions and is now being scaled up across key stores,” Kumar says.

    “Several of our initiatives are technological solutions to real customer problems which we discovered through our interaction with customers as well as staff . Using this feedback, we have created simple yet impactful solutions leveraging technology. These have led to positive impact on our overall customer experience and helped increase engagement with the brand,” he further adds.

    At the same time, with features like ‘Click & Collect’ and ‘In-store Endless Aisle’, Lifestyle is offering a true Omnichannel experience to its customers. An Omnichannel initiative, ‘Click & Collect’ allows customers to order online and collect merchandise from a Lifestyle store of their choice. ‘In-store Endless Aisle’ helps customers find missing in-store sizes on the e-commerce channel. Also, the retailer has introduced visual search and enabled voice-based search for its mobile applications which has helped in creating a more personalised and convenient shopping experience. Lifestyle has also implemented the ‘Put-to-Light’ system for effective storing and distribution at its warehouses. It has enabled single view of inventory for its e-commerce portal, www.lifestylestores.com, making the entire inventory across all warehouses accessible to the online customers thereby enhancing the merchandise availability and online conversion.

    “We are continuously evolving our stores with new technologies. To fully enable our customers to enjoy these new introductions, it is important for our sales personnel to understand, communicate and comfortably operate all new innovations. Before implementing any new technology or introducing product innovation, our entire store team goes through an extensive knowledge session, which enables them to understand the product/technology being introduced,” says Kumar.

    Lifestyle regularly tracks consumer satisfaction through NPS (Net Promoter Score) in store, by the virtue of offering, staff interactions, store ambience and consistently deliver an overall delightful shopping experience thereby winning customer trust and loyalty.

  • SKT brings 5G workplace to life

    SKT brings 5G workplace to life

    ID cards, laptops and business trips will no longer be necessary, according to SK Telecom, when the 5G network-based smart office environment becomes an industry norm. The mobile carrier showcased its smart office technology test bed in Jongno District, central Seoul, Wednesday. Currently, about 300 SK Telecom employees are working at the space set up roughly a month ago by renting out three floors in the Centropolis building.

    At the entrance to the office, SK Telecom has facial recognition technology manning the security desk. Due to privacy issues, only employees who have agreed to register their biometric information can pass through the gate without an ID card.

    Inside the office, a display panel shows seat reservations. The screen shows all available seats inside the office, similar to the systems seen in university libraries and also shows who is in which seat. When designing the smart office, SK Telecom made it into an open space so employees can freely move around. The display even shows how many toilet cubicles are available for immediate use, although in this case employee names aren’t shown.

    The carrier said it used roughly 2,300 sensors, including on the ceilings, CCTV and even doorknobs in the bathrooms that track relevant data on employees’ work patterns inside the office. The data collected will be used to develop smart office solutions packages for enterprise customers.

    The desks in the office come with desktop computers connected to mobile routers that convert 5G signals into super-fast Wi-Fi. Beside the computer monitor is a docking station for smartphones. The so-called virtual desktop infrastructure enables employees to bring up what they were working on with their personal computers on the desktop computer using the cloud. Unlike simply mirroring a smartphone display, the phones become an authorization medium that allow the computer to verify which work files are downloaded from the cloud.

    At one side of the office is a space for so-called telemeetings that could cut down the need for frequent business trips. SK Telecom said it used its “T real telepresence” technology to invite multiple users into a virtual space where participants can have meetings while watching videos or 3-D designs of game characters and buildings together.

    After donning Microsoft’s HoloLens, this reporter was invited to a telemeeting to discuss the design of a game character.

    Within the virtual meeting, attendees were able to see and walk around a moving 3-D game character while interacting with the avatars of other people in the meeting.

    The experience wasn’t perfect – the field of view was small and constantly looking around was necessary in order to follow everything that was going on, but the potential of the technology to greatly reduce the need for business trips was evident.

    Other technologies already being used in the office included a barista robot and artificial intelligence-based autonomous vending machine, which can track employee purchases with camera sensors.

    Would any of these innovations be possible without 5G network?

    According to SK Telecom, yes. But, while all of these technologies are possible on the existing 4G LTE network, the new high-speed network, touted to be 20 times faster when fully commercialized, offers faster and more stable internet connection even when a million devices are connected at once.

    In essence, 5G ensures that all these systems work seamlessly without their huge data usage interrupting networks or slowing down work.

    “Dependency on landline internet will be reduced and high-capacity data will be delivered fast enough for real-time telemeetings with 5G,” said Shin Seung-ho, a manager from SK Telecom’s media lab under ICT center.

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  • Blockchain in the business of fashion

    Blockchain in the business of fashion

    Fashion brands are finally beginning to take note of the rising consumer awareness on traceability and sustainability particularly driven by the millenniums. These evolving consumers are deep diving into knowing the history of the apparels before they buy – the story behind each garment and where and how are they manufactured.

    Moreover, mere claims or information is not enough to be trustworthy unless backed by detailed sequence of data on the complete value chain necessitated in wake of some or other global brand getting exposed of unethical sourcing or not being sustainable.

    This is making fashion companies to attempt towards transforming their business models focused on delivering transparency of data – both in backend and frontend by employing the emerging technologies.

    There has been a global buzz around new technologies like Artificial Intelligence, Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality and Blockchain for some time now and the global Fashion industry has also moved in the last few years to adopt some of these in ways it firmly resisted for a long time. However, blockchain applications haven’t really seen much adoption by fashion organisations.

    So, What is Blockchain?

    According to Digital Trends, blockchain is a database that’s validated by a wider community, rather than a central authority. It’s a collection of records that a crowd oversees and maintains, rather than relying on a single entity, like a bank or government, which most likely hosts data on a particular server.

    Each ‘block’ represents a number of transactional records, and the ‘chain’ component links them all together with a hash function. As records are created, they are confirmed by a distributed network of computers and paired up with the previous entry in the chain, thereby creating a chain of blocks, or a blockchain.

    Blockchain is the technology behind digital currencies like Bitcoin and involve cryptography while in a usability sense they are just shared database or digital ledgers that publicly show a record of transactions having happened. Every time a product changes hands, that information on change in custody is recorded by the user in the ledger and entry becomes linked to every other entry (or Block) and every other copy of the ledger is automatically synchronised via internet. The interconnection among all the blocks forms a chain and the complete application becomes the blockchain. The chain of custody on blockchain provides a record of the last party to gain custody of the product. So, blockchain means decentralised structure that provides security and transparency and thus making data trustworthy.

    In broader sense, blockchain is not just technology, its impact goes beyond the industry or the society for creating a fair, safe and more transparent fashion industry.

    Applicability into Fashion Business

    Blockchain applications are not only for tracking virtual payments and financial transactions but have wider applications in securely distributing other product and supply chain information including complete database at SKU level. In other words, blockchains may be understood as indexes of standardised information or in simple sense, these are community generated data maps by brand and product.

    Most promising application of blockchain in fashion industry could be in supply chain and inventory management. What blockchain technology can enable in the fashion business is uniform real-time access to updated product information supplied by brands, a universal pathway for retailers to immediately report back to suppliers on aspects like stock levels and customer feedback, the final consumer details and many more might come along once something like this new basic building block structure is in play. Distributed nature of blockchain technology makes it superior to other tracking technologies as here the records can’t be altered, destroyed or lost.

    Blockchains have merely begun transforming apparel supply chains through technology such as track-and trace and inventory management. But as other technologies like 3D printing and AI continue to advance, the fashion apparel industry may very well see much more dramatic changes in years to come.

    Greater transparency in fashion supply chains will create new incentives for companies to change the way they do business and even how they view themselves as an organisation. If so, adoption of blockchain is only the beginning as the fashion industry may be entering a new era with vastly different forms of production and consumption.

    Advantages of Blockchain in Fashion

    • Nowadays, one of the major trends in the fashion industry is sustainability and circular economy. Today’s consumers believe in fair trade practices and hence increasingly demanding transparency and want to know where the product is coming from not only in food but also in fashion.
    • Blockchain enables fashion companies to securely communicate to the public the complete product story (DNA) for each and every fashion garment. This includes comprehensive details on all stages of product life cycle starting from design inspiration, raw materials, manufacturing and distribution to the stores and also providing visibility of all stakeholders involved in the value chain to create traceability and transparency in true sense.
    • Blockchain applications allow customers to scan the tag and discover the history of every garment and thus help in improving the customer experience.
    • Global companies like Patagonia and Everlane have been successfully betting on sustainability and supply chain transparency as a distinct selling proposition enabling customers to identify their suppliers.
    • Authenticity of branded products can be verified by both retailers and consumers since branded garments pass through the blockchain steps and hence can be tracked. This could help reducing the counterfeiting and diverting out of authentic products. Every time a fashion item moves from one place to other, its tag or code gets scanned thus recording its location with the time stamp. Consumers would be able to scanthe item and trace its journey from raw material stage to their home and would be able to ascertain if the product is real or a counterfeit. Blockchain applications can help provide protection against the counterfeiting.
    • Blockchain applications also can help fashion companies who license their trademarks or designs in tracking the sales and working out the royalty payments. Similarly, it enables design houses to document design process steps and thus having the organic evidence of ownership on the designs.

    Blockchain helps create peer-to-peer and decentralised network that connects all stakeholders in the value chain (design houses, farmers, raw material suppliers, manufacturers, transporters, distributors, retail outlets, banks, consumers and other parties of the complete supply chain). Using decentralised system, all communication between these parties will be direct and will not pass through a specific central entity. Due to its decentralised nature, the blockchain platform will not have any single point of failure and will not rely on any single entity.

    Through this technology, there could be a possibility wherein everyone from the farmer to the textile mill to the garmenting factory can communicate directly with the brand that buys from them. And, even the consumer can interact directly with the brand/design house for co-creation or customisation of the garments, influencing pricing and even co-investing in the concept.

    Given all the advantages, blockchain clearly seems to be the future for fashion, however, to speed up the application, a single and comprehensive blockchain standard adopted by the fashion industry has to come in fast.

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