One of the best parts of technology is that it has made our lives easier and it is ever-evolving. Technology in retail has made the experience much merrier and soon with ‘smart shelf’ technology in play, you could be on a unique joyride.

Smart Shelf will offer Electronic Labels, Personalized Advertisements, RFID (Radio Frequency Identification Reader) Technology and IoT (Internet of Things) sensors. In short, Smart Shelves will make the shopping experience much more presentable and informative.

Electronic Labels

At the moment, we have paper labels with prices and promotional discounts mentioned on the shelves of nearly all the super/hypermarkets out there. Electronic labels will not only help reduce paper usage but will also enable price change in the entire store. With technology, supermarkets will be able to display multiple information such as Prices, advertisements, nutritional information, promos and many more.

For instance – you stand across a Shelf with ‘Cookies’ and with this new technology you will be able to compare one brand to other in terms of nutritional content or even with bar codes, which can be scanned to get more information.

Personalized Advertisements

The concept of ‘personalized advertisements’ is more or less the same as that of website cookies. In our previous point of electronic labels, we mentioned about the possibility of a barcode which consumers can scan with the help of the hypermarket smart app. If a consumer uses the app to create a shopping list, then the smart shelf can interact with the app to show you exactly the items you need. However, it will depend on time and the consumer’s consent based on which the shopping data will be synchronized across the platform.

RFID Technology

RFID (Radio Frequency Identification Reader) Technology consists of a tag with microchip, reader and an antenna that enables transmission and reception of data through radio waves. This technology in supermarkets can allow retailers to track inventory status and ensure there is a steady supply of correct product on shelves. RFID technology will even help track whether someone has placed a wrong item on a shelf. In combination with artificial intelligence-based checkouts, RFID tags can make shopping faster and convenient than it already is today. Imagine picking a product, scanning and walking out while paying for it at the same time!

IoT Sensors

Internet of things (IoT) sensors have multiple uses in a hypermarket and temperature control is one such basic function. These sensors will check the temperature in freezers and other spaces to ensure there is no fluctuation, which otherwise can ruin certain products. These temperature changes along with other data can be directly transmitted to the store supervisors for further analysis and action. This data can help retailers understand their consumers better and arrange items on the shelf as per their preferences.

It is safe to say that ‘Smart Shelves’ can be the next step towards a personalized shopping experience.

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