It is an undeniable fact that the continual advances in modern-day technology are changing the way that many business sectors operate. From manufacturing industries to service sectors such as retail and real estate, there is a new revolution in progress. The traditional way of doing things is in danger of becoming extinct.
The businesses which are best placed to benefit from this revolution are the ones which are willing to embrace new ideas and harness the immense power that advanced technology brings to the table. In recent years, retail technology has allowed for the accurate real-time monitoring of sales and stock data, with the resulting analytics acting as a launch pad for new retail marketing strategies and relevant promotional activity. While this detailed sales analysis is of undoubted benefit, national retailers are missing a trick by not incorporating retail estate intelligence into their overall big data capture. These same retailers could do worse than taking note of a new technology which is changing the face of the real estate game.
3D scanning has been around for a number of years now, but it is only recently that the true power and capabilities of the process have been recognised. As 3D scanning involves analysing a physical object or environment and then reproducing the resultant images into a three-dimensional model, the process is an obvious natural fit for the retail industry. Retailers, which have harnessed 3D scanning technology, are now able to capture the interior dimensions of a property with absolute pinpoint accuracy. The scanning process also captures colours, textures and any physical objects within the property. This accurately recreates the property in digital form, allowing designers and marketers to ‘trial’ interior changes to layout, shelving, POS and then take a virtual walk-through online to ascertain the effectiveness or the ‘feel’ of these changes. Many organisations that have embraced this technology are calling it the ‘wave of the future’ for retailers.
While 3D scanning may be revolutionising the retail sector, can the same process really be applied to our business? If so, will it actually benefit current retail marketing solutions? The answer to both of those questions is a resounding yes, but not until the fundamentals are put into place. The first step towards a 3D-future is for retailers to have complete oversight of their retail estate and this can only be done with comprehensive retail audits. Once these are complete only then will retailers have the necessary estate intelligence at their fingertips to inform both current marketing campaigns and prepare for technology leaps in the future.
Towards this end, we have developed our InSite software platform which records the huge amounts of data taken from retail audits and stores it in one place. This solution can then provide the necessary estate intelligence in tailored reports via its intuitive dashboard. Interactive CAD drawings are a key feature of the system, enabling layout changes to be instantaneously stored within the system. The future of our estate intelligence offering could be a 3D plan of every store in a retailer’s estate, all of which is built on the work of teams who conducted time-sensitive retail-audits to ensure accurate and timely data.
The face of retail is changing for the better and considering how we can embrace the latest technology available is important if we are to deliver ‘Installation 3.0’.
