EE has launched a new wireless solution which will help retailers gather data about their shoppers while they browse the internet.
According to telecoms.com, customers wanting to use the free in-store Wi-Fi will have to agree to EE’s terms and conditions, which state the retailer can use their data anonymously. Called Connected Retail, the managed solution uses real-time data to improve customer targeting. For example, a retailer can look at each customer’s past purchases and determine which adverts and promotions would be most appealing to them.
Asda is one of the companies already making use of Connected Retail. Some 800,000 customers use its Wi-Fi service, meaning it has access to a huge amount of customer data. Graham Cove, director of Wi-Fi at EE, says retailers can learn more about their customers through their online activities than what they do whilst inside the shop.
“Retailers can monitor what customers are doing in store not only by day but even by the hour of the day,” he explains. “For example, using this anonymised data, Asda can see that at a certain time of day, there are a lot of women aged 18-30 and that enables them to do something different, such as promote different offers, during this time.”
Moreover, the service aims to help decrease the amount of time consumers spend queuing when they shop. Using Wi-Fi signals, retailers can see which areas of the shop are most popular and organise the store’s traffic flow accordingly. Heat maps will help managers predict when large queues are going to form too, reports telegraph.co.uk.
