In the dynamic landscape of modern retailing, efficiency isn’t just a buzzword; it’s the cornerstone of success. Every enterprise, big or small, grapples with the challenge of optimizing workflows to streamline operations, enhance productivity, and drive growth. This is why the emergence of innovative solutions in recent years has been crucial to developing effective retail strategies. One such game-changer is SMX GO—our augmented reality (AR) app that epitomizes retail efficiency when it comes to in-store execution.
Understanding SMX GO
SMX GO is a mobile application offering a comprehensive suite of tools designed to revolutionize workflow management. At its core, SMX GO harnesses the power of AR to help field sales teams visualize, validate, and sell in displays, signage and new planograms to retail partners. SMX GO seamlessly integrates all facets of this workflow into a unified ecosystem, improving communication and efficiency.
How? SMX GO projects augmented reality 3D images to visualize points of interruption quickly and accurately, on a mobile device, directly in the store. The app can also notify teams when new planograms are issued, enabling them to digitally overlay the new POG against the physical store shelf to help understand arrangement, assortment, and out-of-stocks in real time. Screenshots can then be sent back to headquarters for instant verification and shared with relevant team members.
For a better understanding, let’s walk through the workflow of how retail execution teams use and leverage AR for their day-to-day functions.
Planning
Brands can greatly benefit by understanding how new in-store marketing campaigns will look—and physically fit—in the store. The problem is brand teams are often ill-equipped when it comes to making those determinations. In fact, stores regularly skip this step altogether, resulting in re-orders and loss of revenue because a fixture doesn’t fit or work in the designated space when implemented.
Here’s how field team members can leverage SMX GO’s AR visualization for retail planning:
- Perfect fitment: The SMX GO measurement tool will scan and measure the available space and provide access to a comprehensive media library of equipment options that fit perfectly in the allotted area. Planograms and displays are made to scale, so users can toggle through different options, consult with the store manager, and decide what will work best—mitigating risk.
- Consistent look and feel: SMX GO ensures a cohesive look across stores with real-time visualizations. minimizing discrepancies and maximizing customer engagement.
- Rapid concept iteration: Field teams can use SMX GO to experiment with various display concepts, allowing for on-the-spot concept iteration. This enables efficiency and agility when it comes to minimizing time spent on display refinement.
Selling
Field sales teams are under a lot of pressure. They have a small window of time to show, explain and convince retailers that the concept sent down from headquarters is going to make a positive impact for their store.
Here’s how to increase store manager confidence and secure a sale with SMX GO:
- Accelerated sell-in process: Simply put, SMX GO expedites the process of selling into retailers because it can swiftly show optimal equipment and display options for the store space, enhancing the shopping experience sooner.
- Capture realistic visuals, on the spot: The SMX GO app enables a way to elevate contracts and sell-in materials that traditionally come in the form of a printout or PowerPoint slide. The app seamlessly integrates with existing sales tools and processes, so field teams can capture and save images of AR objects in their real-world context, ensuring precision and clarity for everyone involved throughout the process. These images can be linked within PowerPoint decks for a more immersive presentation.
Implementing
The hard truth is that each day that a new POG is not implemented in-store results in lost revenue. In fact, InContext has found that an estimated $33 per 100 shoppers is lost due to delayed implementation. SMX GO aims to combat that through:
- Instant notifications and updates: Field teams using SMX GO recieve real-time alerts through the app, so they are notified immediately when a new POG is issued. This feature helps keeps teams in sync and in-the-know.
- Validation: Teams can pull up a newly issued 3D POG in the app and overlay it against the physical store shelf, with transparency features that allow a view of both the real-world POG and the intended one. Users can then quickly pinpoint changes needed and execute.
- Round-the-clock access to POGs: SMX GO ensures that all relevant POGs are available within the app, enhancing operational efficiency and eliminating the need for manual searching.
- Bridging the store-to-headquarters gap: Communication is enhanced between store teams and headquarters, because of SMX GO’s seamless feedback loop. The tool enables teams to easily share valuable insights and suggestions within the mobile application, so that everyone involved knows when planograms have been implemented and if they were set correctly.
Maintaining
Retailers and brands alike want to create a more organized, customer-friendly, and profitable shopping environment, but the maintence process can be daunting. All of the use cases above touch on how to go about enabling the environment for shoppers, but how do you keep it going?
Here’s how SMX GO can help with that:
- Better access to planograms: Planograms stored in SMX GO can be easily accessed by store employees, managers, and merchandisers anytime and anywhere. This accessibility enables quick reference and updates, making it convenient for staff in various locations.
- Real-time updates: AR helps eliminate the slog when it comes to updating and changing planograms. When adjustments are needed due to stock availability, layout changes, or promotions, they can be made instantly, ensuring that the store is always well-organized and aligned with the latest strategies.
- Improved compliance: By having planograms readily available, it’s easier for employees to follow guidelines and ensure compliance with merchandising standards. This leads to more consistent product displays and improved customer experiences.
- Training and onboarding: A lesser known benefit of SMX GO is the ability to help train and onboard new employees when it comes to store layout and planogram execution. This can help maintain consistency in merchandising across different locations and among different staff members.
- Remote collaboration: In a distributed or multi-location retail setting, the app enables remote collaboration between headquarters, regional managers, and store-level employees. They can work together to create, adapt, and implement planograms, ensuring consistent branding and merchandising strategies, from wherever they are.
Ready to see SMX GO in action?
Retail execution is enhanced through AR capabilities. Having planograms inside a mobile app like SMX GO offers numerous benefits, including improved accessibility, real-time updates, increased efficiency, enhanced compliance, cost savings, data-driven decision-making, and better integration with other retail systems. It ultimately helps create a more organized, customer-friendly, and profitable shopping environment. Embrace the future of retail execution and differentiate your brand’s presence by contacting us today.
