Retail, Grocery, And Hospitality IT News For VARs — October 9, 2014
By Phillip Britt, contributing writer
In the news, the mobile wallet market is predicted to reach $3 trillion by 2020, Macy’s is expanding its use of RFID, iBeacons, and image search, and restaurants continue to leverage tablets and kiosks for orders, customer engagement, and payment.
Mobile Wallet Market Predicted To Reach $3 Trillion By 2020
A report from Grand View Research, Inc. predicts that the global mobile wallet market will reach nearly $3 trillion by the year 2020. The report cites technology advancements, including deeper penetration of high speed networks, the growing propensity of near-field communication and the fast growth of smartphone ownership and mobile app development the primary drivers of the mobile wallet expansion.
Macy’s Rolls Out Tech Initiatives
Macy’s has been spending the last few years and hundreds of millions of dollars to increase its success in the e-commerce division, according to Fortune. The retailer is using RFID technology to track the location of items in the supply chain or the store — something that enables stores to fill e-commerce orders. Macy’s is expanding its deployment of Shopkick’s shopBeacon technology that uses Apple’s iBeacon to send notifications and offers when customers approach certain departments. The retailer is also rolling out image search — customers can take a picture of an item and search macys.com to find it or a similar item — and smart fitting rooms equipped with Apple iPads that allow customers to see if other sizes or colors of an item are available and to send a request to an associate to bring them to the fitting room.
Can I— Or A Machine — Take Your Order?
According to Yahoo Finance, two more restaurants serving up technology with their food are Chili’s and Panera. At Chili’s customers can play games, order refills, and pay their bill by credit card thanks to their Ziosk table tablets. At Panera customers can order meals and customize them through Panera’s kiosks, system which the company hopes will help shorten lines. The entire menu is available to order and customers can access loyalty accounts through the kiosks, which also accept payment cards.
Retail, Grocery, And Hospitality IT Talking Points
Loyalty 360 reports that Regal Entertainment Group, which operates 7,347 screens in 573 theaters in the U.S., has supplied its ushers with iPods running the UsherPoint app developed by Vista Entertainment Solutions to scan bar codes and provide schedule information and other details about theaters.
Since purchasing SnapSaves in June, Groupon is planning to expand into the grocery world Crain’s Chicago Business reports. SnapSaves will be rebranded as the Snap by Groupon app and will aid in helping consumers save on things they purchase everyday like milk and bread. The savings happen by scanning the receipts into the app and when one reaches certain increments of savings, Groupon will reimburse then. This will also aid in learning what consumers frequently purchase and will send them offers based on that.
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