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— Retail Properties Quarterly — February 2016
Broker Insights
T
he year 2015 marked when
technology closed the gap
between in-store and online
shopping for retailers. Cus-
tomers now are able to com-
bine the convenience of connecting
to a retailer’s website or application
for additional information with the
benefit of being in the store, where
they have the added ability to phys-
ically inspect the products.
“Fifty percent of retailers have an
online store, up from 23 percent,”
according to a report by Lightspeed
POS. “Nineteen percent currently
implement a mobile POS [point of
sale] for checking out customers
anywhere in the store, and 22 per-
cent use a mobile POS for inventory
lookups on the store floor.”
By building new retail space or
upgrading existing space with the
following five technology trends,
building owners can provide a
product that tenants are looking
for in order to keep their customers
engaged, which means less turnover
for property managers. It also ben-
efits brokers to have a top-tier prod-
uct for their clients.
1. Digital signage.
Leveraging digi-
tal signage can create an interactive
shopping experience using visual
communication. From changing
prices on the fly to creating targeted
advertisements, retailers can man-
age digital signage content – wheth-
er that content is at a single store or
at stores across the nation – from a
single, central location.
Owners, managers and brokers
can keep existing and potential
tenants informed using digital sig-
nage by displaying
interactive content
to advertise their
listing, to provide
a property direc-
tory or to add
revenue by selling
advertisements. A
current example
can be seen on the
16th Street Mall
with the digital
retail directories
placed in various
locations.
One tip: Although property owners
can save money on the interactive
displays by purchasing hardware
from an over-the-counter retailer, it
is worth considering commercial-
grade displays for their longer lifes-
pans when they are powered on for
long retail hours.
2. In-store Wi-Fi.
Using fully man-
aged Wi-Fi connectivity throughout
your retail space provides multiple
options for interacting with custom-
ers. From POS to customized apps,
or even tablets in dressing rooms to
facilitate assistance, in-store Wi-Fi
provides additional touch-points to
engage with customers.
Retail property owners should
consider offering wireless access
points across multiple spaces for an
additional value-add to tenants. It is
worth noting that customers com-
plain that they would rather have
no Wi-Fi versus poor Wi-Fi. There-
fore it is important to work with an
experienced technology consultant
to provide enough bandwidth and
coverage to enhance a customer’s
experience.
3. Mobile payments.
By the end of
2016, 25 percent of all retail e-com-
merce sales in the United States
will take place via mobile devices,
according to eMarketer. Mobile
point of sale allows retailers to use
tablets and phones to process pay-
ments on the floor as well as check
inventory at other stores.
In order to accommodate the
use of mobile point of sale, it is
important to understand the need
for adequate Internet connectivity.
Retailers should plan on a mini-
mum of 10 megabits per second
download and 5 mbps upload for
even a small (500- to 1,000-square-
foot) retail space.
Cole Dunsmore
President and
founder, TruCloud
Solutions, Denver
An Oakley retail space deploys digital signage to draw in customers.
