Why Most Smart Store Pilots Fail (And How to Build One That Doesn’t) | 5IM

Foreign minutes is G Store's Troy Sidewick to share his tried and true tips on tech for the world's smartest stores.

Troy Many retailers are looking at tech like RFID and inventory management software to be more agile as they encounter more and more market uncertainty with what tech is critical for stores to have right now.

It's not just about knowing what's in stock, it's about being able to move fast when things change in the store.

So the smartest stores are using RFID in their inventory systems as a foundation, but then they're layering on tech on top of that that helps them react faster.

So think about visibility, exception based workflows, predictive alerts.

So not just dashboards that are kind of collecting dust, but stuff that really actions the store associates and the people that work in the stores, what to do, telling them what to do.

And for retailers that have some of this technology, but the older version, like the handheld RFID readers, that's perfect.

So keep that and you can build on that with the overhead systems and the newer tech, the handhelds still come into play and still have a purpose.

So the overhead readers we're deploying now eliminate the manual work and give stores and the associates time back.

So it's not replacing the people, it's helping them focus on what drives sales and engagement with the customers.

And not counting socks in the back of the store.

What if you're a mass retailer though, that might have some items that are RFID tag, but not all of them.

What tech or what solutions do you put in place if that's the scenario.

And that's most of them, I think there aren't 100% or many aren't even 50% RFID tag.

So it's just a playbook that has to be considered where you have overhead RFID for the fast moving apparel type of items.

You keep your handheld scanning systems for other RFID that aren't as conducive for overhead.

And, and then now we're seeing a lot of piloting around computer vision and that's where this is going to go.

So cameras, looking at things, you know, and figuring out what your stock is combined with RFID and then combined with older school solutions like handheld readers and POS data, all that combined for those big stores will be the answer in the future.

Well, I love that older school solutions.

All right, so if I'm a retail executive listening right now, Troy, and, and I want to, and I'm bought in on this whole smart store idea, what does a smart store pilot look like and how long does it take to get a pilot up and running?

Yeah, so it wasn't always this way and we weren't always this good, but we've become pretty good at moving fast.

So a typical pilot takes 60 to 90 days to kick from time you kick it off until getting insights from that pilot.

So, you know, there's plugging in things and there's installing things, but it's not about plugging in sensors and waiting.

It's kind of like live fire testing with the store associates.

So does it reduce the BOPIS misses or the skips in the BOPIS process or does it help associates find products faster to help the customer?

Are we saving labor and focusing on what's really important for sales?

So, you know, a lot of pilots are tech showcases.

That's what you'll see when you go to customers and clients.

That's not what these should be.

They should be behavior changing labs where we change how the associates act with the customers in the store.

And then they'll want this tech.

If it's working, they'll want it and they'll ask for it after the pilot's done.

So where is the smart store tech kind of heading?

Troy, what do we think we'll see after some of those deployments?

Deployments have been done.

Those pilots have been done.

Where?

Where?

What is the art of the possible here?

So I think it's, it's kind of like the.

I mean I've seen this in retail for a long time, this word, but I think we're really there in the orchestration era.

So.

So all these things, all these devices, the stuff we just talked about playing together, the magic is when they're all working together.

So planogram compliance, automated replenishment from back of the house to the front of the house, Bopus triggers.

So it's not just merchandise, it's not just inventory.

It's like merchandising, staffing, fulfillment, shrink the store.

Tech becomes like a central nervous system so that these retailers and most importantly their associates can help the customers and help sales.

So it's really all the orchestration around all this tech coming together.

Awesome.

Thanks, Troy.

Thank you, Troy.