Traditional retailers are struggling against tech-driven competitors, with retail margins declining annually by 2-3%, and up to 5-6% in some cases since 2017. Omnichannel and digital-first retailers are outperforming traditional ones, with significant sales growth. The NRF has forecasted a 12% increase in online retail for 2023, double the rate of overall retail growth.

Retailers also face challenges in customer preferences, product management, and sustainability. Retail's environmental impact is notable, contributing to 25% of global GHG emissions. The production, transportation, and disposal of retail goods significantly impacts the environment. Running any retail business is increasingly complex, grappling with issues like catering to diverse customer preferences across multiple channels, managing a vast range of perishable products, maintaining quality, reducing waste, and balancing customer-friendly pricing with profit margins. Grocers lose millions each year on food spoilage alone. Three-quarters of Gen Z said sustainability is more important than brand when making a purchase decision. Failure to address these issues will put businesses at risk of losing customers and employees, facing regulatory fines, disappointing investors, and damaging reputation, which in turn will hurt financial performance.

With these trends converging, traditional retailers must become more digital and greener, and the development of innovative technology, especially in AIoT, will allow for retailers to apply solutions that can achieve both.

Optimize Stores and Satisfy Customers with Green IoT Retail Solutions

By embracing dual growth engines of digital transformation and sustainability retailers can leverage these converging trends for long-term growth. In the fast-paced retail environment, especially in food retailing, frequent and accurate price changes are essential. Traditional manual updates are prone to errors and inefficiencies, leading to missed sales and customer dissatisfaction.

Hanshow's Electronic Shelf Label (ESL) solution offers a digital alternative using ePaper technology. This allows for efficient, accurate updates of prices and product information, reducing errors and enhancing retail digitalization, simultaneously reducing costs, meeting regulatory requirements, and satisfying growing consumer preference for sustainability.

A leading UK supermarket, in partnership with Hanshow, has introduced the first sustainability trial store in the UK focusing on refillable solutions for mainstream customers. The store aims to make operations more efficient, improve the shopping experience, and promote zero-waste. Technologies used include ESLs for real-time pricing and product information, and a bring-your-own-container approach. The store's refill price guarantee offers lower prices for refillable items, enhancing sustainability and reducing environmental impact by eliminating paper labels and single-use packaging.

Hanshow's Nebular Pro ESL showcases groundbreaking innovations, including an impressive battery life of up to 15 years. Hanshow is planning to roll out enhancements to its core ESL solutions, aiming to reshape how sustainability and technology are perceived in the retail industry.

Increased Connectivity and Smart Solutions Reduce Costs and Waste

The deployment of Hanshow Smart Shelf Management powered by Microsoft AI and Intel^® Core™ processors, is capable of automatically determining OOS items, incorrect item placements, and other shelving issues, so retailers can be promptly alerted of any abnormality and take appropriate action. This has led to remarkable improvements for a European retailer, reducing product out-of-stock duration by 40%, from 2.5 hours to 1.5 hours. This has significantly boosted product on-shelf availability.

Hanshow has developed the All-Star SaaS platform, a comprehensive solution enabling retailers to efficiently integrate and manage all their IoT devices and networks from a single, centralized location. This reduces management costs and complexities significantly.

By leveraging Microsoft’s Azure cloud service, the Hanshow solution offers robust capabilities in data transmission, storage, and processing. It is designed as a modular, out-of-the-box solution, allowing for customization to specific retail needs and quick deployment, thereby saving both time and costs. Moreover, compared to traditional local infrastructure solutions, Microsoft Azure significantly enhances energy efficiency — by up to 93% — and carbon reduction efficiency — by 98%.

Hanshow's solutions have effectively lowered the barriers to digital transformation, enabling small and medium-sized retailers to pursue sustainable digitalization. These environment-friendly solutions offer a superior low-carbon option for managing IoT devices and networks, ensuring both energy and budget efficiency.

Follow the link to schedule a meeting with Hanshow at NRF 2024 to learn more.