Fortinet: Leveraging physical and online shopping behaviour with WiFi

Today’s retailers can align their online and in-store customer engagements with technology. “Every smartphone is equipped with ways to connect to WiFi. When a customer’s phone is looking for networks to join, it is detectable by local routers. If you have WiFi and analytics enabled at your facility, you can detect your customer’s phone's WiFi capabilities, note their device's unique ID number and track their device over time as they move through the store,” says Gary Gardiner, Fortinet’s A/NZ Director of Engineering & Services.

"The resulting information can help your business build detailed profiles of your customers," says Gardiner. “You can then cross-reference the data that is gathered with other forms of public or commercial information. You can then use this information to plan and reconfigure store layouts and merchandise displays in order to better attract and retain shoppers, thereby boosting sales and customer loyalty.”

He says ANZ retail stores can use technology to determine the flow of customer foot traffic, analyse conversion rates and research dwell-times in the stores.

Some solutions work off stores' existing WiFi networks, while others may require their own specific tools such as WiFi or Bluetooth controllers to be placed in or near the store.

Gardiner recommends that businesses leverage their WiFi investment in the following key areas:

1. Use the data to inform shoppers with in-store advertising

WiFi technology can be used with location-based marketing to encourage shoppers to spend more time in-store. Big brands and start-ups are using location-based marketing as a way of attracting customers and then personalising their engagement.

2. Segment stores into zones for better traffic and dwell-time analysis

Some mobile-enabled foot traffic analytics suites can track customer movements within a few metres.

3. Identify the patterns in the best-performing stores

One of the biggest benefits WiFi technology offers is the ability to figure out the root cause behind sales variations across different stores.

4. Build loyalty and influence consumer purchases

FortiPresence - Fortinet's WiFi presence analytics package - enables retailers to gather analytics, engage with customers and drive in-store sales. Technology built into Fortinet hardware detects what a shopper is looking for and uses this retail intelligence to counteract price comparison-shopping, or ‘showrooming.’

5. Gain customers' trust with safe and secure WiFi

Internet criminals are using more sophisticated techniques to crack codes and breach the security of customer credit and debit cards. Retailers should ensure a safe environment by providing reliable and robust wireless security to gain customers' trust.

Gardiner concludes by saying that by turning the “ubiquity of smartphones into a positive and not a negative, retailers can combat showrooming with marketing strategies that incorporate WiFi and in-store digital advertising. Further, retailers can use in-store WiFi to build loyalty and influence consumer purchases in real-time.”