Overview / Usage

The Smart Shelf is an emerging technology that will revolutionize the level of service retailers are able to offer. Smart Shelf solutions will deliver personalized experiences to shoppers while providing real-time, in-store insights that increase sales and chain-wide efficiencies.

Technology overview:

Sensors:

1. An array of photosensors or pressure sensors installed on the base of the shelf can be used to detect the presence and distribution of items.

2. Ultrasonic sensor can be used to detect the vertical height to which the shelf is filled by the items.

3. A HD camera placed suitably in a shelf can capture images of items on the shelf at desired intervals, and these images can be processed to identify the products.

4. RFID tags can be used to track each individual product and thereby providing more accurate inventory tracking.

Functional flow:

1. Sensor gathers respective data and transfers data to the controller

2. Controller gathers data from the sensors

3. Controller processes the raw data to build meaningful information

4. Controller extracts intelligence from the data

5. The controller sends data and intelligence to the cloud for further processing

6. Cloud server extracts further intelligence from data as desired

7. Cloud server decides action items

8. Cloud server triggers the action items

9. Users notified to restock particular shelf

Value Addition:

1. Help retailers to deliver a highly differentiated shopper experience boosting their revenue and profit margins. Retailers may be partially assisted to integrate the services and thereby generate increased revenues for both parties.

2. Enable retailers to generate revenue streams by selling a range of services to manufacturers. These might include shopper analytics services, provisioning customized offers to shoppers, on-shelf advertising, dynamic pricing, and other services. The smart-shelf integrator and the retailer can share revenue from these services as part of their business relationship.