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How Artificial Intelligence can improve marketing strategies

Artificial intelligence is seeing its application in multiple contexts and at different stage of the customer journey or life cycle of a product or service. The AI finds its specific application in both digital and retail making the strategic approach based on the customization of the service more and more effective.

Artificial intelligence makes possible to analyse the context in which users or consumers act.
Behavior Interpretation can be a useful tool to manage targeted marketing actions with a segmented approach. Constant measurements and evaluations permit to act in real time or to make corrective action in the sales or communication strategy.

Let’s see some areas of application of AI

Artificial intelligence as a tool for marketing automation

Social media marketing and web marketing can take several advantages from using AI.
In fact AI can help in
- isolating and segmenting high-value micro-audiences, leading A/B testing or look-alike testing
- carrying out automated implementation of specific promotion initiatives in high conversion potential clusters
- optimizing investment management and avoiding non-strategic audiences

The use of AI in web marketing represents an approach that definitively archives a modus operandi now anachronistic, an approach that we could define "spray and pray" and that is based on a massive and repeated exposure of the message. Today we are talking more and more about ROAS because the control of spending and the measurement of each marketing action are now fundamental because the behavior of the audience is increasingly omnichannel and multichannel.

Artificial intelligence as a retail tool

If the adoption of AI in the digital field helps to segment audiences and to refine marketing strategies, AI in retail can be a tool to improve the service and reduce costs. The adoption of AI-based technologies for retail is among the most concrete strategies in those sectors that see an advantage as a direct return on investment and as an innovation applied to processes.
The adoption of AI in Retail can help in
- identifying the products more attractive or which may be related to other products on the basis of customer interests, events or behavior
- optimizing warehouse management
- Understanding the most effective promotion strategies and increasing margins
- identifying patterns of consumption or correlations between products and carrying out automated marketing actions in real time
- reducing fraud cases and increasing security levels of payments.

The large-scale adoption of AI in retail must therefore be inscribed in a broad vision and integrated with the business strategy. On the contrary, artificial intelligence as a pure tool for improving experience or engagement is a strategy that can hardly be adopted on a large-scale because there is no direct and immediate impact on ROI.

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Embrace a Segment-based approach with experience marketing

Companies that are adopting solution to identify Users in Real Time are moving toward that marketing maturity that represent the future of retail.
Learn from Customer by gathering exhaustive on-site information means embracing an adaptive strategy able to interpret important context variables.
Recognize and predict expectations allow to communicate through personalized messages and interactive digital content.
Munogu offers innovative solutions to catch customer’s attention and enable interactive experience.

DreamSense: a multi-sensory retail interactive experience

DreamSense offers interactive experiences with a technology hidden approach, Natural User lnterface and interaction analytics and, as many others Kiosk-based experiences, it is also available in “Live mode”, enabling the user into the store to share contents and infos with other remote users, letting them partecipate to the journey in a completly new way.
How it works?
Dreamsense technology can be integrated into shops furniture and shelf. By lifting an items, the customer will activate the media connected with RFID or HDTR (video, localized audio and optionally scents), so the user is gently immersed in a multi-sensory infotainment UP moment of the journey.

Like Browser: an interactive catalogue to Inform & Play

Like Browser is part of Kiosk experience suite, is the interactive “touch-less & device-less” experience available in the store screens, that allows users to browse digital content with a full omnichannel approach, create a wish-list, get promotion or discount on products in indoor/outdoor spaces.

How it works?

Using the hands and swiping left and right users can browse on-target contents and communicate their preference by the real ‘Like’ gesture, matching wow! effect and gamification expectations of the leads.
Unlocking vertical content related to the ‘Like’ in line with pre-defined business goals (awareness, engagement, subscription, on-line pre-sale/sale) complete the shaping of an effective UP moment in the customer journey .

Point@: the revolutionary "street App" to engage customers in a surprising way

Point@ offers superior interactive experiences which help to increase both visits average time and conversion rate, based on Natural User lnterface and can unlock original and gameful experiences without using any kind of devices or weareable. It is an effective solution to make display windows interactive and turn them into an effective drive into store tool.

How it works?

Passersby may physically point at an object inside the display windows  and discover, even in large format, images, promotional messages, video and audio related to the selected product.   

All Munogu experiences are designed to Engage through “Wow! effect” and enrich retail experience in a fully GDPR compliance.

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Retail innovation means also empowering the experience

When we talk about retail innovation we mean a change that includes a rapprochement between online and offline, that is, those technological processes and solutions that aim to implement an omni-channel strategy.
The omnichannel is inherent in the natural purchasing behavior and the customer expects to be able to start its online process and to conclude it online or, vice versa, to start it offline and access online services related to what is purchased in the store.

Retail innovation is therefore combined with further concepts:
quality and customization of the service, optimization of the sales process or business strategies.
These qualities undoubtedly provide a competitive advantage over competitors. According to a research carried out by the Digital Retail Innovation Observatory , 70% among retailers surveyed in Italy say they want to concentrate future investments in solutions aimed at improving their internal processes.
- 34% showed interest in CRM solutions,
- 27% towards product tracking systems via RFID and ERP systems
- 25% towards in-store analytics and business intelligence solutions.
Knowledge of the customer needs,  managing the relationship and empowering the experience remain crucial and computer vision proves to be an effective technological solution.

What is computer vision?

Computer vision is a discipline that uses data acquisition methods aimed at processing, analyzing and understanding images or sequences of images from the real world. The ultimate goal is to produce information, understand the environment and behavior of individuals in this space.
Retail innovation becomes real and tangible only if it improves the customer experience and does not become invasive from every point of view.
Computer vision and biometric technologies can be used to enrich or improve the user experience in full compliance with the privacy policy.
All Munogu retail technologies are designed and developed to ensure complete respect for security and privacy for customers.

Another important factor that retailers should prioritize in retail innovation is the visual impact that technology can have on the shop environment.
When technology is visible and not only perceived as a service, it can have a negative impact on experience. For this reason Munogu has always adopted a technology-hidden approach that means not to disturb the environment in which people move but at the same time to ensure that the environment meets the expectations of the user.

Environment and context are important in the configuration of retail technology solutions and for this reason Munogu is used to working in agreement with retailers to understand needs and strategies. This phase of knowledge of the context is necessary to allow the application of systems of measurement of the performance of the store and to measure the quality of traffic in the stores.

Retail innovation becomes an evolutionary paradigm as the visit to the store becomes more and more a moment of experience and learning.
This means that the demand for experience in the store accompanies or precedes the demand for products or services. Even the time spent in the store acquires value. That’ s why for retailers it becomes decisive not to neglect this aspect and invest in technological solutions that enable the marketing experience.

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The purpose, opportunities and benefits of responsible innovation

Bringing technological innovation into retail today more than ever becomes an act of social responsibility.
Making every effort to contain the potential spread of contagion is a moral imperative for any company, convenience and necessity is added to the moral duty to contribute to the creation of healthier work environments for all: employees and customers.

A concrete and transparent responsibility towards its primary stakeholders means accepting the propensity to innovation as something necessary and natural. In the same way, the rapidity in reacting to the new environmental conditions leads a company to certify itself as a responsible innovator.
Positioning as a responsible innovator is the real point of detachment that guarantees competitiveness and often also represents a real opportunity for internal and external communication to the company (media coverage).

Innovation is an essential requirement for the future of a company and for the future of retail and is inextricably linked with security.
For example, social distance detection and space monitoring technologies allow the creation of healthier environments through statistical detection and the instant issuing of audio/video alerts that deter users from holding dangerous behaviors. 
But what are the aims, opportunities and benefits of responsible innovation?

Protecting the health of employees

A healthier working environment is the prerequisite for being able to ask your employees to continue to carry out their tasks with serenity. Understanding the value of their health is not only convenient but also necessary.

Motivating the employees

Employees feel reassured to travel to the workplace in safer conditions, are encouraged to convey a sense of gratitude to customers and create the conditions for a more serene environment even in relational terms.

Mitigate the anxiety

With the health emergency approaching a public space, we live in a state of indefinite anxiety, resulting from the lack of control over the variables that determine our safety. The perception of the company’s active commitment to equipping itself with tools that allow it to raise the levels of this control contribute to mitigate this negative emotional state.

Get a new "memorable" awareness

Customers live this attention towards them in differential terms compared to competing brands, the perception of care and commitment to them spreads to the general perception of brand values.

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Remodelling stores into small-format as a strategy for retail livelihood

We live in very difficult times, which represent a real challenge for the future of retail.
A consistent approach to retail innovation requires a consistent strategy in matters of public health.
Customer expectations for security and social responsibility are getting higher and higher.

Many brands have chosen the most logical route and are shifting investment considerably on the online market, therefore the growing market share of ecommerce is making it difficult to resist the competition game for local retailers.
Others are moving considering the diversification of store formats as a strategic and long-term vision aware also of the fact that there is a change in purchasing behavior.

Local and sustainable concepts are increasingly more valuable within an uncertain global economic situation. It could be dangerous not to consider the importance of human relation and physical presence at the moment of purchase and transaction.
Responsible consumption means local consumption and shops can regain an important role in the rebuilding of the social fabric broken by the pandemic.
Focusing on changes in consumption patterns and product and services offering is a due action for the Government and also for private companies to compete and be adaptive in the New Normal context.

In that environment, observing and monitoring the way people feel coming back into store, analyzing their behaviour will become crucial to perform an effective communication and marketing strategy.

Experience and services design will be also two crucial keys to compete and probably the level and quality of these two aspects will determine retail livelihood. Stores are adopting new policies to minimize risk but accomplishing all procedures to keep a space safe implies a step ahead into technology can be difficult without a vision.

Remodelling existing stores in a smaller format could be a viable hypothesis for the future of many retailers.
The Small-format shop is a new concept that could help companies to improve the experience of the brand, improve the capillary presence on the territory with a local approach but centralized from the point of view of the data.
Data can really power a retail evolution.
Small-format stores run with structured business intelligence and backed up by meaningful analytics are an effective way to convert large business structures into digital platforms with an omnichannel approach.

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Retail Apocalypse or Retail experience restyling? How global cosmetics industry and make up shops will face the return on experience.

The cosmetics sector is an innovative, frenetic sector and is used to respond quickly In relation to the behaviour of the target audience. Also in this context, with the pandemic, cosmetic brands have been able to take the opportunity to invest in the brand building and CSR.
Being adaptive and changing in relation to the context is the key to dealing with the new Normal especially for an industry that is based on empathy, emotional levers and in store experience.
It’s a matter of fact, for cosmetics and perfumery, in store visit to test the product is often the last of the phases before the purchase. The make up artist’s advice or a sales assistant tip are highly appreciated for this kind of shopping experience.

At this particular time, however, the rational factor has an heavy role and concern about the risk of contagion should not be underestimated as it represents the first major block to the return to stores.

In the beauty sector this element is greatly accentuated by the fact that the contact with the object, the product test or the interaction with the make up artist were a important motivation to make the purchase experience offline. Before the Covid 19, cosmetics were used to making experience marketing one of its cornerstones. The pandemic will lead to a re-examination of the way experiences are designed and what was previously entrusted to senses such as touch and smell must now necessarily be mediated by technology.

Create an environment that allows customers to try or know the product in the safest way is the most effective way to get the public to bond to the brand. Today, more than ever, experience marketing campaigns are imposing a new parameter of measurement beyond the ROI. Let’s talk about the Return on Experience.

The experience marketing will have to be based on touch-less device and olfactory marketing will ban the spray to testing the product.
For these two important and necessary challenges the technology already offers available solutions: space sensors and artificial intelligence to manage the traffic inside the store and to assist customers in interaction with the product, “smart digital signage” with touch-less interactions to offer insights and advice in relation to the profile and characteristics of the customer, interactions with the product through RFID technology, dispensing olfactory traces with fragrance activators without aerosol and so on. Munogu’s experience marketing solutions have been designed to help retailers in this transition and bring digital technology within the physical retail experience but with an invisible approach.

Munogu approach is focused on a technology that is perfectly  integrated with the store’s environment (Technology Hidden Approach) and an interface that reflects the natural mode of gestural interaction (Natural User Interface approach).

Returning to normality after the pandemic will require reconsidering the motivations that move client to visit store. The offer of a quality service and in total safety, the opportunity to live a rich experience will be crucial to attract the public to the store.

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How technologies can help manage the social effects of social distancing

The quality of customer experience will be hardly affected by the quality of public health. The social side effects of social distancing brought by the pandemia is a crucial aspect in shaping the customer experience and deserve acute attention.

“Preventive measure” is the safe word to go back to shops, public places and common areas.

Governments are thinking about the procedures and regulations for the reopening of activities in complete safety.

Retailers know that  priority number one is to guarantee the recommended social distancing guidelines, take some technological preventive measure to manage store traffic and social distancing provide tools and services avoiding touch screen and shared devices.

But there is also another aspect. Keep on staying connected with customers with a different and safe approach will be a challenge in the new normal.

Customer, employee and store associates could get anxious in social interactions therefore the purchase funnel could be wildly more complicated then before. 

Technology could help to mitigate the effects of social anxiety by enabling effectual funnel without forgetting that the lack of social connections will require a very attentive care.

It will be necessary to re-think the way retailers and brands provides services and product. Customer services, omnichannel strategies, marketing automation and loyalty program will became increasingly important.

The silver line for marketers is that now more than ever, everyone can understand the usefulness of data mining  with tracking technologies and in-store analytics.

Indeed, as well as video surveillance also these technologies help to determine public safety and health and they will be be more and more perceived as useful and innocuous.

On the other hand technology is overtaking the theme of personal information. We're kind of sensitive about giving out personal data but advertisers no longer need it.

It’s not a matter of personal data, behavioural data are much more interesting and are the really significant.

Aggregated data do not contain information from which individuals can be identified so retailers can take advantage from traffic analytics while respecting General Data Protection Regulation.

Can we expect privacy to become a secondary priority? Maybe after months of confinement at home we will had have enough about privacy.

What is certain is that humans are social being and crave to be connected, therefore the impulse to come back to live sociality is stronger than that of building walls of privacy.

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4 ‘must-have’ retailtech solutions for a better and safer customer experience

Time to plan the future of retail and time is ripe to conceive new ways for providing products and services. At a time of difficulties and economic crisis, retailers are endeavoring to find ways of boosting sell, reducing costs, making things quicker, easier and safer for public health.

Here are 4 ‘must-have’ retailtech solutions to face the crisis brought by the global pandemic and to take a giant leap into the future of retail.

Adopt a queue management system to preserve social distance

First of all comes respect for public health, business comes bound together with safety. This will be the assumption. are retailer ready to change completely their way to approach customers and manage public space and store environment in the correct way? Queue management is revealing crucial  for the supply and distribution of service. This is a conditional environmental indicators to consider a store compliant with public health standard. Adopting a queue management system will be a differentiating factor to face the consequencies of the trauma brought by Covid-19 pandemia.  Space Saver is a queue management solution that help to organise the instore traffic and inform waiting customer about the correct way to behave in case of crowding. SpaceSaver also comes with powerful analytics that help to set predictive strategies and improve the customer care

Replace touchscreen and other public device with touch-less app

"touch with your hand" will never again said. it is not necessary to be alarmist but customers will never again be held hostage by fear next time they come back to normal life.That's why the following will be the musthave for public offices and shops:  Provide customers with effective service and touchless interaction. Retailer must to find them ready enabling omnichannel experience and replacing every touchdevice with a touch-less ones.  Natural User Interface and spatial sensor will be the winner strategy to approach experience and service design.

Understand consumers’ expectations from voice-driven application and deliver relevant information

What is happening in digital scenario has been borrowed from real, but the reverse is also true. Voice commerce and hot word detection should be applied to shops as a strategy to improve the stopping power od displays or to improve instore experience. Have you ever thought about a dynamic windows display that answer customer search or a display windows that allow you to be available at all times for your clients? le't talks about a listening tools, an hot word detection tool  for retail, a kind of voice commerce applied to real world with a total privacy respect ensured.

Adopt in-store analytics tool to collect and process data about store traffic and store potential.

At a time of difficulties like those we will be called to face in, each action have to be measured, each choice and each strategy should be supported by statistical findings and confirmed by data engineers. The next future has a silver line because computer vision and machine learning comes to help. Kiosk analytics is an instore analitycs platform that enable retailers to offer the highest standards to their customers starting from the comprehension of their characterictics, habits, needs behaviour and preferences.

The future of retail needs  a computer vision and a bold technological approach  subscribe now to keep in touch with us and learn more about our retailtech solution

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