Shopping environments use technology to support retailers

shutterstock_143946037Regent Street, London, is driving footfall into its local stores using the latest consumer facing technologies. Potential customers will be targeted using a combination of mobile, beacon and app based technology.

Owned by the Crown Estate, Regent Street is one of several shopping environments to use the technologies to boost interaction with local people and tourists to help them plan their visits and discover new brands.

In this case, an app will use beacon technology to send promotions and useful information to shoppers’ mobile phones updating them on everything from new products and upcoming events to same day only offers. Retailers who have signed up include & Other Stories, Hamleys, Hackett, Karl Lagerfeld, Anthropologie, Armani Exchange and Cos.

The information provided to shoppers will initially be based on a person’s location and which store they are walking past for example, but moving forward the app will go on to build a profile for each shopper to send information according to shopping preferences.

The technology push is part of the Crown Estate’s £1bn Regent Street regeneration programme, which has also included the introduction of brands like Burberry, J Crew, & Other Stories and Karl Lagerfeld to the area. Paul Lorraine, UK general manager at Longchamp, which is also participating in the scheme, said: “Success in retail in the 21st century is strongly linked to how you engage your customers in-store and online. Regent Street already has a reputation as being the place to be for brands like ours and the new mobile app will bring the digital and physical together, providing an exciting new way for us to speak to our customers.”