How to Reap the Benefits of In-Store WiFi

The way we shop is changing rapidly. According to the Google Shopper Marketing Council, 84 percent of consumers now use their smartphones in the store environment. For millennials, this is an expectation that influences where they shop. Therefore, it's not surprising to discover that 82 percent of large to midsized retailers have deployed in-store WiFi, according to the IHL Group's benchmark study, Impact of Store Networks and WiFi on the Customer Experience.

What's surprising is that according to the IHL Group study, which was co-sponsored by EarthLink and AirTight Networks, WiFi is directly linked to impressive customer loyalty and sales gains. One-third of retailers (28 percent) reported increased customer loyalty due to deploying in-store customer WiFi, with an associated 2 percent increase in sales. Furthermore, almost 50 percent of retailers across segments claimed increased customer loyalty due to deploying in-store employee WiFi, with an associated 3.4 percent increase in sales.

However, the real shocker was discovering that 61 percent of retailers aren't using WiFi to "connect" with shoppers. All of the financial benefits and increased sales revenues were based on using WiFi to enable guest internet access and untethered store associates.

What can retailers do to capture this revenue? First, keep the ultimate goals in mind. From a marketing standpoint, strive to make WiFi a customer touchpoint for loyalty programs, special promotional offers and a means to uncover usage analytics through social media. Combining cloud-based WiFi platforms with social media allows retailers to capture dwell time, site visit and demographic data that can be leveraged to drive adoption of loyalty programs. This technology can then accelerate the shift from marketing on a "one to many" to a "one to one" basis.

WiFi meets security goals as well. Newer platforms support industry security and compliance requirements with built-in wireless intrusion prevention. What was once viewed as a risk is now being used as a cost-effective tool for meeting compliance requirements.

So what are WiFi implementation best practices for reaching these marketing and security goals? First, work closely with store operations and marketing stakeholders to build budget and return on investment expectations for WiFi. This educates the organization about the extensive benefits of WiFi and increases the likelihood that multiple budgets can be leveraged.

Second, it's important to understand that WiFi and other technologies (e.g., point of sale) only improve the customer experience if the applications perform well. The key to good performance is ensuring the network is optimized to support this new environment. As more applications are added to the innovation road map, there's a growing demand for affordable options that allow retailers to make the most effective use of available bandwidth.

Therefore, retailers should conduct a network assessment to determine if additional investments are needed to ensure application performance. New technology is now available that allows IT departments to view and control application performance in real time. The technology can also dynamically route traffic over separate network connections to use more than one flavor of broadband in an active/active state.

In designing and optimizing the network, retailers should also seek to establish direct connections to cloud applications using "cloud exchanges." These bring the applications closer to the store, which in turn enhances performance.

Understanding WiFi's security and guest engagement benefits, working with key organizational stakeholders, and conducting a network assessment and design review will ensure you capture all costs and associated financial benefits for the project. At that point, retailers will be prepared to deliver a solution that can transform the shopping experience and how they interact with customers.

Greg Griffiths is vice president of product marketing for EarthLink, an IT services, network and communications provider.