Above and Beyond

All of the things that make Manhattan uniquely wonderful for retailers can also make it distinctively challenging. A dense population presents plenty of potential shoppers, but constant construction can lead to cut underground cable lines and technology failures. Crowded streets draw in shoppers, but delivery personnel must compete for the same doorways.

Gristedes has more than 30 grocery locations in the New York area, all but three within Manhattan. When a store’s system went down, the grocer would be unable to accept credit cards for hours or days as the Internet service provider assessed the problem.

Wireless was no easy answer either; the dense population meant that there could be hundreds, if not thousands, of competing Wi-Fi signals in the area.

While bringing its system into compliance with PCI 2.0, the company decided to solve as many problems as it could.

“There had been a lack of investment in the last seven to 10 years,” says Gristedes CIO Chris McCrae. “We had to spend primarily to make sure that we were up-to-date with the PCI requirements with the changes around encryption protocols. We knew we had to do something around our wireless LAN [local area network]. We knew we wanted to enhance our enterprise network at headquarters. It went hand-in-hand that we would overhaul the infrastructure.”

A much-needed backup
Gristedes chose Aruba Networks to implement a wholesale change. Over a period of several months, the companies mapped each location.
“Some are in old buildings, some in basements, some [are] shaped like a ‘U’ with a void in the middle,” McCrae says. “We mapped the hotspots and the coldspots in each store, and determined where to put the access points and how many we needed.”

The system also brought in additional security settings that extend beyond PCI compliance. Aruba’s solution scans the airwaves for competing frequencies and selects the best setting for each network. It also can detect potential threats like hacking or unauthorized users.

The solution includes a seamless backup. “Because of the old New York City infrastructure ... we were constantly having problems,” McCrae says. Now, when a store experiences an outage, the backup kicks in, and “for the most part, the stores are unaware.”

More inventory information
Most Gristedes stores in Manhattan accept deliveries through the front door; in an effort to free up the entrance for shoppers, products were quickly checked in with attention paid only to the number of items.

“The only way we’d know the product mix was through the point-of-sale system,” McCrae says. With Aruba Network’s support for the retailer's automated accounts payable system, when products come into the store now, “they’re scanned and immediately put into the database. It flags any issues, such as if the pricing is off or if it’s a new UPC that’s not on file.”

It’s giving the company “instant visibility that allows us to have real-time inbound inventory matched with outbound inventory,” McCrae says, “so we can have near real-time sales-to-purchase. That was something that we didn’t have with any timeliness or granularity before.”

Gristedes deployed a mobile computing system from Honeywell’s Dolphin 9900 series. “The computers contain two-dimensional imaging engines instead of traditional laser scan engines,” says Greg Payne, senior manager of mobility systems for Honeywell Scanning & Mobility. “They enable omni-directional scanning, allowing inventory to be taken more quickly, which results in cost savings.”

Retailers are seeking solutions that “future proof” their investment, Payne says. “Honeywell’s Adaptus imaging technology provides customers with the ability to read virtually any barcode, for both present and future retail applications.”

Signs and scales
With the entire store Wi-Fi-capable, Gristedes began to explore other possibilities to enhance its customer experience and its business model. One outgrowth has been through its digital signage program; end caps now include a flat-screen monitor.

“We sell the shelf space and the ads that go with the end cap,” McCrae says. “We can make the commercials, or the vendor’s marketing team can provide them. They’re controlled through a hosted web-based solution and downloaded [in] somewhat real-time to the players. The players have a built-in functionality for the scheduling and we can run stills, movies, trivia or news scrolling along the bottom.”

The digital signage includes audio, another way of drawing in customers. The product is conveniently located nearby. The interactive content offers opportunities beyond a standard commercial, as well. A chef may promote products with cooking segments or customers can make mock commercials or offer testimonials, tying the signage into its social media efforts.

“When it is a combination of a promotional price and a display, sales of existing products go up five-fold when they’re located there and tied in with the video,” McCrae says.

With such a dramatic sales success, the digital advertising option paid for the direct costs within a few months.

“The benefits are clear — you don’t have to print and ship signage,” says Manish Rai, head of industry solutions for Aruba Networks. “That can be a good cost savings. You look at the costs of LCD Wi-Fi-enabled displays, they’ve come down significantly. In the past, you had to pull cable; now all you need is power. That’s making them popular. That gives retailers a new way to engage, make the signs more interactive, promote products around signage and tie it to social media.”

Gristedes continues to find ways to use its Wi-Fi capabilities, including wireless deli and produce scales. The company has the capabilities to include wireless cameras for security purposes, which also can be moved easily to where they are needed. The entire setup is designed to be easy to manage by technicians in the field and from headquarters.

Gristedes is considering Wi-Fi access for its shoppers in the near future, something many retailers are exploring.

“When we surveyed last year, 38 percent says they plan on adding Wi-Fi access within the next two years,” Rai says. “That’s motivation for many to differentiate the experience and keep shoppers longer.”

And that’s a challenge that retailers — no matter where they’re located — face.