Observation Platform Proximity Detection for Targeted Retail Offers
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Solution Overview
Problem
Retailers face challenges in cutting costs, improving margins, increasing floor traffic, and enhancing customer satisfaction due to increased competition from online shopping, necessitating improved communication and analytics in retail environments.
Innovation Solution
An observation platform that structures and disciplines communications between users by detecting and tracking communication devices, deriving context information, and providing tailored offers to associates based on proximity to potential customers, using a computer system to manage and analyze interactions.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If retailers implement traditional communication and analytics systems, then basic operational needs are met, but customer satisfaction and floor traffic increase are limited due to lack of real-time proximity awareness and targeted offers
Solution Approach 1:
The system segments the retail environment into distinct observation platforms, each monitoring specific geographic zones. Communication devices are segmented by user type (associate vs. customer) and location, allowing targeted communication strategies for different segments without requiring a monolithic complex system.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an intermediary observation platform that mediates between communication devices and retail operations. This intermediary layer processes proximity data, determines relevant communications, and delivers targeted offers, simplifying the overall system architecture while enabling advanced functionality.
2Adaptability or versatility
If retailers use basic loyalty programs and per-customer pricing, then some customer retention is achieved, but the ability to increase floor traffic and enhance real-time customer satisfaction is insufficient
Solution Approach 1:
The system implements continuous feedback loops where the observation platform monitors associate and customer proximity, automatically triggering relevant communications and offers. This real-time feedback enables dynamic adaptation of customer interactions based on current spatial context, overcoming the static nature of traditional loyalty programs.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary actions by pre-determining communication strategies and offers based on predicted proximity scenarios. When an associate enters a zone where potential customers are likely to be, the system proactively prepares and delivers relevant communication templates and offers before the actual interaction occurs.
3Reliability
If retailers implement comprehensive monitoring of all communication devices, then complete data availability is achieved, but system complexity and data processing requirements become unmanageable
Solution Approach 1:
The observation platform implements local quality by focusing monitoring and data collection on specific geographic zones and user types rather than uniformly monitoring all devices system-wide. Each observation platform is configured with parameters tailored to its local context, reducing overall system complexity while maintaining data accuracy where needed.
Solution Approach 2:
The system extracts only the essential proximity and context information needed for effective customer service decisions, rather than collecting and processing all possible data from communication devices. This selective extraction approach maintains reliability for critical decisions while avoiding the complexity of comprehensive data processing.
Data Source
AI summary
In a method of determining and sharing proximity of device users within an environment of an observation platform, the observation platform determines that a first communication device associated with a first user is in the environment of the observation platform. The observation platform detects that the first communication device is in proximity to a second communication device associated with a second user. Responsive to the detection, the observation platform generates proximity information for the first user and the second user. The observation platform relays the proximity information to a second observation platform via a computer network, wherein a second environment of the second observation platform is separate from the environment of the observation platform.