Retail Beacon Tracking for Live Customer Assistance
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Solution Overview
Problem
Brick-and-mortar stores lack live chat and electronic-based interactions, which hampers customer assistance and word-of-mouth marketing, unlike online shopping environments.
Innovation Solution
Systems and methods that track customers' physical actions in real-world shopping venues to offer assistance through notifications on their mobile devices, connecting them with appropriate support persons, either remotely or in-person, based on their interests and location data, using beacons, accelerometers, and other tracking technologies.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If brick-and-mortar stores provide live chat and electronic-based interactions, then customer assistance quality improves, but device complexity and system infrastructure requirements worsen
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces mobile devices as intermediaries between customers and store employees. The mobile device receives location data from beacons, communicates customer needs to employees, and facilitates electronic-based interactions without requiring the store to build complex communication infrastructure from scratch
Solution Approach 2:
The system uses universal mobile devices that customers already possess, rather than requiring specialized equipment. The mobile device serves multiple functions: location tracking, communication hub, information display, and interaction facilitator between customer and employee
2Productivity
If brick-and-mortar stores implement tracking technologies to identify customer needs, then customer service responsiveness improves, but loss of customer privacy worsens
Solution Approach 1:
The system implements localized tracking using beacons positioned in specific store sections. Each beacon only tracks customers within its immediate vicinity, allowing the system to identify when customers are in particular product sections without creating a comprehensive profile of entire customer journeys
Solution Approach 2:
The system uses partial tracking by monitoring only specific physical actions (entering/exiting sections, time spent in sections) rather than continuously tracking all customer movements. This provides sufficient information to identify service needs while minimizing privacy intrusion
3Ease of operation
If brick-and-mortar stores connect customers with support persons based on real-time location and interest data, then customer satisfaction improves, but measurement precision requirements worsen
Solution Approach 1:
The system pre-establishes beacon infrastructure throughout the store before customers arrive. Beacons are positioned in advance to cover all relevant sections, and the system is pre-configured to recognize patterns of customer behavior that indicate service needs
Solution Approach 2:
The system uses feedback from multiple data points (beacon signals, time spent in sections, repeated visits to same section) to progressively build confidence in identifying customer interests and needs, improving matching accuracy with support persons
Data Source
AI summary
Systems and methods disclosed herein offer assistance to customers shopping at a real-world shopping venue carrying mobile devices connected to a communication network. This involves tracking a physical action of a customer present at the real-world shopping venue and determining to offer assistance to the customer based on the tracked physical action. Based on determining to offer assistance to the customer, a notification is sent to a mobile device of the customer. The notification identifies that live support is available to assist the customer while the customer is present at the real-world shopping venue.