Whitepapers

COMPLEMENTARY TECHNOLOGIES: LoRaWAN ® & BLUETOOTH www.lora-alliance.org 6 Oxit Shopper Tracker The Shopper Tracker (ST) utilizes LoRaWAN to solve a connectivity coverage problem in a large store while keeping infrastructure costs low. Due to the short range of the Bluetooth Personal Area Network (PAN), multiple ST devices may be placed throughout a store to monitor foot traffic and product activity and connected using one or two LoRaWAN cellular-enabled gateways rather than larger number of cellular hotspots that do the same thing. SITUATION: Consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies develop strategies for in-store product placement with hopes of encouraging customers to purchase their products over others. For instance, they might invest in premium shelf space where a product sits at eye-level or on an endcap. They also consider foot traffic and relative placement of competing items sold in the same category in order to create the optimal sales plan. PROBLEM: Variables beyond shelf placement can impact sales volume, but CPG companies have not had the means to influence them. If a product is presented on a shelf that is in a corner of the store that no customer visits—it won't sell. If a product is out of stock and not re-stocked in a timely manner, it can't sell. However, beyond paying for product placement that looks like premium space according to a store planogram, it is difficult for product managers to analyze the customer sales experience. To get the feedback necessary to remedy these issues, retail stores need a technical solution that uses sensors to detect current stock of products and foot traffic in a certain area. One possible solution is to use Bluetooth devices to track traffic, but the pitfalls there are the high infrastructure costs of implementing multiple BLE gateways and poor transmission quality due to the short-range capabilities of Bluetooth and the Bluetooth Personal Area Network (PAN). SOLUTION & BUSINESS IMPACT: OXIT partnered with a retail store to develop a solution for CPG companies called the Shopper Tracker (ST), which uses existing Bluetooth enabled motion detectors and expands their capability with LoRaWAN to transmit and store data. ST takes the best parts of LoRaWAN and BLE and configures them to complement each other, eliminating need for multiple BLE gateways, and using one or two LoRaWAN gateways, thereby greatly reducing monthly cellular charges. Twice daily, Bluetooth cameras photograph the shelf where a product sits to mark the quantity of product available. Using simple artificial intelligence that connects a Bluetooth camera to a Bluetooth motion detector, the cameras also anonymously track the activity of passersby, including when customers pass a shelf, pause to look at a product, and ultimately purchase a product. This information is then seamlessly integrated into a CPG firm's database for analysis. Due to the simplicity of LoRaWAN configuration, non-technical field agents who manage the actual placement of product on the shelves are easily able install the Shopper Tracker. LoRaWAN expands the range of Bluetooth devices with low-cost infrastructure that is readily configured by non-technical staff in the field.

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