Kroger, one of the largest grocery chains in the United States, is a quintessential example of a forward-thinking business that continues to push the boundaries of innovation, through the development of and investment in strategic technologies. Because of the immense success, Kroger has experienced in this endeavor to-date, the business has launched a commercial technology venture, Sunrise Technology, which licenses the grocer’s proprietary technology to other companies.
The primary theme of Extreme Connect 2019, Extreme’s 2nd annual global user conference, is to demonstrate how ‘future-forward’ technologies are driving impactful results for businesses, and ultimately, delivering high-quality experiences to their customers.
Sunrise Technology will be the featured partner in Extreme’s retail booth and pop-up retail store in the event’s Solution Demo Hall, where conference attendees can engage with several of the company’s recently-developed technologies and their use cases. This includes Sunrise Technology’s Gen 3 Zooter and as well as EDGE, their interactive smart shelf system.
The Gen 3 Zooter is Sunrise Technology’s next generation, multi-protocol, multi-functional device with built-in:
This powerful device helps optimize operations and assets of the organization, as well as drive better experiences for in-store customers.
For example, businesses can track merchandising programs, improve inventory management, and analyze onsite customer engagement trends by leveraging video analytics, automation, and machine learning, among other tools. The Gen 3 Zooter addresses many of the goals and priorities retailers (and businesses in other industries) share today, like reducing inventory shrink, tracking out-of-stock products, assessing associate productivity, and better understanding customers and their preferences.
[The camera in the Gen 3 Zooter identifies the items that need to be restocked.]
[Then produces an update for associates, describing what needs restocking and the location of the shelf in the store.]
In addition to collecting and aggregating in-store analytics from product inventory and customer behaviors, this system can and will also be used in areas outside of the storefront, like warehouses, storage rooms, and shipping/receiving docks. Like the storefront use case, the system can be deployed in these spaces to track and optimize business assets.
Sunrise Technology internally-developed digital shelf technology, known as EDGE, will also be featured in the Solution Demo Hall at Extreme Connect.
Deployed in nearly 100 Kroger stores, EDGE is comprised of interactive and dynamic digitally enabled shelves, which have a considerable impact on the in-store shopping experience – benefiting the business, customers, and advertisers.
[EDGE augments the in-store experience for customers and creates more efficient, cost-effective workflows for the business. Check out Sunrise Technology’s YouTube channel for demo videos.]
For physical stores and for the business, EDGE digital shelf solution provides greater flexibility and efficiency compared to ‘traditional’ printed price tags. The company can cut overhead time and expenses by seamlessly and centrally changing product prices or pushing out discounts, instead of relying on employees to manually update every shelf. Automation like this frees up valuable time for store employees to focus on more strategic or customer-centric tasks.
EDGE offers considerable benefits for the customer experience as well. The displays show product pricing and nutritional information, in addition to specific videos ads and specialty coupons. This content can be updated manually or dynamically, depending on the needs and the goals of the business. The shelves will also be able to interact with in-store customers and their mobile devices, to send targeted, personalized offerings to an enabled brand app that factors in various attributes – like the customer’s previous buying behaviors, in-store location, and any ongoing product promotions. All these use cases drive more value and convenience for in-store shoppers.
Sunrise Technology’s innovations do not start and end with the Gen 3 Zooter and EDGE – there’s a whole class of solutions designed to transform traditional business models – but they are compelling examples of the forward-thinking approach their business has adopted and are executing on.
Those attending Extreme Connect ’19 can look forward to checking out these solutions as well as Extreme’s purpose-built networking solutions in person; to access more information about Sunrise Technology or Extreme Networks, be sure to visit the supporting resources below, and follow our social media platforms for more updates moving forward.
