Jul
18
Near Field Communication (NFC) technology will revolutionise in-store retail experiences. It will allow us to seamlessly integrate social media, eCommerce, smart devices and the Web. Our in-store retail experiences will be more like our online shopping experiences.
Welcome to the Internet of things
To see the power of NFC, look at the ways QR codes have been used. Maybe you’ve seen or heard of a really great campaign only to find out it is based around the awkward use of QR codes. At first they were a novel experience, even though you could probably search for it more quickly with traditional methods.
With NFC, however, it’s as easy as putting your device near the object you’re interested in.
Readable NFC tags are already available as stickers. Some can even store small amounts of information on them. NFC will lead to things like ‘smart baskets’. As items are added to your basket you will receive suggestions via your phone as to what else you might need, how much you’ve spent or saved, recipes, even dietary information based on your eating patterns. NFC will both realise a total integration of all media and a comprehensive log of where and what we consume.
Navigating the Internet of things
The partner to NFC will be precise location mapping for indoor environments. At this point, GPS doesn’t function well indoors. There are companies who work with sonar and smartphones to calculate location indoors. But one day this may also eventually be achieved with NFC or RFID (radio-frequency identification).
However it happens, it will guide us towards the things we like and the things we might like, all based on our constantly evolving profiles powered by NFC.
How does it make you feel?
With this technology, what will our experience be like in and around retail environments? With advanced computer vision and emotion analysis technologies, retail environments will understand your facial and gestural expressions. As such, they’ll be able to determine your state of mind and level of engagement with products. If you appear happy, it might adjust the music in store to suit your individual musical tastes. In essence, environments and products will be more aware of how you respond to them – in real-time.
This leads me to my next point – precise suggestion algorithms.
Suggestions
A one million dollar prize was just put forward for the best suggestion algorithm for retail personalisation. As soon as we begin to scan and log our products and locations at the level of detail that NFC provides, we will have profiles like never before. It will be interesting to see how this data will be managed and valued by consumers and organisations.Celebrities might sell their profiles for people to experience what they like to eat, the type of places they hangout and what they like to buy. People might be able to wall around a city and receive in real-time the same suggestions as their favourite celebrity.
Closing thoughts: integrative technology
The future of retail environments is exciting. And it’s just around the corner. The things mentioned in this article will have enormous consequences on all of our everyday experiences. Integrative technology will be just that – integrative. It will combine existing technologies and services to create new and exciting experiences and environments.
Filed under:
social media, brand strategy, web, digital advertising, creative, usability, ux design
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