Zero Maintenance In-Store Navigation

Retailers understand the benefits of in-store navigation solutions. But at the same time are concerned about how their systems will fare after they’ve launched.

Let’s take Jim as an example. Jim is a Director of Product Management for a retailer’s Omnichannel Division. He just finalized his pilot for an in-store navigation system leveraging Wi-Fi and Bluetooth technology. He is worried about the following:

1. Stability for the long haul: will his new hardware-based system keep working long-term? Can the devices sustain over time without downtime or failures? Will it manage hundreds of daily users? Does it hold up during high-traffic sales seasons with many concurrent devices? 
2. Updating products’ placement: if Jim moves products around to a different area or aisle, will he have to update every single item in his navigation system manually?  
3. Layout changes: when a fixture is added/removed, or the layout changes, how will the system adapt and will it show the correct user location? 

Unfortunately, Jim is right. The system might have worked sufficiently during the pilot, but the risks are indeed too significant. Putting aside the barrier to scale up to hundreds of stores, once deployed, in-store location services must continue running smoothly and seamlessly in the store’s dynamic, ever-changing environment.

Luckily, there’s a better solution that allays retailers’ fears, delivers results, and is proven in thousands of stores…

1: Stability? No hardware, no problem

The hard truth is that hardware solutions require a ton of effort and maintenance from store ops & IT due to wear and tear, and cannot be relied upon as a scalable, long-term solution. This is why Oriient’s IndoorGPS is a different solution, based solely on software and cutting-edge GeoMagnetic technology (which leverages Earth’s magnetic field and phone sensors ) to power its indoor location services.

Our first location was mapped in 2016 and is still, to this day, as reliable and accurate as ever. Regardless of if the power is out or mobile data is unavailable, Oriient will continue to function reliably.

Being rooted in Earth’s magnetic field also means that stores are not confined by maximum user limits like with hardware solutions. No matter how many users use Oriient at the same time and in the same place, our solution will continue to work as it should, without any hiccups or signal interferences.

2: Automatically updating product locations with PLAI

Oriient’s Product Location AI (PLAI) uses AI to automatically learn and update product locations based on where products are scanned in the store. Every time an item is scanned or checked off by a store associate, merchandiser, picker or shopper, the system identifies its location (and if it moved or not),  and uses proprietary algorithms to determine the most accurate placement. This requires no additional maintenance from store owners. 

3: When changing the layout – have no fear, self-healing is here

Oriient leverages all individual user sensor readings to keep refreshing the map data – which is the most accurate and reliable way to identify layout changes.

Using crowdsourcing, Oriient’s self-healing technology detects areas that have been modified and uses the sensor data to restructure the map.

Map updates are seamless and continuous. Oriient constantly refreshes the magnetic reading to ensure that the location service remains accurate and to update the visual map image. So when a store changes its layout ( e.g. breaking an aisle into two or removing a shelving unit,) users walking around in these areas will literally rebuild the existing store map by paving new paths.

As long as there are people walking through the store, the map will constantly auto-update. As a result, Oriient’s in-store maps can adapt to new changes and ensure that shoppers and staff are always receiving their accurate in-store location and the most updated map to find their way.

Self-healing detects a layout change, refreshes the magnetic map and updates the map

“Self Healing is yet another technological breakthrough, achieved by our brilliant team,” says Amiram Frisch, CTO and Co-Founder of Oriient. “Not only does it automatically update the maps with the changed areas, but it is also a milestone, paving the way to automated mapping, bringing Oriient further in our journey to activate IndoorGPS in all commercial buildings worldwide!”

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