According to a research report from Acosta, 89% of U.S. grocery shoppers are using a smartphone to view grocery circulars, among other uses. In the general retail segment, mobile enabled shopping while in a store is also imperative as an estimated 53 percent of all purchase decisions are digitally influenced.
In the Southeast, a grocery chain with 1,800 outlets had been receiving complaints from employees and customers about the poor cellular reception inside its stores. The stores were all built to be hurricane rated, which meant construction used heavier duty materials so they can be storm shelters, but the block walls and metal roofs obstruct cellular signal from penetrating into the outlets. Cellular signal was not only needed for the satisfaction and safety of employees and staff, but also for backup in case of failure for checkout devices where customers pay.
The grocery chain hired Emegc, a Tampa based telecommunications general and electric contractor and provider of wireless in-building and tower services. Emegc chose to deploy Cel-Fi QUATRA due to the cost-effectiveness and simplicity of the install. So far, the solution has been installed at 180 outlets, both existing stores and new builds, with each ranging in size from 40,000 to 50,000 square feet.
The installations were done overnight when the stores were closed to customers, using two to three technicians. The Cel-Fi WAVE app made it easy to position the antennas. According to the project manager, “I don’t think they’d be able to do the job so rapidly without it. It can take a lot of time and headaches to move the antenna around to find the tower. Cel-Fi WAVE streamlines the process.”
All the outlets where Cel-Fi QUATRA were installed are now receiving the cellular coverage needed for customers and employees, and the active DAS hybrid is scheduled to roll out to 300 outlets by the end of this year.
In the Southwest, a regional grocery store chain specializing in Latin American cuisine was experiencing connectivity problems that interfered with operations in its 353,000 square foot building where its primary distribution center and headquarters offices are housed.
The chain needed a solution to replace the Wi-Fi calling they were using as the coverage was spotty and poor quality with too much latency. The company’s main concern was employee safety. The warehouse runs 24/7 and has 40 bays for trucks. At any given time, there are two dozen forklifts and the same number of power jacks whipping around the warehouse at high speed. The company was concerned that they could not depend on Wi-Fi calling if a safety issue occurred and an employee somewhere in the facility had to call 911. Handheld inventory devices were also being used to track inventory in real time when loaded on pallets and then into the trucks, all done wirelessly. These devices experienced problems due to the poor Wi-Fi connection, so the chain wanted to transition the handheld devices over to LTE for better reliability.
A carrier recommended improving cellular coverage so the distribution center could move off Wi-Fi calling, initially with picocells, but too many units were required making that solution too expensive. There were also interoperability challenges for handoffs between the picocells when they were placed inside the facilities. The carrier contacted Nextivity for a solution and Cel-Fi QUATRA was installed by RSRF, a reseller and engineering firm specializing in enterprise cellular DAS solutions based in Irvine, California.
Not only was the grocery chain extremely satisfied with the results, but the carrier was also able to arrange for the sale of an additional 100 cellular-enabled M2M devices to the chain. These M2M devices track lift equipment utilization so the company can better manage their resources and investment, including usage trends and driver behavior. This sale increased the number of subscribed devices for the carrier.
For more information on how Cel-Fi QUATRA can be used to rapidly and cost-effectively provide improved in-building cellular coverage for subscribers in the expanding retail and grocery chain segment, watch the pre-recorded webinar “Cel-Fi Products delivery 3G, 4G and 5G Coverage to Grocery Stores & Retail Spaces”.
About the Author
Dean Richmond is the Senior Director of Marketing at Nextivity. Over the span of his career, he has developed strategies and launched products across the information technology and wireless product spectrum. Dean has built strategic partnerships between channel partners, operators, broadband providers, and brands such as Microsoft, Google, Intel, Sony, and Toshiba to grow business units successfully. For more information, contact hello@cel-fi.com or visit www.cel-fi-com
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