The debut of MetTel Wi-Fi Analytics will give the bakery an enhanced view of customer preferences in order to improve the shopping experience. Its technology learns in real-time how consumers visit the bakery, where they browse, what they buy and don't buy, and helps determine what products they may want to try based on their established preferences.
“We wanted to give our customers the best possible experience through a digital in-store approach,” says Buddy Valastro. “It's no secret that more and more people are shopping online but many of our customers also like the look and feel and human touch of our bakeries. This technology can help uncover hidden opportunities to bring us closer to our customers while giving them the customized benefits of online shopping – the best of both worlds.”
According to MetTel, the analytics work like so:
- All Wi-Fi-enabled devices (like smart phones) continuously transmit signals to detect and connect to available networks several times per minute.
- Through the Wi-Fi network, Carlo's Bakery receives the pings from these customers, which is anonymized and does not collect personal or private information.
- MetTel Wi-Fi Analytics uses the signal strength to determine the location and movement patterns of each smart phone.
- Continuous monitoring helps to determine the extent of each visit – parts of the store the customer visits, their path through the store, how much time is spent at each stop, and if they made a purchase and what they bought.
- Carlo's Bakery then gets a clearer view of how their stores are performing at any time and allows them to react to and change any aspect of the operation or experimentation with adjustments to traffic flow, product placement, merchandising, marketing or new concepts, all in the interest of continuous improvement.
