Japan's Kyocera & TSI launch customer preference management system

For OMO (Online Merges with Offline), which integrates online and offline services, creating new shopping experiences based on customer preferences is essential. In e-commerce, it is already mainstream to provide customers with product recommendations based on past searches, favourited products, products in the customer’s cart, etc; however, providing a similar service to customers in physical stores is challenging. The coronavirus pandemic has changed consumer behaviour, and the value consumers gain from visiting physical stores is changing from 'consumption' to 'experience', Kyocera said in a press release.

To solve this problem, TSI Holdings which provides one-to-one customer services by integrating preferences across stores and e-commerce sites, and Kyocera, which develops IoT solutions, are working together to create a new customer preference management system for OMO stores. Preferences managed through the system will help provide recommendations and other services to customers, providing stores with an innovative new direct messaging (DM) tool.

Kyocera constructed the customer preference management system using sensing devices equipped with a unique state-detection algorithm to observe real-time customer behaviour data at stores in the same way as e-commerce. Customers launch an app provided by Nano Universe when they enter the store. When a customer picks up a product, the app monitors location and product information on a hanger or beacon from a sensing device. In-store location, product information, and preferences will be sent to the customer preference management system on the cloud. Analysing these preferences will make it possible to understand customers’ interests and tastes among various products and provide future recommendations, according to Kyocera.

Customers receive recommendations and other content via smartphone app push notifications or email. In addition, customers will also get reminders about items they did not buy even after engaging with the product in-store and encourage them to return to e-commerce sites or store locations. TSI Holdings will build a new customer experience model integrated with e-commerce customer preferences to improve user experience. Kyocera also aims to provide unique value to customers via innovative data management and IoT-based solutions.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (GK)