"AI and IoT are for customer service", the retail business in the digital era aimed at by PARCO

Earl Jean Co., Ltd., the operating body of IOTNEWS, held a seminar on March 23 with the theme of "Retail Marketing."This time, I will introduce the contents of the lecture by Naotaka Hayashi, the ICT Strategy Office of the PARCO Inc., which participated in the seminar.

Since 2013, PARCO has developed platforms such as "Pocket PARCO" for tenants, with the concept of "24 -hour PARCO", which realizes "customer service" on stores (offline) and online (online).Recently, the company has been using IoT and AI technology to promote digital transformation in retail businesses.

The retail industry is spoken in various contexts, such as the omni -channel era, the lack of labor, the evolution of technology such as IoT and AI.Among them, the axis of the retail business that PARCO aims is to "extend" the method of customer service from both the Internet and the real side to improve the customer satisfaction, and "IoT and AI are necessary for that.""In this article, we will introduce the contents of the Vision and measures of PARCO.

table of contents

In an era where relationships with each customer are important

Even if you say "retail", the business and approaches differ depending on the company.In PARCO, it is "Hybrid of real estate and retail industry, not pure retailers" (Hayashi).

PARCO builds a building and attracts tenants there.Therefore, tenant sales in the retail business will lead to Parco's sales.Currently, PARCO nationwide has about 3,000 tenants."The role of Parco is to improve the effects of the individual tenants's customer service," says Hayashi.

However, according to Hayashi, it was not the case before.In the past when the population was growing and TV ads were effective as a marketing method, Parco was rarely involved in the service of individual tenants.

However, in the recent era of population decline, "how long we can associate with one customer" (Mr. Hayashi) is important, and it is necessary to create an environment that enables such customer service.It is said that it has become.

"Extend" customer service in "24 Hours PARCO"

Regarding the recent consumer purchasing behavior, Mr. Hayashi said, "In the Omni -Channel era, customers explore information based on smartphones, and as a result, make decisions to come or not.We will purchase and complete consumption behavior. "

In such an era, customer service alone in the store alone cannot respond.Therefore, PARCO set the concept of "24 -hour PARCO" in 2013.

This is to aim for an environment where individual shop clerks can communicate with customers anytime, anywhere, and can serve customers with both "stores" and "on the web" approach.

"In the Omni -Channel era," extensions "are needed to meet the changing customer needs. For that, the power of technology is needed," said Hayashi.

Amazon's "channel shift"

Here, Mr. Hayashi introduced "Corporate Shift Strategy of Corporate Shift Connecting with the world's most advanced marketing customers" (author: Takashi Okutani/Takuma Iwai, published by Nikkei BP).The concept of "channel shift" written in the book is important for marketing in the omnichanel era.

Mr. Hayashi mentions Amazon, which is introduced in the book as an example of a typical "channel shift".Amazon has caused a "channel shift" by applying an "online" platform that can be selected and purchased on the web to "offline".

For example, "Amazon Dash Button" is a mechanism that can be selected in "offline" and purchased in "online".With this product, the user can order the product simply by pressing the button, even if you do not face the screen selection on the web.Similarly, "Amazon Echo" is completed by just calling the speaker at home.

And "Amazon Go", which opened in Seattle in January of this year, is also a typical example.In this case, the customer selects the product at the "offline" store, but does not need to line up at the cash register, and the payment (purchase) is performed online through the Amazon app.

In the same platform, sensors and cameras are installed everywhere in the store, and as in the case of e -commerce, there is a mechanism that allows you to collect customer behavioral data.

In this way, Amazon has gradually expanded the application range of the platform from "online" to "offline".

"Channel shift" that PARCO works on

As you can see in Amazon's case, companies with online platforms have recently entered the offline industry through a channel shift."It is necessary for offline companies to have a channel shift and make it possible to select and purchase products online," said Hayashi.

For the reason, Mr. Hayashi said, "The purpose of a channel shift is not to compete with companies such as Amazon. If you do not do a channel shift, you will close your chance to interact with customers."Is explained.

So Hayashi explained about PARCO's channel shift.

In 2013, PARCO released a platform that can use blogs to disseminate information as the first tenant service for Omni Channel.

This was a measure based on the concept of "24 -hour PARCO", where the tenant himself utilizes "blog" for 24 hours online, which allows customers to introduce products and serve customers.

And in 2014, "Frog Park" was released.This is a "cart" function to the above -mentioned blog.This allows customers to order products introduced by tenants online (on blog).

You can purchase the ordered items online and have them deliver to your home.Alternatively, there is a reservation method.In the case of reserves, customers can select products online, then actually go to the store (offline), try on them, etc., and then buy the product.

PARCO released a smartphone application "Pocket PARCO" in March 2015 in March 2015.This allows consumers to enjoy services such as "Kael Park" on the app.

PARCO, on the other hand, has been able to extract customer behavior data and use it in analysis from various operations on the user's app.

According to Hayashi, in the conventional retail business, the only point that "grasping customer behavior" was the only time when customers purchase products.Specifically, by linking the customer card and the POS system, the customer has been able to obtain information on "when and what product".

On the other hand, almost no information was obtained about the customer's behavior before and after that.However, by using a smartphone app, data has been obtained about the behavior of "before visiting"/"visiting"/"after visiting", and more detailed customer behavioral analysis has been possible.

For example, "Pocket PARCO" has a function called "Clip".This is like a "favorite registration" to be interested in the blogs that the shop staff update every day or want to look back later.

Regardless of whether or not to purchase/do not buy/, points are provided.PARCO has the advantage of getting data on customer interest before visiting the store.

Furthermore, a lacomedation function using AI was introduced to "Pocket PARCO".

Until then, in "Pocket PARCO", blog posts were displayed based on the attributes set by individual users at the time of registration.From there, we added a record function function to send only information that matched each person to the personal.

Although it is possible to some extent with the statistical analysis algorithm, AI was introduced in 2016 to enhance accuracy.This has improved the number of app users and purchasing.

Customer data collection by "3C+S"

In PARCO, in the series of customers, "CLIP" described above, "CHECK IN" (at the time of visit)/"CONVERSION" (customer service/purchase), in a series of trends of customers "before visiting"/"visiting"/"after visiting"./There is an individual service point called "STAR RATING" (service evaluation) (3c+s).It is also said that each point has a mechanism that enables customer data collection.

The following will be introduced in the order of "before visiting"/"visiting"/"after visiting".

"The customer service has already begun before visiting the store," said Hayashi.It is said that the customer's behavior data collected from the app has been understood.

For example, when the user collected and visualized the data during the time zone of the blog post, "8:00 to 9:00 in the morning (commuting/commuting time) and 9:00 to 10 o'clock after the closing of Parco.You can see that "the most".

From there, the fact that "customers have obtained information on products just before visiting the store, and are already increasing their intention to shop" (Mr. Hayashi).

He also knows if the user has been visiting or purchasing a shop within the day of the CLIP.Specifically, 48%of the visit within 9 days, and 80%of the CLIPs will come to the store within 29 days and purchase products (2017 10-12).Moon survey).

Mr. Hayashi said, "The possibility that customers who clip in one week will purchase the next week is 1 for customers who are not clip..It will be 35 times higher. "

Parco utilizes the GPS function as a service at the time of visiting the store.It means that if you start the app with the GPS on at the time of visiting the store in Parco in the country, it will be recognized as "Check in" and a "coin" (point) will be given.

In addition, as a service that has expanded it, "PARCO WALKING COIN" has been tested at two stores, Chofu and Urawa's Parco (as of April 1, four stores including Tsudanuma and Fukuoka stores).

In this service, by linking the Pocket PARCO with a step count app (GPS needs to be turned on), the number of steps on the PARCO store is counted and the number of steps is granted for the number of steps.。It is 500 coins (worth about 5 yen) with 500 steps walking.

According to Mr. Hayashi, the data for 18 days from January 19 this year revealed that customers who use "PARCO WALKING COIN" "purchase more times" and "Purchase" compared to customers who do not use it.The store is 1.The result is that "two stores will increase" and "The price of customers will increase by 1,000 yen" (18 -day survey).

As a measure during the store, a case where the PUSH notification was sent to the customer "immediately after shopping" when providing a service such as "500 yen preferential ticketing planning plan for purchase of 10,000 yen or more".。

It is optional, but the data can be seen from the data that half of the receiving customers always purchase products after the notification, and that customers who have purchased after PUSH notify will buy about three times on average.。

In this service, the timing of "immediately after shopping" is important to encourage customers to repeat.Mr. Hayashi explains the usefulness of the app, saying, "If there is no such thing as a smartphone app, it was not possible to deliver the notification to the customer at the optimal timing."

After visiting the store, the app members will be given a coin according to the amount of shopping.The notification is sent to the user the next morning, where the questionnaire is a five -stage evaluation questionnaire (STAR RATING).Customers who respond to the questionnaire have a probability of purchasing products the next week for those who do not respond..It will be 11 times higher.

PARCO has a person in charge of each tenant, and based on the evaluation and comments of Star Rating, he is discussing with tenant staff to improve customer service every day.

In that case, the dedicated dashboard is used to visualize the "customer service satisfaction" of the tenant staff from various data obtained.Brand shops that are expanding in Parco nationwide can centrally manage and analyze the nationwide data.

"Retail marketing has been shifting to proposing products that suit each person. In other words, it is important to improve the sales of brands in each store.However, if it is important to take care of a long relationship with each customer, it will be important to see the trends in the sales of customers and products as a whole as a whole, regardless of location. "Mr. Hayashi points out the importance of seeing data from shops nationwide on a horizontal skewer.

PARCO's future initiatives -Camera, robot, AI, Mixed Reality

As mentioned above, PARCO has been working on various efforts, but Mr. Hayashi says, "I have only been able to get a lot of behavioral data for each customer. Says.

Therefore, PARCO introduced a camera solution developed by ABEJA Co., Ltd. at "PARCO_YA", which opened in Ueno last November.There are two types of cameras: a type that counts the number of visitors, and that obtains "attribute" data such as the gender and age of visitors.Using these, it will be possible to analyze the behavior of visitors.

For example, by combining the data of the “day -by -day visitor” collected by the camera and the data of the number of cashiers obtained in POS so far, the “purchase rate” (number of cashiers/number of corsements) for each shop is grasped.You can do it.

In PARCO, sensor boxes are installed on the roof, and data such as daily temperature and weather is collected.While receiving advice in collaboration with existing business partners, we create a "IoT" (Mr. Hayashi) in -house and purchase raspberry pies and work on it.

It is said that the climate data is linked to "Pocket PARCO" and provides services, such as giving points to visitors only when it rains.

PARCO conducted a demonstration experiment on solutions using robots and AI at Ueno's "PARCO_YA", which opened last November.The purpose is that the robot realizes that the lack of labor and what people cannot do. "

The robot will switch roles during the day and at night.In the daytime, we will provide guidance from stores for the purpose of supporting customers who visit the store."If you go above the first floor with general information, customers have few opportunities to ask about the location of the store. PARCO uses robots to prevent such customer service loss."Say.

In the future, the robot will use the ALEXA Skills for software development of ALEXA, AI platform provided by Amazon.They input to Alexa what customers often ask in Parco, and aim for accurate navigates with "sound" and "touch panels".

And at night after the closing, the same robot is now used as an "inventory robot".

Recently, by attaching an RFID tag to each product, it has become possible to efficiently manage the product.However, it is common for humans to read the tag.

In order to reduce the effort of the human being and aim for further efficiency, the autonomous robot is equipped with an RFID tag leader to replace the inventory."The accuracy is not enough to realize complete automation, but it is possible to automate by repeatedly verifying it (Mr. Hayashi).

"Smart glass with MR functions will be put into practical use in the near future as a device to replace smartphones."

MR (MIXED REALITY) is a technology that incorporates information in the real world into 3D virtual worlds created by CG, etc., and creates a world that combines real world and virtual world.

PARCO is currently experimenting with a new product selection service that changes the "clothes" of the virtual "model" projected in the real world through smart glasses.

Nowadays, it may be a common method of scrolling the smartphone screen, browsing models in various branded clothes and choosing the clothes you care about.However, in the method of applying the MR, it is expected that the model can be selected from various angles from various angles, as if the model rises in 3D over the smart glass and is looking directly at the store.

Clothes can be projected on the screen on the web by "3D scanning" by "3D scanning" with a special scanner of the customer or at the store.The PARCO in Shibuya, which will be renewed next year, is considering a sales floor using this MR.

"I want to realize happiness from accidental encounters with technology."

Mr. Hayashi said the purpose of various solutions so far:

"The purpose is to accumulate real and online data in the digital world and utilize AI to achieve the matching of the products that customers want. To that end, we are careful about handling personal information.So, it is necessary to use various sensors to acquire customer's behavior data, or to manage the inventory data of the product digitally. "

Mr. Hayashi said, "I would like to increase the rate (purchase rate) for customers who visit the store so that they can buy them with the second and third stores. In that case, in that case.It is important to realize it so that customers do not hate it, not forcing. "

According to the tenant, "by actively utilizing the data, we will provide tenants a highly accurate demand forecast" (Hayashi).By doing so, the number of wasted products is reduced and the cost can be reduced.As a result, the aim is to lower the price of the product and increase the number of resources that can be used for customer service.

In fact, not all tenants can use the platform.The tenants who send their blogs are about half of the whole.Mr. Hayashi said, "It is our task that the tenant has not fully conveyed the significance of the measure. However, the time and effort of the time and effort will always create customer sympathy and visit and purchase.I will be connected. "

It is said that the mechanism of the "frog park" was born from the awareness of the tenant's independently sending blogs.It is important not only to create a platform as a function, but also to consider the effective use of it with PARCO and tenant.

Finally, Mr. Hayashi re -mentioned "Amazon Go", which opened in Seattle in January this year."I think that the mechanism that does not have a cash register process like Amazon Go is a great store model for customers who have decided what they want is a great store model."。

"In the case of a shopping center operated by PARCO, not only customers who decide what to buy in advance. The good thing about real stores is that they can meet the products and services they really want while receiving customers.However, the time to search for products is often stressful for customers. I want to shorten that time by increasing the matching rate with digital power. The important thing is the customer.Is to increase the probability of encountering a satisfactory product. "

Hayashi described it as "Serendipity" (happiness by accidental encounters), and wanted to realize "creative customer service" that encourages the encounter with technology and human power.

[Related links] ・ Parco (Parco) ・ Efforts to improve sales using AI in commercial facilities — ABEJA “SIX 2018” Parco, Toyota Auto Mall Create

Technology and scientific writer.Master (applied chemistry).After working for an oil manufacturer, he has been active as a writer since 2017.He also contributes to scientific magazines.