At Shoptalk 2017, Acuity Brands, Inc. will demonstrate its latest advancements in Internet of Things (IoT) technology for retailers, including its Indoor Positioning System (IPS) solution with its new retail asset tracking technology that enables retailers to deliver personalized shopping experiences, while significantly improving operational efficiency.

(Image: Acuity Brands Lighting)

The Acuity Brands IPS solution utilizes wirelessly controlled LED luminaires to deliver highly accurate, real-time positioning services for customers and store employees who opt-in through a retailer's mobile application. The solution allows retailers to save considerable energy and maintenance costs when replacing conventional lighting fixtures, while deriving valuable business intelligence.

The Acuity Brands IPS solution will use the Qualcomm® Lumicast™ solution, a Visible Light Communication (VLC) indoor positioning technology from Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. (QTI), a subsidiary of Qualcomm Incorporated, Bluetooth® Low Energy (BLE) wireless technology, and the capabilities within the Microsoft Azure cloud computing platform to collect and analyze data.  This data allows retailers to make better operational decisions in real-time.

The new asset tracking functionality utilizes BLE radios embedded in intelligent LED lighting from Acuity Brands and BLE enabled sensor tags. The tags can be attached to assets, such as shopping carts, to track their movement, empowering retail personnel to understand customer shopping behavior and monitor employee activity.

The IPS solution contains software for generating tailored notifications to store managers, which can alert them that certain areas of the store have become crowded, such as checkout lines, or that an asset, such as a shopping cart, has entered a restricted area. Data from the solution delivers new business intelligence that can help retailers customize merchandising and store layout plans.

“In today’s ultra-competitive retail environment, retailers need every advantage they can get to create exceptional in-store customer experiences while optimizing costs,” said Greg Carter, Acuity Brands Lighting Vice President and General Manager, IoT Business Unit. “Our new asset tracking capabilities are the latest improvement to a full suite of IoT and indoor positioning technology that forms the foundation of a robust, but scalable, in-store analytics and decision solution with built-in payback.”

"Lumicast is bringing high-accuracy VLC based indoor positioning to the lighting industry,” said Cormac Conroy, VP of Product Management, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. “Acuity Brands has been at the forefront of bringing this technology into the retail setting. We are delighted to work with them to showcase its capabilities at Shoptalk 2017. Our joint commitment to innovation will continue to help retailers unlock the power of store data for greater operational efficiency and a more personalized in-store shopping experience for consumers.”