Tracking Consumer ‘Paths, Purchases & Preferences' Leads To Marketing Gold

Using Passive UHF RFID, Moxie Retail Solutions is providing real-time business intelligence to retailers      

Peter Townsend was adamant: “I need to get real-time data in a real-world environment”. Why? Because most marketing data crunching firms specialize primarily in the analysis of consumer behavioral patterns, purchasing profiles and arms-length projections of a retailer’s potential. “This is why we need real-time paths, purchases and preferences to offer the most valuable depiction of what happens in our customer’s locations and more importantly; what is happening right now.”

Moxie Retail Solutions, founded by Townsend and two associates, have always looked at their industry differently. And so in early 2011, Moxie approached the RFID TESTeam at Academia RFID to design and develop a system that could identify consumers, track their shopping carts and match their POS purchases. Two months later, a proof-of-concept was presented which triggered a plethora of ideas and sent the Moxie Team into a brainstorming mode that would yield the specific value of their offering: Real-time data that could translate to store-specific heat maps and more accurate product placement analysis.

In the fall of 2012, after six weeks of software development, in-store testing and a 10 week pilot, Academia RFID and Moxie Retail were ready for their first install in a 450,000 sq/ft supermarket in suburban Toronto. With 25 RFID readers (equipped with antenna hub multiplexers) communicating wirelessly via WiFi bridges, 150 discreet RFID antennas, over 3,500 feet of cable (virtually hidden from the public), 450 RFID-tagged shopping carts and 400 baskets, the RFID software was collecting an average of 175,000 tag reads per day.

“And that makes for a lot of data to crunch” added Gary McCann, Academia RFID’s Director of Professional Services in Toronto. “But the challenge for us wasn’t data collection as much as it was designing a system that would only be installed for 4-6 weeks at a time and then be moved to another store. How do you deploy a semi-permanent install that needs to be functional, adjustable, reliable and secure without completely affecting the aesthetics of the store? That was challenging; and there’s nothing we love more than a great challenge.”

With a scheduled five-store roll-out for April 2013, which will then rotate from store to store over the next year, Moxie Retail Solutions have no plans on slowing down anytime soon. “The data is new and it’s clean, and that allows us to offer business intelligence that was unavailable to retailers before,” said Ken Roberts, VP of Moxie Retail. “We’re only beginning to see the possibilities that RFID has offered to this application; every store seems to bring about different angles to view the data and make it work for the retailers and their suppliers.”

The RFID Event System was engineered by the Academia RFID TESTeam and includes:
• ERM (RFID Middleware) 
• Impinj Speedway Revolution RFID Readers
• Motorola RFID Antennas 
• MPI Custom RFID Tags

About Moxie Retail Solutions
Moxie is redefining the way retailers and CPG companies appeal to their customers in the ongoing endeavor to build ‘true’ customer loyalty. Combining the art and science of retail to deliver the most compelling and relevant shopping experiences is at the heart of the Moxie business model. With a carefully built organization of diverse skillsets in CPG, Retail, and Branding & Design, we leverage technology, world-class creative and a number of the brightest minds in their respective areas of expertise to bring our clients exceptional ROI. Moxie is a new-age Strategic Branding and Design firm delivering new metrics and incredible results to a number of the world’s greatest brands. Moxie Retail Solutions Inc. – Retail Redefined! For more information, visit www.moxieretail.com.

About Academia RFID Center of Excellence 
Academia RFID is a world-class research & development, consulting and training center driven by a team of PhD researchers and accredited RFID instructors in the fields of industrial engineering, operations management, supply chain management, transport & logistics, distribution & retail, and  e-commerce  marketing. Creator of RFIDRadio.com (a bi-monthly educational podcast and blog), Academia RFID offers expert RFID services and training/certification courses worldwide in-lab, on-site or on the web. For more information, visit www.RFIDacademia.com.