Internet of Things and Augmented Reality in Retail

Today I received my latest copy of the Thoughtworks Perspectives mailing. This month's issue was a special on Retail. Our European Head of Retail, Mark Collin, has been interviewed on the "Essential Retail" site about the latest trends.

That's where I discovered a new term: "Phygital", which of course means the merging of physical and digital. Cute. "Internet of Things" seems quite a mouthful in comparison.

.. it will become a necessary reality that retailers have to find ways to subtly and seamlessly incorporate digital into a store experience and not just for technology sake or as a gimmick but to tackle core retailing issues like real time inventory, faster checkout, everything in my pocket (mobile – payment, loyalty, receipts, rewards, etc). The behind the scenes analytics opportunities are the significant side benefit to a customer experience premised on digital. 

- Mark Collin

Here's another, related article on the Thoughtworks website: Will iBeacon Further Enable the Passion of Shopping? And another from a Thoughtworker's own blog: Introduction to iBeacons by Andrew McWilliams.

Retail: The Thoughtworks Application of IoT/AR

So this got me thinking, that soon enough I'm going to want to explain how my 60 Days of Things, that I'm coming to the end of pretty soon, will benefit Thoughtworks.

And the obvious applications are all in retail, in interacting with customers within some environment, such as shops, malls, airports, stations, libraries, museums, theme parks, cinemas, sports centres, swimming pools, holiday camps, and so-on.


IoT/AR in Retail

Now currently, all the demos we have been doing inside TW and the typical example ideas that people have been coming up with in general in this area are about "IoT plus 2D smartphone app" interactions.

I can't see anyone else that has spotted the potential of combining "IoT plus Augmented Reality".

Tomi Ahonen, a mobile industry analyst who's predictions are extremely reliable, believes that Augmented Reality is the next big wave after mobile.

Just sayin'...