A hefty number of retailers, 73%, view edge computing as a strategic investment in deploying digital experiences and nearly half, 47%, plan to invest in the technology in less than a year. The technology is emerging as an “integral” aspect in digital applications in both e-commerce and the brick-and-mortar retail environment, according to IDC Research sponsored by Lumen Technologies.
“Key retail operations rely on real-time or frequent access to data, and edge computing can improve data access speed and performance, as well as maintain data security which is imperative in retail,” Leslie Hand, vice president, IDC Retail Insights, said in a press release on the findings. “Edge computing solutions can drive improvements in areas including personalized customer engagement, order management, customer self-service and omnichannel process automation.”
Customers expect faster and customized digital interactions and edge computing allows data to reside closer to where digital interactions occur, which the release said greatly improves the speed at which it can be acquired, analyzed and acted upon. Having near real-time access to data can allow for experiences like cashier-less stores where a mobile app connects to sensors and tracks items added to a shopper’s cart or personalized advertising strategies that recognize customers and send them predictive promotional offers based on their preferences or shopping history.
