They can use the forces that threaten them to their own advantage. That’s the message from Sima Nadler, IBM Research Lead for Retail.

These days, many consumers browse in stores to see what interests them–then use the Internet and portable communications devices to learn more about their options and find the best prices. At the same time, when people are shopping online, e-commerce retailers are able to track their interests and connect with them in ways that, up to now, have been impossible for brick-and-mortar retailers to match. As a result, increasingly, brick and mortar retailers serve as a showcase for consumers, but online retailers close the sales.

IBM Research is developing a portfolio of new technologies that make it possible for retailers to understand the needs of consumers better and cater to them when they’re in stores–making it more likely that they will make the sales. “What we’re seeing is the blurring of the physical and the virtual,” says Nadler, who coordinates retail research globally and is based in IBM’s Haifa Research Lab.

Here are two of the technologies:

Augmented Reality: Researchers are developing an augmented reality based  system that makes it possible for consumers to use their smartphones and tablets to pan store shelves and receive additional information beyond what’s on the labels, personalized product recommendations and discount coupons while they’re shopping in a store. Consumers download the mobile application, register, and create a profile of preferences. Upon entering the store, they launch the application. When they point the video camera on their device at merchandise, products are recognized using advanced image processing technologies. The system displays information about the products, superimposed on their images on the mobile device. If the consumer allows it, information from their social networks can be integrated into the information stream. For instance, if a friend had reviewed or made a comment about a product they’re looking at, they’ll see it. (Here’s a video panel discussion of the role of augmented reality in commerce.)

Indoor Location Tracking: Businesses use GPS to provide location-based services to consumers, but that only works outdoors. IBM Research’s technology tracks the movement of consumers’ within stores  who have opted in to the services. This is done by tracking signals emitted from the individual’s mobile device and matching that information with data about the merchandise that they’re standing close to. As a result, retailers can present offers to consumers when they’re considering a purchase. Retailers can track and analyze the paths shoppers take through their stores, and they can use that information to optimize the store layout and arrangement of merchandise. Also, they’ll know immediately if there are not enough clerks in an area of the store to wait on all of the customers, and they can immediately dispatch more.

In the past, a few pioneering retailers tried electronic tracking and information systems, but they were forced to use proprietary devices, sometime attached to shopping carts. That was expensive and inconvenient.  The exploding popularity of smart phones and tablets means many people carry easy-to-use, wirelessly-connected devices in their pockets or purses. So, a revolution in brick-and-mortar e-tailing has begun.

Nadler foresees a time when retailers will have sophisticated systems that allow them to not only identify an individual shopper when they enter the store but also to understand their context . If mom has the kids in tow after work hours, it might be a good time to present her with a coupon for kid friendly snacks. Even further in the future, Nadler anticipates a time when people will activate holograms in their homes and “see” merchandise presented to them as if it were in a physical store.

Nadler’s work is part of a larger trend in society–the need to understand people better as individuals, enabling organizations and institutions to serve their constituents better. The technologies she and her IBM Research colleagues are working on will also have applications in banking, transportation, government services and many other industries. This is a path toward truly personalized interactions in all dimensions of life.

——

Here’s a post on the IBM Research blog that explains what’s in the augmented reality application for consumers.

A number of retailers are experimenting with mobile technologies in retailing. Read about one of Tesco’s experiments here. Wireless technologies have a spotty history in retailing, but RFID seems to be getting a new lease on life. 

——

*not counting gasoline, autos and groceries. Source: Forrester Research.

Technorati Tags: IBM, retailing, Sima Nadler

The Social Business app also include a new feature: The IBM Expert Network on Slideshare, which brings together some of the best presentations from dozens of IBMers –  Tiffany Winman,  Adam Christensen, Sacha Chua, Luis Benitez, Delphine Remy-Boutang to name just a few, sharing their knowledge and experience across  a wide range of topics.

Meanwhile, the Android apps for Smarter Planet and The Social Business are now available on the new Amazon App Store, and through the Amazon App Store app. And new versions of the Smarter Planet and Social Business “mobile site shortcuts” for Blackberries are in the Blackberry App Store now.

Technorati Tags: apps, mobile, Smarter Planet, smartphone

Here’s a frustrating scenario for a sports fan at any kind of tournament: you’re outside the stadium and hear a cheer break out, but don’t know what action just happened on the court.  At this year’s U.S. Open Tennis Tournament, all you have to do is take out your iPhone and use the IBM “Around Me” application to point your phone at the stadium and “see through the walls” to get up to speed on the score and match statistics.

Around Me is an augmented reality application, developed by IBM, for iPhone users at this year’s US Open that allows fans to get a glimpse of what’s happening on the court and also to find the closest restroom, first-aid stand and pizza vendor in the food-court.  Now when you take a quick break to get one of those giant tennis balls at the Chase booth, or need a hot dog, not all is lost (in fact, Around Me could’ve found you that hot dog).  It works by blending the iPhone’s camera functionality with the global positioning system (GPS) that is embedded in the tennis fan’s iPhone.  All of this is supported by a smart infrastructure of IBM technology at the Open and backed up by our data centers.  See here for a video that shows how IBM mobile technology is making the U.S. Open smarter:

[kaltura-widget uiconfid="535" entryid="1_ebjg4krp" width="400" height="330" addpermission="" editpermission="" /]

Of course, augmented reality and geo-location are great for enhancing the tennis experience for fans at the Open, but what’s also interesting is the implication for future innovation in mobile technology that goes beyond sports. IBM researchers are developing applications for mobile computing that span industries and solutions like Smarter Healthcare, Smarter Retail and Smarter Finance.

In healthcare, IBM is developing methods to transmit a patient’s vital signs from a mobile device back to a central location running analytics to evaluate and predict things like heart attacks.  This kind of mobile web technology could actually save lives.  Routine healthcare visits might also be done remotely in the future through sensor technology transmitted by mobile devices – these types of systems could even allow for more current and accurate patient records than what we have today.

In retail, IBM is looking at ways that vendors might leverage data from telecom providers to capture customer information and better reach potential clients.  With data about what a consumer has recently purchased, who their social networks are and their current location, a retailer might be able to know, for instance, that a consumer likes golf clubs, has friends who like them too, leaves work in midtown at 6:30pm and passes by the sports store on his way home.  In this way, retailers can target the right consumers in the right places at the right times through mobile tracking and mobile advertising.

In finance, IBM is evaluating the types of payment systems that will exist in the future.  For example, with digital wallet technology for mobile devices, the role of banks will shift within a new ecosystem.  By combining the data analytics that banking institutions will be able to utilize, along with mobile advertising for retail and GPS tracking capabilities, IBM sees the dynamics radically shifting in the future.

Today, we’re making a Smarter U.S. Open with mobile web technology… tomorrow, we could be making people’s lives better and helping to spur new business opportunities.

Technorati Tags: mobile

Using Tagwhat — the augmented reality (AR) content creation service just launched — we’ve scattered bits of content about Smarter Cities, analytics and the Internet of Things throughout the park.  On one corner there is an item about Cabsense, a new app that predicts the best nearby corner to find a taxi, based on crunching a year’s worth of GPS data and traffic patterns from NYC cabs.

Right smack in the middle of the park you can find a post pointing to the wonderful Internet of Things video with IBMers Mike Wing, Andy Standford-Clark and John Tolva.

Towards the southeast corner, near the popular Shake Shack eatery, is another tag hovering in virtual/physical space. It touches on how RFID tags are being used to track sensitive shipments such as strawberries, like those used in the Shack’s delectable hand-spun shakes.

The aim was to create, literally out of thin air, a kind of location-specific walking tour or exhibit of how cities and urban centers can become suffused with new kinds of intelligence. AR is one of the promising new dimensions of that kind of ambient intelligence converging at the cross roads of digital and physical realms. In fact, we’re calling this little pilot MadSqAIR, as in Augmented Intelligent Reality, to undescore the connection. You can follow developments  at http://www.tagwhat.com/smartercities and via Twitter at @madsqAIR.

We’re also using the Foursquare location-based social media network to let people in the Madison Square Park neighborhood discover this open AIR experience.

To see this array of posts in the park,  download the Tagwhat app from the Android market (an iPhone version is pending). You can post comments on tags, or even create some of your own.  In fact, you don’t even need a phone to create AR content. Just use the Google Maps tool on Tagwhat’s site. We hope this experiment can grow across New York City, as well as in other metropolitan centers. We also hope to put this new platform and approach to work for the upcoming 2010 Global CEO Study launch.

What uses of Augmented Intelligent Reality can you imagine that would help make our cities, systems and entire planet smarter? Please share your thoughts and comments.

• Tagwhat in Bruce Sterling’s Wired AR blog, Beyond the Beyond

Technorati Tags: android, AR, madison square park, smartphone, tagwhat