Rakuten Technology Conference 2014 "Connecting the real and virtual to combine the benefits of retail and e-commerce" Laurent Ach (Rakuten Institute of Technology Paris)

1. Connecting the real and virtual to combine the
benefits of retail and e-commerce
Overview of Projects and Technologies
Laurent Ach
Rakuten Institute of Technology
Paris Manager

2. Reality
Expectations
increase in
the real world

3. Search in a Store Like on a Website
Search in Store
© JL Hébert - fotolia.com

4. Avoid Waiting in Line for Payment
Image by David Shankbone via Wikimedia Commons

5. Current Usage in Shopping
Start here!
Online shopping Offline shopping
Web Mobile
Physical store
Web sale Mobile sale Store sale

6. Current Usage in Shopping
Showrooming
Webrooming
Image by Daderot via Wikimedia Commons

7. Online and Offline Shopping Activities
Cannot be Kept Separate
Physical stores cannot prevent from going online while shopping
Shopping online will never replace physical points of sale

8. Shopping Is Also Social
Shopping with friends, asking friends by phone and
using social networks
© Kzenon - Fotolia.com

9. What Customers Expect
Get the benefits of both online shopping and
physical stores
Preserve shopping as a social activity in some
cases
Have some continuity between the different ways of
shopping

10. The “O2O” Trend
Omni-channel
Web-to-store
Product locator
Click-and-collect apps
Web-in-store
Store locator
+ Something more …
Continuity in
Shopping Experience =

11. Mechanisms to
Connect Online and
Offline Shopping
image by Benh LIEU SONG via
Wikimedia Commons
Geolocalized e-commerce
Tracking purchases
Connecting data to products
Detecting and tracking

12. Geolocalized e-commerce
Local Store
Online Services
E-Commerce
Platform
Local Store
Database
Customer
Purchase
History
Online
Merchant
Geolocalization
Connection with
inventory database
Connection with
payment
© robu_s - fotolia.com

13. Click & Collect and Fast Delivery
• EBAY Click & Collect
• Rakuten 24
• Amazon UK “Collect+” and same-day pick-up
service
• Google Express
Drones!?
• Google Drone
• Amazon Prime Air

14. E-Commerce in Physical Stores
Use of real-world location of
customers in connection with location
of stores
Connection to inventory databases
Examples:
• SoCloz http://www.socloz.com/
• Retailigence http://www.retailigence.com/
• Shopping Adventure https://www.shoppingadventure.fr

15. Online - Offline Connection at Payment
Local Store
Online Services
E-Commerce
Platform
Customer
Purchase
History
coupons, cash-back,
SuperPoints
Receipt Scanning
Card Linking
Local Store
Database
Online
Merchant
© robu_s - fotolia.com
Mobile Payment
Electronic Receipts

16. Tracking Card Payment
Card linking
Example: CardSpring, Edo, Cartera

17. Online - Offline Continuity in Payment
Same mechanism for online and offline payment
Like Apple Pay
+ +

18. Scanning Customer Receipts
Purchase email scanning
Receipt scanning
Example: Slice (Rakuten), OneReceipt, Shopmium, Datanoos

19. Using SuperPoints in Stores
Rakuten Pointcard
Bringing Super Points into real store (reward and payment)

20. Connecting data to products
Local Store
Online Services
E-Commerce
Platform
Local Store
Database
Customer
Purchase
History
Online
Merchant
Barcode, and
QR code scanning
Image matching
Product recognition?
Mixing real and virtual products

21. Getting Data from Real Product
Image matching (from catalog and packaging)
© Tyler Olson - fotolia.com
Examples: Amazon Firefly, BitLit, Moodstock,
CamFind (crowd sourcing + image processing)

22. Interactive Environment in Store
Interactive projected display
• Projection Mapping on products (shoes, cars)
• Projection on shelves or walls
• Gesture Interface for interaction in the store
Example: Perch Interactive, Kate Spade

23. Mixing the virtual and real
• Augmented Reality
• Ikea augmented reality catalog (view and place furniture
in your living room)
• Metaio - Lego visualization of what is inside the box
• Virtual shelves next to real products with visual continuity
• Intel - Adidas virtual footwear wall

24. Detecting and Tracking
Local Store
Online Services
E-Commerce
Platform
Local Store
Database
Customer
Purchase
History
Online
Merchant
Pattern recognition and 3D motion tracking
In-store analytics navigation systems
Geolocation, Bluetooth,
Ultrasound, Wi-Fi, …

25. Detecting the Presence of Users
Geofencing
• Bluetooth
• Wifi signal
• Ultrasounds
Example: to get rewards
(points, kicks, steps…)
• Smapo (Rakuten)
• Shopkick
• Stepin

26. Indoor Positioning
Indoor geolocation, in-store navigation
• Bluetooth LE / Wifi, 3D motion tracking
(computer vision)
• Navigation systems using Augmented Reality
• Promotion based on local areas
Example: Aisle411 with Project Tango

27. Tracking Customer Behavior
By Cameras and Smartphones
• Computer Vision
• Flow analysis
• Gender and age detection
• Analytics
Example: RetailNext, Cliris, SmartFlows

28. Connecting Online and Offline
Shopping at

29. Innovations in O2O Domain at
Ubira - Udana Bandara - RIT Tokyo, James Chen - Rakuten SDTD
Online comparison and discount
in real stores

30. Innovations in O2O Domain at
Landmark - Udana Bandara - RIT Tokyo, James Chen - Rakuten SDTD
Digital coupons in geolocalized space

31. Innovations in O2O Domain at
AR HITOKE - So Masuko - RIT Tokyo
Real store products popularity from online and offline information

32. Innovations in O2O Domain at
WallSHOP - So Masuko, Keiji Shinzato,
Adiyan Mujibiya, Masafumi Muta - RIT Tokyo
Interactive digital signage in real stores

33. Innovations in O2O Domain at
ShoCo - Ken Prepin, Cecilia Lejeune - RIT Paris
Collaborative
Shopping
At home
In store
© jackfrog - Fotolia.com

34. Owachomo Natural Bridge - by Laban712 via Wikimedia Commons
Further Improving the Continuity
Between Online and Offline
Shopping