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It's about virtual and augmented reality technologies. In virtual reality technology, a person puts on special glasses or a helmet and finds himself in a 3D space.
And in augmented reality, with the help of glasses or helmet, he sees the surrounding space too, which is enriched with interactive elements (for example, hints or pop-up screens).
AR and VR are important business tools that help optimize processes in warehouse management.
• The retail industry faces high employee turnover, especially in entry-level positions. On average, a retail floor worker stays for about eight months before moving on to another job or gets a promotion. Thus, it is inefficient to spend months training an employee who may only stay for a short period.
• Furthermore, the importance of optimization is growing. Modern stores have more products and customers but fewer employees due to the high cost of labor. AR/VR technologies help employees manage tasks more efficiently.
• Just collect visual information, don’ process on the device.
Unsurprisingly, such technologies are used everywhere from Walmart to a small French discounters.
For example, you can model learning situations that are difficult to model otherwise.
Walmart uses Oculus headsets to train their staff. Employees watch videos depicting various scenarios so they can learn these situations from different perspectives. This immersive training helps employees better prepare for real-world situations without the need for extended, costly training periods.
And virtual reality goggles also teach you how to act properly in emergency mode. The employee can see the store and other customers through the headset and can move around the store. If there is a fire, the employee learns how not to panic, seeing the flames and smoke in the virtual reality.
One of the big problems in retail is employee overwork.
First of all, overwork happens in the warehouse. Often, goods are unloaded into the warehouse "as is" because unloading time and employee resources are limited. After the pile of boxes and pallets has to be put on the shelves in the store. It's a lot of tedious work to constantly search for the goods in the warehouse.
Unlike humans, computers know what lies where — and can visualize it with augmented reality technology.
Also, overwork happens because of the importance of keeping the shelves full at all times.
Full store shelves have the strongest impact on store revenue. It's important for shoppers to keep their favorite products on the shelves at all times. Every customer should be able to buy everything they have in their mind at the moment. Otherwise, the customer gets frustrated. A person can really turn around and walk away if the store doesn't have their favorite milk or chocolate. People also believe that slightly empty shelves are a sign of financial problems in the store or evenf a shortage.
Workers wearing AR glasses can easily be alerted and keep track of this.
Well, until it does, we'll see. But it will help you quickly find empty spaces with the computer vision. Many cameras installed in the store look at the shelves and detect places where goods have run out even now. This data can be complemented by the data from wearable AR devices.
The system then sends notifications to employees: "Go to the warehouse to the F-17 storage area, get three milk cartons and put them on the 11-27-3 shelf, please. Better yet, put on your AR helmet, I'll show you where to take them from and where to put them.
In the past, stores have tried to combat shelf emptiness with so-called smart shelves, but a bundle of CV and AR is proving to be a much more cost-effective and easily scalable solution.
DHL has adopted AR for warehouse operations. Using smart glasses, employees can receive picking instructions and real-time information about the items they need to locate. This technology has led to a 25% increase in efficiency and a significant reduction in errors.
Such a solution is being actively used too. AR is available to any user of a modern smartphone.
For example, in South Korea, shoppers in large stores and malls use apps for navigation. In addition, with the help of such apps, stores get a new, previously unavailable tool for personalized sales boosting — customers see hints and special discounts on their screens.
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