Featured at the NRF Big Show: Successful retail technology upgrades that drive results

This year is going to be an interesting one in retail. Leaders in the retail, restaurant and grocery spaces will be tackling some of the same issues as 2024. Higher operating costs. Fickle consumers, with more options than ever before. New technologies offer opportunities for growth. And, of course, growing security threats.

What never changes is that a retailer’s competitive edge will be decided through the quality of the customer experience, both in-store and online. Successful retailers are turning to technology to gain a competitive edge and achieve efficiencies. These include Point of Sale (POS) systems that collect buyer data, AI-powered recommendations for consumers, omnichannel purchase options, personalization, advanced analytics and IoT smart devices.

This growing reliance on technology and data will place a strain on existing networks and raise the risk of service interruption and downtime. Modern retailers need high-speed internet delivery to all their locations, backed by network modernization that can ensure consistency and protection against cybersecurity threats. Every site must be reliably protected from disruptions that can negatively affect revenue and reputation. Improved connectivity can also help retailers track inventory and better coordinate how various aspects of the business are run, including support for warehouses and distribution centers.

There are available solutions that drive success within the retail space. For connectivity needs, solutions that provide high-speed internet delivery backed by a 100% uptime service-level agreement (SLA) are being adopted nationwide. Further options include Wireless Internet, WiFi and Enterprise Internet broadband with 99.9% SLA. Retailers can explore turnkey, managed networking services — secure, all-in-one solutions tailored to a retailer’s specific and unique needs – that can provide security, routing, WiFi, SD-WAN, remote access, Unified Communications and more.

These were topics of conversation at Retail’s Big Show, put on by the National Retail Foundation. What follows is a good example of the sort of success story we discussed with forward-thinking retailers at the show.

Heritage Grocers Group drives growth using dedicated fiber connectivity

At Heritage Grocers Group innovation has been at the heart of their success, particularly around technology. From faster-moving self-checkout lines to more precise inventory tracking, the retail conglomerate is committed to changing how the grocery business operates. "We see ourselves as a differentiator in our market on leveraging technology. Specifically having Spectrum Business fiber connectivity in place is key for us. It’s not a secret sauce. It’s something that can help us move forward,” explains Prabash Coswatte, Chief Operating Officer, Heritage Grocers Group. 

The retailer opted for Dedicated Fiber Internet, first at Cardenas Markets headquarters, then at four of their most rurally located stores, where prior efforts by others to set up network connections had been unsuccessful. Eventually, each Cardenas Markets store in California, Nevada and Arizona, 65 in all, got their own fiber circuit.

“Uptime is critical for our store operators,” Coswatte says. “That means having a network that is always up and running.”

Maintaining and refining that network, while helping synchronize its various parts, requires a solution that incorporates the latest advances in firewall protection and WiFi access, and allows bandwidth usage to be scaled up as needed. Spectrum Business had the answer: Managed Network Edge.

Every one of the 115 stores under their umbrella now uses improved connectivity. This ensures robust bandwidth is available at each location 24/7/365. With this connectivity, the stores fulfill the diverse expectations of each chain’s unique customer base. Constant supplies of fresh produce from around the world are shipped in and then stocked on shelves in a manner that efficiently tracks inventory. Purchasing data is tracked, alerting store managers of the need to restock while better capturing buying behavior.

Coswatte is pleased with the results of fiber connectivity for Heritage Grocers Group. Just as important to Heritage Grocers Group is scalability, and the ability to quickly extend their business by acquiring new locations. To keep centralized control of their growing number of stores, and adjust bandwidth deployments to individual locations as needed, each of the three chains under Heritage Grocers Group runs its own Managed Network Edge platform. This gives them operational independence to manage individual chains as unique entities, while supporting cohesion among their groups of stores.

“Our business is not technology,” Coswatte notes. “Technology is a layer that supports our success.”

Network cybersecurity and physical safety and security

Retailers need network security plus consistently fast data transfer speeds with low latency. Network prioritization is also essential. For example, retailers may need to prioritize certain traffic, such as payment transactions, while keeping functions such as guest WiFi and logistics running efficiently in the background. What’s more, they need dedicated IT support to keep operations running 24/7, often across multiple distributed locations.

Reliable, secure and enterprise-grade services can be managed or co-managed to meet business requirements, combining the technologies retail organizations need to thrive. Turnkey, managed networking services can provide security, routing, WiFi, SD-WAN, remote access, unified communications and more. IoT devices like smart cameras can help retailers gain valuable insights into customer behavior patterns while also improving physical security. Environmental sensors can monitor and automatically alert staff members of environmental events such as changes in temperature, humidity, air quality and water leaks within workplaces, data centers and cold-storage environments.

Retailers should be considering comprehensive location-level network security including next generation firewalls and unified threat management. Further, they should implement seamless access to cloud-based, business-critical applications by adding secure connectivity to cloud service providers such as AWS, Azure and Google.

How Spectrum Business can help

Spectrum Business experts work with retailers of all sizes to build modern networks to support advanced data capture and storage. With dedicated fiber internet and cloud connectivity solutions to help break down data silos, retailers can understand and respond to customers faster, while optimizing supply chains. Talk to us today to learn how we can help you manage your technology, keep security systems up to date and deliver exceptional customer experiences at all your locations.