Marketers would use any extra leverage they can attain when it comes to additional customer loyalty. So here’s something they can consider: In-store Wi-Fi can lead to increased customer loyalty.
According to a new study from EarthLink Holdings Corp. released Tuesday, 28% of retailers reported increased customer loyalty due to in-store Wi-Fi. Earthlink Holdings Corp. partnered with experts from research consultants IHL Group and cloud-managed Wi-Fi solutions provider AirTight Networks to conduct one of the first-ever studies that provided unique insights into the retail industry’s plans for store networking, Wi-Fi, security, and customer engagement.
Consider some of the key findings from the study:
- 82% of large- to medium-sized retail participants have already deployed in-store Wi-Fi
- 57% of enterprise retail participants offer both customer and employee Wi-Fi
- 27.5% of retailers report that customer loyalty increased due to deploying in-store customer Wi-Fi
- 70% of retail participants currently outsource their store level WAN to managed service providers
- 34% of retail participants will update their store level Wi-Fi technologies in 2015
“Our goal with this study is to establish actionable benchmark numbers that help retail IT executives compare the state of their store technology against others in the industry,” IHL Group Founder and President Greg Buzek said in the study. “As many plan to invest in technologies like in-store Wi-Fi, payment systems, PCI compliance, and security to keep customers loyal while protecting their data, it’s important to understand the benefits and challenges others have already experienced.”
According to IHL Group, nearly 70% of specialty retailers are designing their next Point-of-Sale system based on a central order management system, which will put up to five times more load on the network for core store transactions than most retailers use today. To accommodate this load, many retailers will require an update of their WAN infrastructure.
“Research findings show that retail has the necessary infrastructure in place and is poised for growth around multichannel engagement using in-store Wi-Fi,” Kevin McCauley, Director of Retail Market Development, AirTight Networks, said. “The companies that implement within the next year will have first mover advantage to perfect their engagement strategies. The forthcoming benchmarking tool will help retailers cut through the complexity around that.”