MTI
Transforming the Retail Experience

The retail industry is witnessing a dramatic change. Consumers demand more and expect an enhanced shopping experience tailored to their specific needs. While, in-store staff is expected to do more with less. As a result, they are struggling to provide fast and reliable services, they lack effective training and tools to communicate and simplify the business processes. Besides, with online retail gaining huge traction, retail storefronts are under immense pressure to give the best customer service and be more efficient with employee management and the total cost of operations. Ironically, as more retailers realize these problems, only a few recognize the power the right technology plays in overcoming them. By implementing the right technology, retailers can revolutionize their approach to meet customer needs, empower employee engagement and enhance overall retail experience and culture.

One company redefining the in-store experience through its unique IoT platform MTI Connect™ is Mobile Technologies Inc. “Our ultimate objective is to transform the retail experience through practical innovations supported by services and action-oriented results,” asserts Travis Hooper, VP of Products and Strategy of MTI.

Established in 1977, the company has focused on providing cutting edge technologies like IoT for retailers. The combination of advanced technology and robust hardware provides real-time communication for all aspects of retail business from customer engagement to standardize operating procedures and ensures the merchandise is secured and properly merchandised. MTI Connect™ is an open platform that allows integration with many different technologies and solutions that customers already have deployed across their stores.

MTI offers a smart retail IoT platform that enhances retail experience, where merchandise is always perfectly displayed, employees are empowered to sell, and all stakeholders have the insights they need to optimize the consumer’s journey. Also, the solution ensures store visibility to management by providing real-time information that helps in better decision making for their business. In addition, a balance between accountability and visibility within the store caters to excellence in employee efficiencies. A cloud-based dashboard is available for managers and corporate stakeholders, and for the employees a mobile app reflects real-time operational alerts and provides corrective actions.

MTI’s idea behind their IoT platform MTI Connect™ is to simplify the management of daily tasks, empower employees to support the customer shopping experience, provide access to sellable inventory on the floor, all while reducing store shrink. The company focuses on bringing transparency within the retail environment while these activities are carried out and that is ensured by driving accountability through an employee-specific ID badge that records their movement and product interactions. Unfortunately, a belief exists in the retail industry that if employees are given more access in the store, there’s a probability of increased shrink. “Providing the proper balance between employee enablement and accountability has been one of the differentiating factors for us, and we have demonstrated an increase in sales while driving operational efficiencies and reducing overall shrink in retail,”states Hooper.

Hooper mentions a retail customer success story where the customer was looking to increase their sales and improve the customer experience by providing additional inventory on the sales floor. Employees were unable to access the inventory without calling a manager and this led to a poor customer experience and a drop in conversion. To improve the customers’ in-store experience and deliver immediate service, MTI provided the client with their state-of-the-art IoT platform where the employees could access the inventory by simply using their employee badge or through an app on their cell phone.

Similarly, MTI also focuses on reducing the hardships faced by OEM brands when relying on partners to execute the in-store experience for their products. OEMs have expectations of what should be happening in the store, but often have minimal visibility into actual execution and performance. With MTI’s state-of-art solution, OEMs can now have global real-time visibility into the execution of their merchandising plan and identify areas that require attention.

The company continues to focus on its partnerships with customers, and this constant effort to make a better retail experience has made them one of the leaders in the retail solutions space. MTI also intends to continue innovating the MTI Connect™ platform and enhance the overall customer experience while driving simplification in operations.