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Pokémon GO: A retailer's dream, or a network/app management nightmare?

Most retailers take advantage of applications to improve customer engagement. To facilitate wireless coverage for customers using a retailer's mobile app (who may also be playing Pokémon GO), the store may offer guest Wi-Fi with direct Internet access, specifically designed for use by shoppers.

September 9, 2016

By Ricardo Belmar

While many skeptics of augmented reality anticipated that Pokémon GO would be a passing fad, the meteoric surge in the game's popularity is largely sustained more than two months out. Active users continue to spend more time on Pokémon GO than on social juggernauts like WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger, and while other gaming applications tend to see their user base decline at this stage, Pokémon GO continues to proliferate.

Comparing Pokémon GO to other mobile games is difficult because it is literally unlike any other to hit the mass market. It's widely considered the first globally successful launch of an AR experience, and although smaller-scale AR applications have gone live in the past, none have garnered such a large and captive audience to date as Pokémon GO.

What makes the game unique is that rather than gluing players into a virtual world on their smartphone, Pokémon GO requires that users engage with their physical environment. This contradicts the behavior of traditional online gamers, who wouldn't normally engage with the world outside of their computer screen when active on their apps. For retailers that depend on foot traffic this is a welcome phenomenon that could translate into higher sales.

As consumer habits evolve, retailers take note

The game is programmed to place higher concentrations of characters in areas where people are more likely to gather naturally, and there is traditionally no better example of public gathering places in today's consumer culture than malls or retail shopping districts.

While having foot traffic in the physical store is retail 101, businesses haven't sat idly by over the past decade while e-commerce has changed consumer habits and attitudes. Instead, retailers have adapted brick-and-mortars to embrace a more digital shopping experience that brings the personal aspects of online browsing into the store.

For instance, in the past, customers had no choice but to wait in lines when visiting physical stores, a process that could easily be avoided entirely when opting to shop on the Web. To combat this, retailers are incorporating wireless POS systems that can function on a tablet or smartphone operated by a store associate. Multiple sales associates can use these mobile devices to bring the POS to the customer, rather than requiring that the customer get in queue.

This digital experience goes beyond just streamlining payment. Some stores incorporate virtual shopping aisles that let users view available merchandise that isn't physically on display on a shelf or fixture. Instead, buyers can view these items on a visually interactive platform within the store, creating a virtual extension of the "showroom." This gives the shopper a richer and deeper  buying experience, more attention from sales associates, and ultimately higher satisfaction with the overall experience.

All of these devices and applications, however, are dependent on wireless networks — not unlike Pokémon GO. While a deluge of customers from a wide range of demographics sounds like an ideal situation for retailers in theory, if the shopping experience is dependent on network access that is being shared by active Pokémon GO users, the entire buying process could grind to a halt.

Retailers need tools to handle complex networks

Most retailers that take advantage of applications to improve customer engagement operate a number of networks in order to keep everything running smoothly. For instance, the devices that run the shopping applications used by sales associates operate on a private enterprise wireless network tightly secured from shopper access. To facilitate wireless coverage for customers using a retailer’s mobile app (who may also be playing Pokémon GO), the store may offer guest Wi-Fi with direct Internet access, specifically designed for use by shoppers.

That particular store is just one of several locations that operate over a corporate wide-area network (WAN) as well. This network would be used to communicate information such as sales and inventory data between the different stores and warehouses or distribution centers, providing associates on the floor with the information customers need in near real time.

All of these networks will need to work together to make sure that business-critical sales applications used by employees in-store don’t experience downtime or degradation even as non-essential applications flood the store's networks. For this to be achieved successfully, retailers need an application-aware hybrid WAN or SD-WAN solution that allows for prioritization of bandwidth access across all of the enterprise networks. Such a solution can best direct critical business applications to the networks with the least traffic to ensure optimal application performance for those top-priority steps in the customer experience.

This is the best option for forward-thinking retailers to maintain their store’s digital underpinnings while casting a wide net for Pokémon GO users — and potential customers — who may be flooding their area. With retail increasingly fulfilling the omnichannel promise and more AR applications in the vein of Pokémon GO on the horizon, application-aware performance management tools will be a necessity for retailers hoping to drive foot traffic, raise conversion rates, and increase sales in the coming years.

Ricardo Belmar is the senior director for enterprise product marketing at InfoVista. He develops market positioning and strategy for InfoVista's enterprise solutions globally. Belmar also actively participates with industry influencers in retail, consumer goods, and restaurant industries on technology trends via Twitter and LinkedIn.