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Startup unveils wearable tech for retail floor, cloud connection

December 10, 2013

Technology start-up Theatro today announced the general availability of the Communicator Software-as-a-Service offering, a mobile workforce productivity application suite that leverages Theatro’s new enterprise wearable.

The store operations solution, delivered as a cloud-based SaaS service over the in-store WiFi network to every retail associate, provides brick and mortar retailers a voice activated enterprise wearable with critical management command and control and analytics to increase sales associate productivity, conversion rates and store profitability, the company said in a press release.

The service includes:

Theatro Communicator: A 1.5-ounce voice-driven enterprise wearable designed for the retail sales floor associate.

Communications Application: A voice-driven application that enables store associates to interact instantly with all store employees, store systems, store management and even associates in other stores. This simple communications app empowers store employees to communicate with each other either one-to-one or one-to-many.

Indoor Location Application: Leveraging the retail store Wi-Fi network, the built-in tracking service provides store employees and management real-time information about where other associates are located at all times. Continuous real-time location data gives retailers a key tool for increasing responsiveness and productivity.

Employee Analytics Application: Providing headquarters, regional and individual store management with unprecedented access to real-time and historical team performance metrics (communications, shopper engagements, social behaviors, where and how associates spend their time, how they move, and so on). Extensions of these tools include predictive data modeling for optimizing future store performance.

Theatro Cloud: With no up-front capital outlay, Theatro’s cloud based SaaS offering is available on a per-employee monthly subscription fee.

“We strongly believe in the idea that a retail associate should be heads-up and hands free while in the store. Good eye-to-eye contact coupled with readily available useful information is what we all want when engaging an associate while shopping,” said Chris Todd, Theatro CEO. “Theatro’s solution enables associates to be connected to the company’s information resources making them more productive and enabling them to provide great customer experience.”

Theatro is now in the early stages of a nation-wide deployment with The Container Store after several months of trials to incorporate feedback and enhancements into the offering.

“The Theatro wearable solution has been instrumental in our ability to enable our associates to deliver better customer service and communicate with one another,” said John Thrailkill, VP of Stores Systems, The Container Store, “and ultimately it represents a powerful approach to more employee productivity by enabling instant and actionable capabilities.”

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