Connect retail operations from shelf to fulfilment
The Retail IoT Center of Excellence is a legacy programme. This page preserves the original focus on connected stores, supply chains and customer experiences for reference. Current participation is directed through the active Centers of Excellence.
Executive Summary
The Retail IoT CoE brings store, supply chain, digital and security teams together to develop practical patterns for connected retail. Its reference architectures, playbooks, evaluation tools and audit evidence target shelf availability, shrink, omnichannel fulfilment, energy and refrigeration, and staff and customer experience.
Who We Serve
- Operations: store and district leaders, loss prevention, facilities and energy teams.
- Digital: e-commerce, omnichannel, last-mile, micro-fulfilment, CX and loyalty teams.
- Technology and trust: architects, POS/OMS/WMS and edge/data/CV teams; CISOs, privacy, PCI and audit leads.
- Leadership and partners: COO/CIO/CTO/CMO, merchandising and strategy, OEMs, integrators, ISVs, standards bodies and academia.
Charter & Objectives
Seven priorities guide the work: accurate inventory and on-shelf availability; targeted, privacy-preserving shrink and returns controls; faster BOPIS, curbside and ship-from-store fulfilment; safer self-checkout and scan-and-go; refrigeration, HACCP and energy performance; consent-aware queues, offers and signage; and policy-as-code with human approval, rollback and audit evidence.
Scope
Scope covers store cameras, RFID/ESLs, scales and beacons; Wi-Fi/5G and edge CV; POS/OMS/WMS/CRM links; micro-fulfilment and last-mile workflows; refrigeration/HVAC; and consent, PCI DSS and data minimisation.
Focus Pillars
- Shelf truth: reconcile RFID, smart shelves and CV gaps with POS/OMS. Pilot target: >95% inventory accuracy, automated replenishment and less ghost stock.
- Loss and returns: detect SCO swaps or skipped scans, validate receipts and route exceptions with on-device redaction. Reduce interventions and abuse without losing conversion.
- Pick to handoff: improve slotting, paths, staging, curbside and dispatch. Track pickup SLA, substitutions and cost per order.
- Checkout: combine SCO guardrails, mobile scan-and-go, assisted and age-restricted flows with dynamic staffing. Track completion, interventions and age-check latency.
- Food safety and energy: monitor cases, doors, defrost, compressors, HACCP and HVAC. Reduce excursions and energy intensity; improve audit readiness.
- Experience: use traffic and queue analytics, labour allocation, consented offers and A/B tests. Track wait time, AOV/UPT and experiment velocity.
Reference Architecture
- Devices: cameras, RFID/ESLs, scales, beacons and refrigeration/HVAC sensors with device identity where possible.
- Connectivity: dense Wi-Fi 6/7 and resilient 4G/5G, segmented and prioritised by service level.
- Edge: adapters, time sync, local CV/ML, buffering, quality checks, redaction and offline operation.
- Data: event streams, time-series, lakehouse/object storage, features, lineage and model registry.
- Applications: POS/OMS/WMS/TMS, planograms, checkout, loss prevention, HACCP, loyalty and experiments.
- Controls: consent, policy-as-code, human approvals, rollback and audit trails.
Deliverables
Outputs include reference architectures with design rules and bill-of-materials guidance, plus masterclasses on edge RFID/CV, omnichannel operations, checkout, refrigeration, privacy and PCI.
Cadence & Calendar
Archived programme plan (not a current meeting schedule): monthly 60–90 minute design and decision sessions; quarterly two-to-three-hour outcome showcases; and IoT Slam-aligned deep dives and masterclasses.
Participation Levels
Members learn and review; contributors bring use cases and artifacts; workstream leads deliver and present; chair/steering set direction, resolve blockers and uphold quality.
How to Get Involved
For active programmes, register interest via Join Us. To discuss a future retail initiative, email sponsors [at] iotcommunity [dot] net.
A question worth exploring
How can connected data help a retail team act sooner while fitting the systems, workflows and constraints already in place?
Bring your perspective
Bring a store or supply chain challenge, a deployment experience or a question about scaling a connected service. Share what teams needed to make the technology useful in practice.