Can Tablets Reshape the Retail Experience?

By Adam Blair
Smartphones equipped with price comparison and mobile commerce apps have put unprecedented power into shoppers' hands – literally. But tablets, another increasingly popular consumer device, could help tip the balance of power back in retailers' favor. Recent RIS surveys and interviews with key executives indicate tablets are being fast-tracked for rollout in many retail enterprises, starting with field and store managers and top executives.

But tablets' real potential as a retail game-changer will take place in the store, where leading players such as Best Buy and large-format retailers are exploring tablet implementations. The idea is to arm store associates with the ability to access the precise product, price and inventory information that will influence shoppers at the point of decision, and to present that information on a device with a screen size and form factor that make it easy for the associate to share this information with the customer.

In conjunction with our sister publication Mobile Enterprise, RIS News has explored tablets' customer engagement potential, along with useful advice on tablet device management and choosing sufficiently ruggedized devices, in Tablets Reshape Retail. This special supplement includes articles on:

• Which in-store mobile applications gain the most by moving to the larger form factor of tablet devices.
• How tablets' flexibility adds to their value throughout the enterprise, simplifying functions such as inventory and order management.
• What you need to know about tablet management, including the use of mobile device management systems (MDM), connectivity technologies, wireless security and key priorities for achieving PCI compliance.
• The importance of using retail-hardened, ruggedized tablet devices that can withstand the rigors of the retail environment.

There's even a tablet technology timeline stretching back to 1888, when a U.S. patent was granted for an electrical stylus device for capturing handwriting, to this year's Consumer Electronics Show, when more than 80 tablet devices were announced.

Click here to download the entire supplement.