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It’s 7:00 am on Boxing Day. Is this a good time for an Internet outage at Best Buy?

With growing wish lists and excess spending around the holidays, many people are looking for ways to save money. For some this may mean waiting for the much anticipated deals associated with Boxing Day door crashers.

This got me thinking…with the popularity of debit and credit cards, as well as online orders, what would happen if stores like Best Buy lost their Internet connections during the height of a Boxing Day rush? Like the fights that happened at most Trump rallies, it wouldn’t be pretty.

In 2016, no company can afford to have a down connection at any time…

This is especially true for retailers. People now have high expectations for how and where their money is spent so if service levels are not where they want, they have other options. People also expect to be able to pay however they want and whenever they want. This means retailers need to have virtually 100% uptime on their networks, says Larry Bellehumeur, M2M / IoT Consultant, Novotech Technologies.

As well, it’s important to remember that these payment expectations are not exclusive to brick and mortar locations. In fact, people expect this at any location – whether it be mobile…a temporary event…or a pop-up store – it does not matter. People like paying with credit cards.

Using cellular modems as a way to back-up a vital Internet line just makes sense for most retailers and hospitality locations.

But, it is not just availability

In addition to expecting uptime, people also expect security. They want to know that their information is secure, wherever you take it. So, Kiosks and other locations need to be as secure as a brick and mortar location.

The Bottom Line

Retailers have been facing an onslaught from the online retailers as customers are constantly price-comparing them to Amazon and others. This makes it essential for brick and mortar retailers to offer services and value that goes well beyond what is offered online.

For more on the topic of IoT solutions in retail and hospitality, especially as it relates to consumer expectations, check out this short video webinar.

The author of this blog is Larry Bellehumeur, M2M / IoT Consultant, Novotech Technologies.

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