A faster, more efficient era of mobile internet has arrived and with it comes fresh opportunities for physical retail.

Currently rolling out across the US, 5G is set to offer increased speed, less latency and greater bandwidth that will impact everything from the back end of retail operations to the customer experience instore.

Here’s what 5G means to retail…

What is 5G?

5G is the fifth generation of cellular mobile telecommunications, so it’s the type of internet you utilise when using a smart phone. It supersedes 4G, 3G and 2G, offering more data, a faster transfer rate, greater efficiency and less latency.

The upshot is, your mobile internet will be faster and more efficient, and there’ll be more bandwidth available for things like video streaming on-the-go.

Now 5G is steadily rolling out across the US and retailers are investigating the best ways to utilise the new technology.

The in-store experience

5G is predicted to be a major driver of the Internet of Things, allowing more devices to connect to mobile internet with greater efficiency.

As AT&T notes that’s going to better cater to emerging trends in retail that shape a shopper’s experience when they enter a store.

That includes a range of new technologies, like:

• personalized digital signage

• magic mirrors

• augmented reality

• virtual reality

• smart shelves

• video and pattern recognition of shoppers

Stores Magazine recently explained many retailers had sought to introduce this technology, but the heavy toll on bandwidth proved a challenge.

“While the hardware for digital fitting rooms, immersive experiences and interactive displays has long been available, retailers have often struggled with adoption due to the heavy bandwidth required to support these experiences,” they note. “5G could potentially eliminate these limitations.”

Mobile apps

Although mobile apps are nothing new, the speed at which they will be delivered and the seamless experience they will offer is set to transform under the guidance of 5G.

As retailers replace fixed internet with more efficient mobile, consumers will no longer have to overcome the glitch of connecting to a store’s network in order to access the benefits, Stores Magazine further explained.

“Having to log into store networks to access in-store functionality has often been a hiccup in the omnichannel experience,” the magazine notes.

“In a fully optimized 5G environment, customers could seamlessly walk in and out of any store with a high-speed, real-time connection that enables them to engage with the retailer throughout the process.”

Store operations

From the mobile Point of Sale to RFID tagging, store inventory and logistics, much of the back-end of modern retail depends upon the Cloud.

5G is set to speed up access to the Cloud, reduce the latency involved, and allow more devices to use and access it effectively at the same time.

This means the Cloud will be accessible in real and immediate time, improving everything from the performance of back-end operations to the reliability and immediacy of mobile Point of Sale.

Data and analytics

To create a personalised, customised experience, retailers are increasingly relying on the gathering of data and analytics.

In the recent retail technology study Wake Up Call for Digital Transformation Intel’s Alex Gefrides noted: “In-store analytics are being applied to every phase of the retail process by determining retail trends, predicting where the demand will be for products, optimizing pricing for a competitive edge, identifying consumer purchasing patterns and behaviors, and other insights for immediate decisions”.

5G will better furnish retailers with the ability to do this in real time.

So much to come

As Stores Magazine notes, the ways in which 5G will transform both retail and the wider world is in many ways yet to be fully explored.

“The faster speeds, performance and bandwidth will transform every industry,” they note. “No one can tell you what the world will look like in 10 years, but because of 5G, it will look very different. The same as it’s very different today than it was 10 years ago.”

A little later this year the newest incarnation of the great American shopping mall is set to open its doors when American Dream Meadowlands officially commences operations in New Jersey.

Sixteen years in the making, this mammoth retail centre is set to boast 12 of the biggest names in retail, 339 small shops, 21 restaurants, 45 specialty food retailers and a wealth of attractions over a 2.8 million square foot precinct.

Among other things, it will include everything from North America’s largest indoor water park, to the biggest indoor ski park in the western hemisphere, and the first Sea Life Aquarium in New Jersey.

American Dream Meadowlands adds to a long list of super-sized shopping malls throughout the US. Once complete, it will be the second largest mall in the USA in terms of lettable area, and it comes at a time when shopping malls are supposedly in decline.

Here’s an insight into the top 5 shopping malls in the US…

King of Prussia

First opened back in 1963, King of Prussia shopping mall in Montgomery, Pennsylvania still ranks as the largest center in the USA.

This giant retail precinct measures an astounding 2.9 million square feet with anchor tenants who are amongst the who’s who of modern retail.

Over 450 retailers call King of Prussia home, including Lord & Taylor, Dick’s Sporting Goods, Primark, Neiman Marcus, Nordstrom, Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s.

Over its 55-year history, King of Prussia has steadily grown from a modest open-air shopping centre to a mammoth shopping mall.

Adventura Mall

For 36 years Adventura Mall has been a retail drawcard for Florida. Located in Miami, it encompasses 2.7 million square feet and over 300 retailers, including anchor tenants like Nordstrom, Macy’s and Bloomingdales along with Apple, Adidas, Burberry, Cartier, Givenchy, Topshop, and Zara.

Like King of Prussia, Adventura has also experienced its fair share of changes over the years. It was home to the first Macy’s in Florida and was also once a major outlet for Sears.

In 2017, it opened a major expansion in the form of a three-story wing.

Del Amo Fashion Center

Del Amo Fashion Center in California has one of the lengthiest histories of any shopping centre in the US. This now mammoth precinct first started out as an open-air center that gradually morphed into one of the largest retail precincts in the US.

At its peak it reached 3 million square feet and was ranked the largest US shopping centre from 1981 to 1992.

These days it encompasses about 2.6 million square feet and boasts 255 retailers including anchor tenants Macy’s, Nordstrom, JCPenney and Sears.

South Coast Plaza

California is also home to the South Coast Plaza, a vast retail center that is touted as having America’s highest sales value of $1.5 billion annually.

Like King of Prussia shopping mall, South Coast Plaza opened in the 1960s as America’s urban sprawl shepherded in a new retail era, and over the years it too has undergone expansion.

The center is known for its distinctive architecture and due to early success, soon grew to include a new wing.

Now South Coast Plaza brings in 24 million visitors annually and features over 250 retailers, including Macy’s, Nordstrom, Saks Fifth Avenue, and Bloomingdale’s.

Mall of America

Although a latecomer to this retail list, the Mall of America is considered the largest in the USA in terms of floor area, spanning a whopping 4.8 million square feet in total.

First opened in 1992, it hosts all the mainstays of US retail including anchor tenants Nordstrom, Forever21, Marshall’s, Nickelodeon Universe, Lego World, and American Girl.

It also boasts an amusement park and Sea Life Aquarium, along with mini golf and cinemas. Last year it was also announced the Minnesota shopping mall would soon host a water park.

No decline here

The constant growth and evolution of all these major retail centers flies in the face of recent headlines that bricks and mortar is in the decline. Each offers a unique customer experience, with many having established themselves as not just a local shopping center, but as a destination and tourism drawcard where entertainment and retail meet.

For as long as there have been products to sell, retailers have been battling the five-finger discount, and along the way they’ve employed all sorts of methods to combat the crime.

In this constantly evolving battleground, one of the most effective strategies developed was Electronic Article Surveillance (EAS), allowing retailers to protect individual products with security tags and be alerted to an incident of theft.

Since they first hit the shop floor in the 1960s, EAS and security tags have become one of the most popular loss prevention tools available, and in the five decades that have ensued they’ve also come a very long way.

Here’s a brief history of EAS and security tags and how they came to be one of the top methods employed in the battle against retail shrink.

Not so humble beginnings

Electronic Article Surveillance had its origins in 1964 when a store manager in Ohio became frustrated with the ongoing problem of shoplifting. After chasing a man who had pilfered bottles of spirits, he reportedly remarked that anyone who could figure out a way to deter such thieves was destined to make a fortune.

Overhearing the comment, his cousin, Jack Welch, enthusiastically embraced the challenge, returning to the store weeks later with a tag taped to a piece of cardboard and a box of electrical components. The creation was rough and ready but demonstrated that if you tried to leave the store with the tag, an alarm would sound.

The super tag 60s

Fast forward two years and the official honour of inventing EAS security tags actually goes to Arthur J. Minasy. He is the inventor credited with creating and patenting a security device that could be attached to items for sale. Manasy’s system was based on Radio Frequency (RF) technology and became the basis for his company Knogo.

By the end of that year, security tags were widely marketed to retailers.

Swept RF and the small label 70s

The 1970s saw major innovations in the world of EAS. By the early 1970s Swept RF technology had been developed, followed by electro-magnetic technology and the ability to create small labels.

The acousto magnetic 80s

Further innovation continued throughout the 1980s with acousto-magnetic technology joining the EAS line-up.

Operating on a lower frequency, it allowed retailers to thwart shoplifters who tried to get around tag security by using foil booster bags.

Then in 1986 Ink tags arrived, featuring a dye pack that would release ink when thieves tampered with the tag. The first incarnation of the technology wasn’t a huge success, but it would go on to be developed into a highly effective benefit denial strategy that now also harnesses the power of EAS.

The source tag 90s

The 1990s saw the rollout of source tagging where retailers now enjoyed the convenience of tags being applied at the point of manufacture. It was quickly embraced by major US retailers like Home Depot and JC Penney.

Beyond 2000

The past two decades have seen the constant improvement and refinement of EAS.

Security tags and security labels now offer a higher quality solution in a range of sizes that do not impede consumer interaction. They are also more readily integrated with packaging, are more reliable, and are easier to deactivate at the point of sale.

Much of this innovation has been driven by the availability of new technology and smaller components, but it has also been in response to the improved talents of thieves.

As a result, EAS, security labels and tags continue to improve and evolve, and the method remains the most popular form of loss prevention. Employed by 68 per cent of retailers in the US and 73 per cent of retailers globally, it also ranks as one of the most effective strategies, curbing loss by up to 80 per cent.

You can learn more about EAS and selecting the right security tags here.