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Using VR technology to reduce unnecessary project team store visits

CADS retail services manager, Pete Humm
Retail Insight by Pete Humm Head of Retail 24/06/2020

Hosting virtual site visits with Matterport surveys helps reduce unnecessary trips to store, saving time, cost and minimising physical contact.

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Matterport dollhouse view

Managing store development projects during COVID

As non-essential retailers reopen their doors and head office staff return from furlough, we are seeing Store Development teams reviewing how they will manage essential store refurbishment projects in the light of COVID19.

Since the tills haven’t been ringing for over 12 weeks, the focus will be on minimising operational costs while maintaining staff safety and this is where VR technology really adds value.

Store refurbs to entice customers back

Creating an enjoyable physical shopping experience is now more critical than ever in encouraging customers back in to store. This means that refresh and refurbishment programmes, put on hold 3 months ago, are back on the priority list again.

Finding ways to minimise travel while implementing change is one easy win and as the virtual team meeting has become standard practice in recent weeks, adopting the virtual store site meeting, is a very natural next step.

CADS Matterport virtual tours are being adopted by several retail clients for just this purpose. When you consider that a single surveyor on-site can replace visits from 20 or more project team members before construction begins. It is a no-brainer!

An article on retailtouchpoints.com stated that retailers must adopt a technology-first strategy to survive, according to Gary Hawkins, Author, Keynote Speaker and Strategic Advisor in the consumer goods retail industry.

Discover Matterport surveys

Cut the cost and time of planning store refurbishments using Matterport as a collaboration tool with your team.

Gain the efficiency savings that many leading retailers are already enjoying!

Tell me more about Matterport surveys

What are the benefits of virtual site visits to store?

Whether cost reduction or collaboration are the motivating factors, a pre-project Matterport survey can be used for the initial meetings to agree on the necessary extent of works and define the project specification. An added advantage found by one client is that the project scope can be scaled back if work isn’t needed saving costs, but also where required scaled up to ensuring work that is needed is dealt with cost-effectively when contractors are on site.

Once the project is in development, the various stakeholders, including contractors, can be given access to the Matterport survey, as a reference tool, to double-check existing layouts, locations and signage. This avoids additional costly visits to site to check small decisions and also ensures that everyone is using the same information to base decisions on.

And then when the refurbished store is set to open a post-project Matterport survey gives all stakeholders the chance to see the new site and understand the value of the investment without the cost, time and importantly H&S concerns.

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