In the retail industry, customer expectations are straightforward: they want to easily find the products they need and enjoy a hassle-free shopping experience. If a store falls short in these aspects, it risks losing its place as a preferred shopping destination for customers. That is precisely why the foundation of a great customer experience lies in effective space planning.

Commonly referred to as a planogram, space planning involves optimizing a store’s layout and product placement to enhance customer experiences and increase sales. Effective strategies include positioning high-demand and seasonal items near the entrance, ensuring accessibility and visibility in key areas, and adapting layouts based on sales data and customer feedback.

In the Philippines, planogram preparation is mainly a manual process, although retailers use digital tools for sales data analysis. However, for larger retailers dealing with extensive data and numerous products, manual adjustments can become overwhelming. 

Through advanced tech, retail space planning driven by artificial intelligence is now possible. This is in the form of store-specific planograms. RELEX Solutions, a leading supply chain and retail solutions provider, shares its insights on this emerging trend.

“A store-specific or local planogram is one designed for a particular store or location.  Unlike a standardized planogram that may be used for multiple stores, a local planogram takes into account the unique characteristics of a specific store, such as its layout, customer demographics, and sales data,” said Donald “DJ” Felbaum, Head of Sales for the Philippines at RELEX Solutions. “It is tailored to the individual needs and conditions of that particular location to optimize product placement and merchandising to drive sales and improve customer service.”

However, it is often seen as challenging and time-consuming due to the anticipation of lengthy, costly, and uncertain implementation projects. For instance, imagine a retailer with 1,000 stores, each needing weekly updates to five planograms. If one planner creates ten planograms daily, it would require an impractical workforce of 100 planners, along with ongoing training. But the integration of AI and machine learning automation can address these challenges. AI-powered automation can help users configure parameters and apply them across thousands of planograms, saving costs and avoiding additional expenses related to inventory adjustments for layout and local consumer preferences.

The benefits of AI-generated local planogram optimization also include precise store shelf configuration and a one-touch replenishment model. This approach, which enables immediate stacking of incoming stock onto display units, facilitates one-way inventory that results in cost reduction by eliminating the need for staff to transport excess stock to back rooms, enhancing the efficient use of available storage space, and reducing restock frequency of fast-selling products. 

Furthermore, AI and machine learning automation usher in interactive, standardized merchandising reports. These insights unveil concealed issues and provide both macro and micro data perspectives, empowering retailers to proactively optimize product placement, fine-tune pricing, and enhance inventory management. 

Store-specific planograms epitomize the future of space retail planning, optimizing product placement, and enhancing customer satisfaction. Harnessing advanced technology in retail, this tailored approach allows retailers to adapt swiftly to market changes, leading to elevated customer experience, improved profitability, and fostering brand loyalty.

The post-pandemic environment demands flexibility and adaptability from everyone but most especially entrepreneurs who are slowly recovering from the pandemic slump. One online Facebook seller is employing her business acumen not just in the virtual marketplace but in real life, as she does “hybrid selling” of her consumer goods.

Rogelia Dasco, a Cebu-based homemaker who buys and sells imported goods from the US, does her trade mostly online.

“The items, like lotions and perfumes, are from the US. My sister sends them, I take a picture of them, and I post them on Facebook Marketplace,” she shares.

However, unlike most online sellers, she doesn’t stop in the virtual world; When she gets to her buyer’s address, she then goes house to house in the community. The strategy pays off – she is able to sell out her goods in one afternoon instead of waiting for online sellers to finish off her inventory.

“When someone buys from me, for example, I go to their house but I bring my other items too. After I deliver to the buyer, I go to the neighbors and offer my other goods. Right now, I’m all sold out. The next shipment will come at the end of the month,” Dasco proudly says.

Supporting this diligent hybrid approach is BIDA fiber, the new mass market offering of Converge targeting the lower C and D income classes.

BIDA fiber is the most affordable postpaid broadband plan in the market today, and the cost savings makes a difference for smaller entrepreneurs.

“It’s so affordable and I’m able to save too. My old plan was priced at P 1,299 with an additional P 200 every month so that’s P 1,499. With BIDA, I’m able to save more than P 500,” said Rogelia Dasco.

The reliable connection – that can go up to 35 Mbps – also makes sure Rogelia keeps her ties with her supplier sister strong as every night they call each other through video. Even with a 3-hour video call, her husband watching YouTube videos, and her son playing Mobile Legends with friends at home, Rogelia’s connection never falters.

“I’ve really maximized my connection. It’s really good, even if we all use the internet at the same time,” she added. BIDA fiber is now available in more than 300 cities and municipalities in the Philippines and has more than 40 partner distributors selling the postpaid plan.

Halloween season is here, which means carving pumpkins, trick or treating, planning costumes, sneaking the kids’ candy and scary movies, of course. However, one of the scariest threats facing individuals and businesses alike this spooky season is phishing scams. Much like children in costumes coming to the door to ask for candy on Halloween, cybercriminals disguise themselves to trick people into providing information such as usernames and passwords, Social Security numbers and more. 

Keeper Security, the leading provider of zero-trust and zero-knowledge cybersecurity software protecting passwords, passkeys, privileged access, secrets and remote connections, is sharing its top tricks to keep cybercriminals from haunting you down.

It’s important to remain vigilant and learn the telltale signs of phishing attacks in order to prevent falling victim to them. Cyber witches often use the following ingredients in their phishing potions:

#1 Urgent language: Phishing attempts will often contain language that displays a sense of urgency. This is because the cybercriminal wants the targeted victim to act as quickly as possible so they don’t second-guess themselves when sending their personal information. 

#2: Discrepancies in email addresses and domain names: Another indicator is if an email claiming to be from a boss, coworker or company, has an email address and domain name that doesn’t match who they claim to be. The email or web address may have a subtle difference, such as an o replaced with a 0 or .com replaced with .net.

#3 Requests for personal information: Sudden requests for personal information are also a common phishing attempt indicator. If you receive an email, text message or phone call from an unknown number claiming to be a company or someone you know, think twice before giving out your personal information– especially if you weren’t the one who initiated the conversation.

#4 Misspellings and grammatical errors: Another common sign of a phishing attempt is when the message includes misspellings and grammatical errors. Before companies send out emails to customers, they go through multiple rounds of reviews to ensure there are no errors. If you receive an email claiming to be a company or individual and you notice errors, it’s best to not click on anything in the email because it could be a phishing attempt.

Unfortunately, bad actors enjoy cybercrime as much as your children enjoy costumes, but there are a few not-so-spooky measures you can take to protect your accounts, financial data, sensitive documents and identity secure from haunted hackers this holiday season.

#1 Think before you click: If you receive unsolicited links and attachments through email, text message or other messaging platforms, do not click on them. These links and attachments may contain malware that can steal your sensitive information or spy on you. If you’re not sure if a link is safe, hover your mouse over it to see the full website address or use a safety checker like Google Transparency Report. 

#2 Use a password manager: A password manager helps you create, manage and securely store your passwords, but also provides a built-in warning about phishing sites. A password manager saves the web address with your login, so if your information does not autofill, that means you’re not on the authentic website. 

#3 Use an email scanner: An email scanner is a tool that scans email attachments for potential malware. Investing in an email scanner will also help protect you from email phishing attempts by identifying dangerous attachments. 

#4 Enable multi-factor authentication on your accounts: Your accounts should not only be protected with strong passwords, but also have Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) enabled whenever possible. MFA requires that the user provide one or more forms of authentication in addition to their username and password. Even if you did fall for a phishing attempt and reveal the login credentials to an account, having MFA enabled would prevent a cybercriminal from being able to access it. 

#5 Reach out to the company or individual another way: Whenever you receive an email, text message or phone call that makes you question whether or not it’s legitimate, contact the individual or company directly through another method of communication. If they say the message isn’t from them, then you just avoided becoming a phishing victim. 

You don’t need a superhero costume to fight off scary cyberattacks this Halloween. Anyone can be a cyber hero by staying vigilant and following Keeper’s best practices, so knock the cobwebs off this season and brush up on your cybersecurity knowledge with the Keeper Security Blog.