Wireless World: Aisle displays for shoppers.

Byline: GENE KOPROWSKI

CHICAGO, July 28 (UPI) -- Wireless retailing is growing beyond mere point-of-sale service and inventory management, as new displays are coming to market that interact directly with customers in the shopping aisles, experts tell UPI's Wireless World.

These systems, which integrate hardware interface technologies, application software and wireless infrastructure, are poised to play a direct role in the in-store shopping experience of consumers. These systems have the potential to improve store operational performance by influencing the purchasing behavior and buying habits of shoppers.

"The outcome will be a new generation of grocery shoppers with a transformed view of their supermarket shopping experience," said Mark Smith, an analyst with Applied Data Research, a technology consulting firm based in Amherst, N.H. "Despite the enormity of such a shift, the economics of the grocery industry and the logistics of deploying these powerful mobile shopping systems in an industry with tight margins have slowed adoption to a crawl as a few major players cautiously feel their way through this new customer paradigm."

The transition to in-store wireless shopping, he noted, will be evolutionary, but ultimately it will be driven by information-savvy consumers as repeated exposure and acceptance time produces a new level of expectations. "Early-adopters of the technology will be positioned to ride the learning curve and maintain a tactical advantage over the competition," said Smith.

The interest in wireless in the retail space was stimulated by Wal-Mart, which a few years ago commanded its supply-chain vendors to start using wireless tags to track inventory in real time, including companies like Serious Magic, maker of Ovation software, or Altec Lansing headphones. The so-called Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags -- which can be put on boxes of software, pallets of headphones, or other ...