According to the research, deployment of in-store Wi-Fi had the most significant positive impact on retail sales and loyalty of any technology initiative. Almost half of the participating retailers, representing all retail sizes and types, claimed increased customer loyalty due to deploying in-store employee Wi-Fi, with an associated 3.4% increase in sales. One third of retailers (28%) reported increased customer loyalty due to deploying in-store customer Wi-Fi, with an associated 2% increase in sales. These dramatic results point to employee Wi-Fi as an even bigger positive driver than customer Wi-Fi, and highlight the importance of a creating a connected, flexible workforce untethered to point-of-sale stations. 21% of retailers also reported an increase in customer dwell time in their stores due to deployment of in-store Wi-Fi. For these same retailers, top uses included traffic counting at 56% and Session Duration and Device Used at 49%.

Additional key findings include:
◦ 40% of IT budgets are now allocated to deploying new and innovative systems, compared to historic measures of 15-30% of the budget.

◦ Nearly 70% of specialty retailers are designing their next Point-of-Sale system based on a central order management system, which will put up to five times more load on the network and will require a WAN infrastructure refresh

◦ Per the increased push towards WAN, 34% of participants plan to update their WAN network security within 12 months, and 34% also plan to update their WAN bandwidth optimization to take advantage of changed software architecture and enhanced customer experience options

Devicescape commissioned a similar survey conducted by iGR of 400 U.S. small businesses with retail places of business. They found that providing free WiFi to customers increases:

◦ Foot traffic
◦ Amount of money customers spend
◦ Time spent on the premises

Read the full report: 2015 Store Infrastructure Study Impact of Store Networks and WiFi on CustomerExperience