Indoor mapping is transforming retail, optimizing store layouts, streamlining operations and enhancing the shopper experience. Mappedin, a global leader in digital mapping, powers billions of square feet of indoor spaces to help retailers improve efficiency.
In this Q&A, Hongwei Liu, Mappedin’s Founder and CEO, shares insights on retail’s biggest challenges, the role of mapping in inventory accuracy and how Mappedin’s partnership with gStore is driving innovation.
Mappedin is a global leader in indoor mapmaking. Our platform powers billions of square feet of indoor space around the world and helps customers and partners enhance visitor experiences and improve operations for venues of all kinds and sizes.
We’re mapping the built world and making maps as powerful indoors as they are outdoors. To achieve this, we have revolutionized the way indoor maps are made, managed, and maintained. Our all-in-one platform makes mapmaking easy for anyone, anywhere, anytime. We’ve simplified indoor mapping complexities with AI-powered, high-performance mapping technology and tools to help individuals, businesses, and partners enhance indoor experiences, optimize spaces, track assets, and ensure public safety.
As founder and CEO of the company, I oversee the strategy, direction, and positioning of the company. I make sure our talented teams have the resources they need and let their brilliance shine. In addition to maintaining strong industry and investor relationships, I focus on driving growth, as well as guiding the processes and management of our diversified revenue streams.
Retail is one of our early focus markets and with more than 10+ years working with retailers as well as providers serving them, we’ve acquired unique insight into the segment’s mapping needs and their evolution.
The demand for centralized, single-source indoor mapping is growing exponentially. Malls and retail stores need multi-faceted solutions to engage shoppers with seamless experiences. Retailers also need to make their operational and decision-making processes more efficient and informed. The cost associated with map development and maintenance siloed from shopper, inventory, and security applications is not sustainable.
We’re solving this by making it possible for retailers to create, manage, and maintain one map for numerous mission-critical purposes. gStore’s seamless integration of indoor mapping technology is an ideal example of end-to-end inventory management within one streamlined, centralized application.
With so many technology options for automation and integration, retailers should look to end-to-end platform providers with proven inventory management systems that make accuracy and visibility easy and effective. This is the goal of our GreyOrange partnership and gStore integration. Together, we’re making dynamic and user-friendly maps a key to unlocking store productivity, especially for in-store inventory picking and packing.
CAD drawings, modeling, and planogramming are often too complex, static, and burdensome to use by retail store staff who are often junior and have a myriad of customer service tasks as their priority. Maps give employees immediate context and understanding of what’s needed, when, and precisely where. As the demand for real-time inventory tracking and replenishment applications increases, we’re making dynamic, easy-to-understand item location and store wayfinding an operational imperative.
To keep customers happy, speed is a differentiator for retailers. But, store inventory efficiency is difficult to achieve, especially given omnichannel order demands. To provide great shopper experiences and serve BOPIS simultaneously, store inventory must be continuously monitored, managed, and fulfilled. Many retailers don’t have designated pickers in stores, so making all the associated tasks as easy and understandable as possible for staff is a significant requirement.
Retailers need a solution that expedites in-store pick and pack processes without overwhelming team members. Knowing what needs attention, where items are located, and how to get to them enables staff to accurately and immediately respond to system notifications. The resulting data can ultimately be used by retailers to enhance strategies for stock management and can help track and analyze inventory demand trends.
Inventory mapping gives store teams a universally understandable, recognizable, and useful basis for real-time information sharing and easier, faster task completion.
The Mappedin gStore partnership is a strategic collaboration with the goal of streamlining retailer inventory management with greater accuracy and visibility. Already serving leading retailers with hundreds of locations across North America, the companies are innovating to scale capabilities to set new standards for industry-leading shopping experiences and operational efficiencies.
Together, we empower retailers to:
Retailers struggle with stockouts, inefficient store operations and lost sales due to poor inventory visibility. gStore, a hyper-intuitive and easy-to-use retail SaaS app, transforms inventory management by making it intelligent – integrating RFID with real-time data to optimize stock accuracy, automate replenishment and enhance customer experiences.