West Edmonton Mall, a massive shopping and entertainment complex in Alberta, Canada, has set a new precedent for the use of wireless technologies in retail. The mall offers customers a Wi-Fi network the size of 48 city blocks and is developing new ways to use the network to run operations, including mall security and customer check-in to its hotel.
The mall features more than 800 stores, 110 eating establishments, and an indoor amusement park with a tropical rain forest, bungee jumping, and a water park. Many visitors stay in the mall’s Fantasyland hotel. The entire property is served by a Siemens Communications Inc.-based network, including 55 hot-spot access points, that the mall calls Wemisphere.
Mall visitors aren’t just riding roller coasters and buying clothes. About 2,000 visitors use Wemisphere, deployed seven months ago, to access the Internet, says Joe Schuldhaus, VP of information technology at West Edmonton. “We’re giving people convenience where they want it and when they want it,” he says.
This past spring West Edmonton retail tenants began selling Wemisphere access cards to shoppers. When an account is activated, customers are redirected to the tenant’s Web site or a promotional page. Then shoppers can use their Internet-enabled handheld devices as a shopping aid: As they walk through the mall, specific retail promotions appear on their screens when they pass by those retailers. This is accomplished by using a location-based technology portal that targets where account users are located in the mall. “We know where users are roaming because they are connected to the portal, and we are able to target them with specific [ads] as they pass through the mall,” Schuldhaus says.
-
Archives
- August 2010
- November 2009
- June 2009
- May 2009
- April 2009
- February 2009
- January 2009
- December 2008
- November 2008
- October 2008
- March 2008
- February 2008
- December 2007
- October 2007
- September 2007
- August 2007
- July 2007
- June 2007
- May 2007
- April 2007
- March 2007
- February 2007
- January 2007
- December 2006
- November 2006
- October 2006
- September 2006
- August 2006
- July 2006
- June 2006
- May 2006
- April 2006
- March 2006
- February 2006
- January 2006
- December 2005
- November 2005
- October 2005
- September 2005
- August 2005
- July 2005
- June 2005
- May 2005
- April 2005
- March 2005
- February 2005
- January 2005
- December 2004
- November 2004
- October 2004
-
Meta