Enable the Connected In-Store Experiences Customers Crave

A Brick-and-Mortar Boom Hinges on Wi-Fi

percentage of consumers who prefer retailers offering connected conveniences¹

percentage of enterprise retailers who cite a Wi-Fi network refresh as their top investment priority¹

How Are Retailers Approaching a Network Refresh?

Two women with shopping bags. One scanning a label with her mobile phone.

A REAL-WORLD EXAMPLE

Wireless Upgrades Transform
Customer Service

Aging wireless equipment was hampering a department store’s ability to deliver the prompt, precise in-store connectivity experiences customers had come to expect. The store’s networking team wanted to migrate to a new platform with remote management capabilities, but their existing enterprise agreement (EA) didn’t permit migration to a new platform and denied deployment of new technologies in the future.

Working with CDW, the customer outlined their needs:

An updated EA that allowed for future technology additions

Migration to a new Wi-Fi platform

Remote management capabilities

Relief from timeline and supply chain constraints

THE TURNING POINT

Advanced Wi-Fi Technology Hits the Shelves

After listening to the retailer and assessing their challenges, CDW networking experts recommended Cisco Meraki as the best new network platform to achieve their desired outcomes. CDW and Cisco then collaborated to facilitate a new EA that allowed for future innovations while standardizing network switching technologies.

CDW installed 8,000 Meraki MR46 wireless access points in 200 stores and activated buy and hold capabilities to balance the customer’s timeline with supply chain restraints.

Customers at a home furnishings store checking out at a register using mobile device.

THE RESULTS

A Networking Win-Win
for IT and Customers

The upgraded wireless performance simplified and automated network operations and lifecycle management. Remote manageability became a game-changer for the store’s networking team, as the strong wireless network increased agility, efficiency and control.

Store associates could transfer time saved on routine management tasks to attend to customers who also now enjoyed a more seamless experience when connecting to the retailer’s wireless network.

Here’s why it worked:

Consistent communication allowed the retailer’s networking team to fully explain their challenges and remain hands-on with solution discovery and implementation.

A technology partner with a direct connect to best-in-class wireless providers enabled a new EA that empowered the department store for the future of retail, rather than holding them back.

Buy and hold ordering procedures alleviated the retailer’s delivery worries around future endpoint needs and gave them confidence to move forward and focus on other strategic initiatives.

What’s next?

With a new EA that simplifies future scaling and modern wireless networking that empowers implementation of ongoing technology opportunities as they arise, the retailer is planning to install 40,000 more access points at 1,000 additional sites.

CDW Network Infrastructure Solutions power modern retail experiences.

Learn How

Source:
¹ Juniper Networks, “Competing and Winning with New Retail Customer Experiences,” 2022