Control Group is a technology and design services company based in NYC that helps organizations digitally activate their spaces, businesses, and products through strategies, architecture, development, and design. They helped Kate Spade launch their new Saturday brand by integrating dynamic digital signage into their Tokyo store to display weekly inventory updates. They worked with OTG to allow travelers to order food from iPads in airport gates for delivery to their seats. They are working with the NYC MTA to deploy digital wayfinding kiosks. When deploying in-store experiences, considerations include content update processes, transaction workflows, data insights, and cloud offloading.

1. Control Group is a technology and design services
company based in NYC.
www.controlgroup.com

2. We help organizations digitally activate their spaces, businesses and products
through a combination of disciplines ranging from business strategy, systems
architecture, software development, interface and experience design.

3. 5 QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER
WHEN DEPLOYING IN-STORE EXPERIENCES
We helped Kate Spade
launch their new global
brand, Saturday, by
integrating dynamic
digital signage into their
flagship store in Tokyo.
We helped OTG
transform the Delta gate
area into a major point of
sale by allowing travelers
to order food and other
items from the concourse
via iPads and have them
delivered to their seat in
the gate boarding area.
We’re currently working
with the New York City
MTA to deploy over 100
digital way-finding kiosks
to help New Yorkers and
visitors better navigate
the City.

4. How often will content need to be updated?
Do you have a pipeline to deliver the updated content?
With Kate Spade Saturday we had a unique content
challenge in that they update their inventory each
Saturday (hence the name). They needed an easy method
to deliver dynamic product signage each week to each
store.

5. Kate Spade’s marketing
department is based in NYC and
they needed to manage the brand
and deliver signage in multiple
languages around the globe.

6. Control Group built a flexible,
custom CMS that leverages the
global footprint of AWS, allowing
Kate Spade marketing in New
York to distribute consistent
branded content around the
globe.

7. Technology should enable and enhance the overall
experience – not be the experience.
In the case of the MTA – while our kiosks are big shiny
touchscreens – the real value is that they’re contextually
aware of time and location.

8. The system will customize a commuter’s route based on real-time train
schedules and disruptions. The information provided is directly relevant to
the user’s specific trip at that specific time.

9. Creating a personalized experience is possible even in a
high-traffic public environment - as opposed to those
confusing paper route change signs littering stations.

10. Where does the transaction fit into the customer flow and
the service workflow?

11. When a sales associate uses a mobile device to check
out a customer from behind a cash wrap, the service
workflow has not adapted to the technology. FAIL.

12. OTG Management wanted to bring new points of sale to the Delta gate
area, which was void of any restaurants or retail.
Tasked with creating “the best waiter ever”, we integrated the iPad
framework with the Micros POS system and credit card processing.
Travelers can easily order anything they want from the concourse
while they browse Facebook, check their email, or play Angry Birds
with their kids.

13. OTG’s service was redesigned to support the new technology.
Ordering via the iPad is the same as a waiter placing an order
within the restaurant – the user can customize their items and pay
via the app.
The order is routed directly to the kitchen and is then delivered
right to the customer’s seat by a runner.

14. WHAT INSIGHTS CAN YOU CAPTURE?
Click and page views are good indicators online and real world. Digital
touch points can be codified in the same manner.
With OTG, the iPads enable analytics that provide incredible insights.

15. Via touch-point analytics, OTG knows where “golden chairs” are in
the gate -- those seats where customers happen to order the most.

16. Combined with customer profile data, OTG can also glean product
demand trends. One interesting finding: people flying to Florida
drink the most soda by far.
OTG is now able to predict supply chain needs and normalize
their supplies to accommodate this predictable demand.

18. Offloading to the cloud helped us with the launch of Kate Spade
Saturday’s Tokyo Flagship store.
Space is at a premium in retail – especially in Tokyo – and they
could not accommodate servers or IT staff in the store. By
leveraging AWS’ global footprint, we offloaded server duties to the
cloud and saved more space for merchandise.

19. For OTG, we studied customer behavior and recognized that
travelers want to stay by the gate so they don’t miss any flight
info. So we designed the app to provide self-selected personalized
flight info right on the screen.
This required getting Delta’s flight data to the iPad – but Delta’s
flight data comes out like a fire hose.

20. This amount of data would deplete the bandwidth of the entire
airport, let alone the Delta terminal.
But with AWS tools, we were able to route the data to the cloud
first, distill it down to a manageable size, and then provide near
real-time flight data over a standard bandwidth pipe in the
airport.

21. WHAT’S THE TAKEAWAY?
+ Follow through
+ Avoid gimmick-tech
+ Don’t develop in a vacuum
+ Think beyond omni-channel
+ Take advantage of your location

22. THANK YOU
JONATHAN.SPOONER@CONTROLGROUP.COM
WWW.CONTROLGROUP.COM