Energous Corporation, a leading developer of RF-based charging for wireless power networks, and Flagship, a retail technology company that gives physical stores the ability to track their products, has announced their second retail store deployment of Wiliot Internet of Things (IoT) Pixel smart tags. Energous and Flagship’s latest deployment is with Academy Brand, which specializes in timeless, classic clothing for men, women and kids across Australia.
The deployment is the second retail program announced by Energous and Flagship. The Wiliot tags in Flagship’s retail deployment are all wirelessly energized by multiple Energous WattUp PowerBridges, capturing important information such as stock integrity (in-store inventory location) as well as purchases. This helps Academy Brand to understand in-store consumer behavior and garner actionable insights related to inventory counts, loss prevention, fitting room sessions, replenishment requirements and floor merchandising.
“This exciting new deployment with Academy accentuates the progress that we continue to make in the commercial rollout of wireless power networks within the retail sector,” said Cesar Johnston, CEO of Energous. “By providing a reliable source of wireless power for these tags, Energous technology is truly enabling the transformation of the smart retail space.”
Wiliot IoT Pixels are battery-free, active Bluetooth smart tags that can be attached to almost anything and at a low cost. In the Academy Brand deployment, the Wiliot tags are wirelessly powered by multiple Energous WattUp PowerBridges.
“We were originally working with solutions that featured battery-powered BLE tags, however, Wiliot has uncovered both a cost and operational benefit that couldn’t be achieved with the battery-powered tags. Once we understood the level of sophistication that Energous’ wireless power transmitters and the Wiliot IoT Pixels provided, we knew this was what we were looking for,” said Simon Molnar, founder & CEO of Flagship. “This partnership supports Flagship’s mission to bring brick-and-mortar retail into the digital world. Providing retail tags and connected devices with a reliable source of power is instrumental to enabling the smart store of tomorrow, and we’re proud to now have multiple pilot deployments with Energous and Flagship’s technologies.”
“It’s very exciting to see the momentum growing behind this new generation of retail systems using Wiliot technology to unlock a real-time view of what’s going on in the physical store. When you can improve efficiency and enhance the shopping experience at the same time, it’s clear that eventually all stores will be run this way,” said Steve Statler SVP at Wiliot. “Flagship and Energous are great examples of how our partners’ expertise is enabling best-of-breed solutions for brands that want to use cutting edge technology to thrive.”
Capable of powering multiple devices simultaneously at-a-distance, WattUp PowerBridge transmitters from Energous send power to, and can act as a data link for, connected IoT devices such as sensors, Electronic Shelf Labels, trackers, IoT tags, batteryless devices and more. Multiple WattUp PowerBridge transmitters create a WattUp Wireless Power Network capable of covering unlimited distances for large footprint deployments such as retail stores, industrial warehouses, manufacturing plants, logistics hubs and more. The WattUp Wireless Power Network is designed to provide consistent levels of power for IoT devices, while eliminating the costly need to manage and replace batteries or rely on restrictive wires and cables.
Click here to learn more about Wiliot IoT Pixel smart tags.
Click here to purchase the Energous' WattUp Powerbridge energy transmitter.
