Interview with Kim Schneider

Kim Schneider
Senior Director of Technology Solutions
Avery Dennison RBIS

Janela Smart Products Platform, powered by EVRYTHNG, helps apparel brands digitise their products

Avery Dennison RBIS, a global leader in apparel and footwear industry solutions, in association with EVRYTHNG, recently launched cloud-based Internet of Things platform, known as the Janela Smart Products Platform. Kim Schneider, senior director of technology solutions, Avery Dennison RBIS, shares details about the latest innovations and the future of apparel retail.

Please brief us about Janela Smart Products platform.

As a Fortune 500 company and a packaging materials leader, Avery Dennison RBIS provides packaging and labeling solutions as well as tagging and on-product material technologies for the world's leading brands in every major global market and industry. In April 2016, we launched the Janela Smart Products Platform in association with EVRYTHNG, an Internet of Things ("IoT") smart products pioneer. With the smartphone becoming the remote control for the physical world, Janela transforms the 1:1 conversation between the brand and the consumer by merging the physical product to the digital interaction, providing a new frontier for brand dialogue and personalisation. This unique relationship of Avery Dennison's hardware, data and world-class manufacturing, along with EVRYTHNG's IoT software technology represents one of the first truly industrial scale digital enablement of everyday products. Moreover, Janela enables apparel and footwear brands to easily deliver digital applications with their physical products. Over the next three years, Avery Dennison will work to digitise a minimum of 10 billion apparel and footwear products for leading brands and retailers worldwide, enabling unique and relevant consumer experiences.

What are the benefits to apparel and footwear retailers from IoT?

The Janela Smart Products Platform, powered by EVRYTHNG, helps apparel and footwear brands digitise their products to drive consumer engagement. By marking apparel and footwear products with a unique, serialised identity which then connects to EVRYTHNG's IoT cloud-based software, Janela creates the ability for brands and retailers to capture real-time data, enhance consumer experiences, and drive proactive marketing campaigns unique to every product and consumer. This "digital identity" also enables product registration, supports returns and re-orders, and facilitates brand protection and product authentication. Through this and more, Janela makes the manufacturing and selling of products more efficient and intelligent. Through data capture, Janela also offers brands the opportunity to customise content and drive ongoing engagement. Whether it is gaming, interactive marketing, or content creation, Janela gives brands the ability to tell their story, share transparent information like where a product is made and who made it, and encourage brand loyalty through promotional offers, discounts, points and new products. Brands can also develop organic, customisable content on the platform to keep consumers engaged.

How will it interest consumers?

According to LS:N Global, "consumers are looking to build mutually beneficial relationships with their brands and digital devices based on empathetic data-sharing, and personalised and seamless Phygital (Physical + Digital) experiences," and Janela provides retailers and consumers with the technology to do just that. The platform offers customisable content that is unique to each consumer and can be used to gain access to product reviews, coupons, discounts, loyalty rewards, styling recommendations and more to enhance in-store and online experiences. Users can also use the technology to create wish lists, browse their current collections, find products and alternative sizes from their smartphones, register purchases via mobile, and share feedback on social media. In addition, Janela encourages responsible consumption by delivering content and care information, and options to recycle or repurpose old clothing.

What is the kind of response you have received for Janela Smart Products?

Janela has received a great media response since our announcement in April 2016, with hundreds of publications covering the news, including top media outlets Forbes, Fortune, Quartz, Women's Wear Daily, and Business of Fashion. Overall, the Janela Smart Products Platform has garnered a positive reaction, with several media recognising this innovation as the technology that will "switch on" the fashion and retail industries, and promote greater, more intelligent interactions between consumers and brands (Source: Forbes).

Can you name retailers in the apparel sector who are already using such a platform or have shown interest in it?

We are currently working with a few brands and retailers to pilot the Janela Smart Products Platform; unfortunately, we cannot disclose the specifics.

6. By what percentage can retailers improve their sales and engagement with consumers using this platform?

While we cannot disclose the specifics at this time, Janela creates greater sales and engagement with consumers by delivering a seamless and customisable experience for users. The implementation of this technology will also give retailers and brands a more targeted and personalised approach to reach their customers. As for the technology, the application of IoT is increasingly expanding and with a projected worth of $14.4 trillion by 2020, "IoT represents a business opportunity which can provide companies with a distinct competitive advantage" (Source: Beaconstac). With technology continually advancing, Avery Dennison RBIS is committed to helping its customers stay ahead of the curve, and Janela's technology enables a forward-thinking interaction between brands, retailers, and consumers.

What kind of brands or retailers is Janela Smart Products platform targeted to?

Janela is targeted to apparel and footwear brands and retailers that are interested in building personalised engagements with their consumers. A survey conducted by LS:N Global reveals that 48 per cent of consumers expect brands to know them and help discover products and services that meet their needs. As the world becomes increasingly digital, our customers are openly discussing how this is critical to their strategy. Through Janela’s unique digital ID found on the apparel or footwear product label, brands receive valuable data and analytics about their consumer, and give these same brands and retailers the ability to directly connect to their consumers while creating customizable experiences for them.

Will this be just for products in-store? Do you plan to integrate it online too?

Janela begins with the physical product and moves these items online through the trigger agnostic cloud platform that drives digital experiences from manufacturing to end-of life; what makes Janela unique is that we use QR codes, or other technology triggers, merely as a pathway to activate the delivery of branded content at an item level. By scanning a 2D code or other trigger technology, such as NFC or image recognition, on a clothing's tag or label, consumers can then interact with their apparel and footwear products via their mobile phones, gaining access to brand or retailer-specific content. This can be anything from loyalty programmes and product registration to product reviews, cross selling, social media links and more. And this content can be changed based on consumer preferences, number of scans or many other parameters. Janela closes the loop by instrumenting the physical to digital consumer journey, and, in the process, creates a more seamless journey from retail stores to e-commerce and omnichannel retailing. Because of this, the platform also gives retailers a chance to increase PoS conversion, in-store engagement and differentiation, and directly transact with consumers through the products. Janela's digital identity lies within the clothing and footwear so the products live digitally, that is, beyond the in-store experience. As such, consumers can continue to interact with their products after their initial purchase. For example, after purchasing a pair of jeans tagged with Janela's digital identity, the consumer can register the product, gain loyalty points, hear about other relevant products, and receive styling tips tailored to their personal preferences long after they leave the retail store.

What is the most preferred medium for scanning labels - RFID, NFC, or EPC Gen 2 among apparel retailers?

The Janela Smart Products Platform is trigger agnostic and can integrate with new technologies as they emerge. Therefore, the 10 billion products can have one or more triggers and be a mix of existing and future mobile compatible technologies. Today, the largest and fastest growing area of RFID is in UHF (ultra high frequency), which is our main focus but is not yet easily readable by personal mobile devices. While NFC is part of our portfolio, it is growing at a significantly lower pace today. The key element will be on how to create a common digital identity and truly integrate all possible trigger points -- be it with or without RFID.

What are the latest trends and innovations ruling the apparel tag and labels market?

We are in a time of rapidly developing technology and the apparel tags and labels market must be digitally connected in order to adapt accordingly. With the increasing popularity of wearables and the changing technology landscape, many of our customers are actively pursuing the connection between the physical and digital, deepening connection between brands and their consumers. Spotting the intersection between the physical and digital worlds is merely the beginning for apparel and footwear industries; in order to be competitive, retailers will not only need to be aware of this trend, but will also need to be proactive about the movement towards products being "born digital." According to a recent Cisco study, by 2020, approximately 50 billion products a year will be manufactured with some form of smart, digital capability. Gartner's more conservative forecast has 25 billion connected physical objects. Both confirm that the age of smart products is here. (Source: Financial Times). At Avery Dennison, we are working to provide packaging materials that offer innovative and efficient solutions for the world's leading brands. Today, that includes new products and services that help brands engage consumers through digital means and Janela's digital labels and dynamic cloud capabilities bridge the gap, making apparel experiences smart, contextual, personalised, and forward-thinking.

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Published on: 15/09/2016

DISCLAIMER: All views and opinions expressed in this column are solely of the interviewee, and they do not reflect in any way the opinion of Fibre2Fashion.com.