Technology is playing an increasingly relevant role in the evolution of retail commerce, thanks to innovations such as artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning and Big Data, among others. However, according to expert opinion, the most promising developments for the retail industry in the immediate future will be solutions framed within the Internet of Things or IoT, for its acronym in English.

Following this trend, Hasar creates the “IoT Spaces” solution, a software that has the function of being the connectivity link between all the data capture devices that may be in a business, regardless of the type of technology, centralizing the data and thus improving operability. Specifically, it is a solution that integrates networks of physical objects (“things”) through sensors, software and other embedded technologies in order to connect and exchange data with other devices and systems through the web.

In IoT Spaces, RFID devices become one more component of the Internet of Things, within a comprehensive ecosystem that can include drones, smartphones, sensors and mobile terminals, among others, with the aim of obtaining the traceability and/or management of the information necessary for the entire supply chain, from the distribution center to the point of sale where the final consumer is.

“Our development is an evolution of what in the jargon of retail technologies is called “middleware”, that is, 'middle software' that is located between an operating system and the applications that run on it,” says Schmeling.

An important feature is that while RFID tags allow the product to be identified, IoT Spaces expands the functionality of the middleware by capturing, within the same software, other key data such as, for example, the temperature to which a certain item was subjected when moving from one sector to another, where the product identifier will be the RFID that will inform what product it is. At the same time, it has an associated sensor in case this temperature needs to be controlled, a key issue for traceability of food or medicines.

Retail systems such as Iot Spaces based on RFID improve the buyer experience and increase sales in retail stores. In addition, the user can view the products read at any time, as well as any missing or leftover products as expected. It allows, among other things, to alert when a person steals something without a prior purchase, having the anti-theft and control scheme with a single RFID tag.