Vipera Plc (LON:VIP), the specialist provider of mobile financial and retail services, have today announced it has been selected to partner with Philips Lighting (AMS:LIGHT) to complement its indoor positioning system. CFO Martin Perrin talks to DirectorsTalk about it’s new partnership with Philips Lighting. Martin explains what it is that the company will be doing with Philips, how the mApp comes into play, what it is, what it will do for consumers and what it will do for retailers.
Philips Lighting, a global leader in lighting products, systems and services has announced its Location Lab partner program, which includes Vipera, to enable collaboration with industry leaders and start-ups to develop innovative applications of its highly accurate indoor positioning system.
Vipera is using the Philips’ indoor positioning technology as part of its growing retail offering and has created a proof of concept mApp called Follow Me which uses the Philips technology to direct consumers to specific products in store and then uses augmented reality to enable the user to scan a product and receive additional information, pricing and demos or previews. The mApp is currently being trialled with a major European retailer.
Other companies which have joined the Philips Lighting Location Lab program include Microsoft, SAP and Capgemini.
Philips Lighting, Segment Leader of Retail and Hospitality, Parik Chopra, commented: “Our Location Lab partners are as important to us as apps to a smartphone; the value a building owner derives from our indoor positioning system increases with the number of complementary products and services we offer. With our partners, we are able to turn our customers’ vision into reality and enable them to differentiate through shopper convenience and staff efficiency.
“The market for indoor positioning is forecasted to triple by 2020, to over 1 million installations. Together with our Location Lab partners we are looking forward to offer scalable systems that fulfill the needs of this growing market.”
Vipera Plc CEO, Marco Casartelli, commented: “We are very pleased to have been selected by Philips Lighting to join their Location Lab partner program. Their technology not only complements our retail and customer engagement propositions but opens up the possibilities for much broader adoption in the retail community.”