STORES Magazine - January 2009 - (Page 52)

NUTS AND BOLTS / COMMUNICATIONS Connecting with the Future Wi-Fi one of the specials at retro-inspired restaurant chain BY M.V. GREENE he distinctive Silver Diner restaurant chain is serving up a nouveau classic to go with its tabletop jukeboxes and friendly neighborhood atmosphere. The Rockville, Md.based company is using Wi-Fi to entice patrons to visit its chain of 20 nostalgia-fueled restaurants to surf the Internet, check e-mail or shop while they delight over a stack of hotcakes, sip coffee or devour a slice of lemon pie. T “We kind of look at it now almost as The growing prevalence of Wi-Fi can a must have,” says Mike Snow, Silver be traced to changes in retailers’ busiDiner’s director of information technolness models. Largely gone is the Interogy. “I think if we did not have it, we net cafe model wherein establishments probably would not get some of the charged customers for the service. Inpeople in the door that we normally stead, the service is being offered to do.” customers without charge and being Technology analysts put Wi-Fi — detreated as a business expense rather fined broadly as a wireless local area than a profit center. network using radio frequency protoMajor national chains like Starbucks cols to support a variety of consumer and McDonald’s have employed or anapplications and devices — nounced plans to on a growth fast track. ABI offer free Wi-Fi, and 2008 GLOBAL Research, a New York vendors increasingly WI-FI HOTSPOTS market research firm, foresee the value in setcast 40 percent year-overting up shop at locayear growth in the number tions “that people of global Wi-Fi hotspots in were coming to anySource: ABI Research 2008. way,” says Robert up 40% Goldstein, CEO and founding member of Single Digits, the Manchester, N.H.based provider that launched and maintains Silver Diner’s Wi-Fi service. “We view the guest Internet function as a tool that, if done properly, will enable a business to strengthen its core competencies,” he says. “The goal of Silver Diner is not to become an ISP but to sell more blue-plate specials.” Wi-Fi is being marketed to retail establishments as an opportunity to accommodate technology-savvy customers who need to be connected while shopping, traveling or working away from the office. “Wi-Fi on its own as a hotspot is not a business model that makes a lot of sense,” Goldstein says. “The true beneWWW.STORES.ORG 52 STORES / JANUARY 2009 http://WWW.STORES.ORG

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of STORES Magazine - January 2009

STORES Magazine - Jauary 2008 Contents Executive Editor's Page President's Page Mechanical Marvel P&G Invests in Ocado Now I Remember What Shoppers Think 10 Things You May Have Missed Numbers Worth Counting Full Price/Markdown Retail People Breaking the Monotony Multi-Channel Concept2Watch E-Commerce Analytics Category Management IT Systems In-Store Technology IT Systems Communications Website Strategy Communications SOA Energy Video Surveillance Employee Theft Online Fraud Industry Perspective Loeb Retail Letter ARTS Update Point of View NRF News Retail Crossword End Cap

STORES Magazine - January 2009

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