Retail companies have always known that compelling in-store experiences are the key to attracting customers and earning repeat business. With increasing competition from both physical and digital stores, delivering an exceptional customer experience is more important than ever. How stores look and feel is central to that experience, so it’s important for retailers to keep every location fresh, efficient, and on brand.
Many leading companies turn to Apex Imaging Services for help remodeling, rebranding, and maintaining stores. Apex serves many iconic brands with thousands of locations across the U.S. These companies rely on Apex to help bring the customer experience to life in every store.
Visibility vital to multi-site rollouts
Creating consistent customer experiences across stores can be challenging. As Apex prepares to roll out multi-site programs for Fortune 500 companies, it needs to know what it’s working with—what the stores look like, the equipment they’re using, and much more. These details are essential for creating an accurate scope of work and coordinating effectively with architectural firms and third-party contractors.
Clients themselves typically don’t have this level of visibility. “One of the biggest challenges for multi-site owners is a lack of knowledge about their stores and assets. It’s fairly common for them not to know which stores have been touched by a particular program,” says Dan Cardona, Chief Operating Officer at Apex Imaging Services.
That’s why the company’s 3D site surveys are so valuable. Apex partners with Matterport to create a digital twin of every store, allowing clients to see each space for themselves without having to travel. These virtual tours are a powerful and efficient way to understand and improve the customer experience across multiple locations.
For the owner of a national coffee chain, it’s an opportunity to assess everything from the condition of the espresso machines to how much space there is for people to sit and relax. For a big-box hardware store, the 3D site surveys might help maintain consistency in warehouse layout and signage, so customers can find what they need quickly. And for Apex, it provides a solid starting point for planning and execution.
Reconstructing stores in the digital space: how it works
Visualizing a future in-store experience is the first step toward making it real, and Matterport solutions plays a central role in helping Apex and its clients see what’s possible. The company uses high-definition cameras to snap images of a store, and Matterport synthesizes the visual imagery with spatial data to produce an immersive 3D virtual tour.
- Matterport Measurement Mode captures precise spatial dimensions, making it possible to browse through a space and take accurate measurements of any feature.
- Mattertags identify equipment in the space, creating comprehensive asset inventories for each store.
Reimagining in-store experiences
For Apex clients, 3D site surveys help uncover new opportunities to improve in-store customer experiences. Clients share the digital twins with their real estate, facilities, and loss prevention teams to make sure every store is up to par—replacing equipment before it fails, keeping the paint fresh, adjusting insurance coverage, and identifying candidates for remodeling or relocation.
The 3D digital twins also make it easier for Apex clients to plan and execute in-store promotions. Gas stations, in particular, are seizing the opportunity to maximize in-store sales.
“With the profit margins dipping in the petroleum industry, more brands are focusing on food retail inside the convenience store,” Cardona says. “Using Matterport, we are helping petroleum clients reconfigure store layouts to improve sales, and re-scanning to tweak and optimize the location further.”
Digital twins are good for business
For Apex, the benefit of using Matterport is clear. The Matterport digital twins capture all the necessary data the first time, which translates to a more accurate scope of work from the outset and a smoother rollout. The company even includes the digital twins in RFPs, streamlining the bidding process and bringing down price estimates.
“With the ability to quickly verify measurements in a Matterport 3D digital twin, we increase the accuracy of our bids,” says Cardona. “Plus, we save time and money by eliminating the need to send teams around the country to re-verify measurements. As a result, we have a much faster speed to market with rollout programs.”
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