Intel Corp. wants to revolutionize the retail environment through a new Internet of Things retail platform that delivers a deeper understanding of how stores and people interact.

Called the Responsive Retail Platform or RRP for short, the offering promises to allow retailers to unify every part of their operations to bolster their bottom line and solve longstanding business challenges.

RRP collects multiple data streams to connect digital and physical environments from retail hardware, software, APIs and sensors in a standardized way, allowing users to optimally place inventory, deploy employees and other resources, and track inventory from the supply chain to the store door. Bring together the disparate data points, the retail platform provides in-the-moment information about current and projected customer demand, allowing retailers to better manage their inventory to optimize arrival times of goods relative to demand.

According to ZDNet, behind the scenes the platform uses Intel’s low-power integrated sensors with RFID capability and an expandable sensor suite that allows for the eventual inclusion of other sensors from third-party sensor vendors. Those sensors are used to track inventory and generate the data delivered by the platform itself. In addition, RRP is said to include an open source analytics platform-as-a-service that can be integrated with cloud applications from other providers.

“Data can be measured, analyzed and accessed from anywhere. It will be the differentiator for retailers to grow and engage an expanded customer base,” Intel Chief Executive Officer Brian Krzanich said in a statement. “Until now, detailed shopper data was only available to online storefronts. At Intel, we believe that increasingly retailers will be separated by those who have data and use it to grow and optimize the shopping experience, and those who don’t and make their decisions based on ‘experience’ and subjective observations.”

Intel also committed to spending $100 million in the next five years on further development of its retail platform to help retailers “transform the shopping experience in the near future” by creating “the store of the future – one that is smart, responsive, connected and secure.”

Image courtesy of Intel