Building Automation in the Retail Sector
28 April 2023
Keeping Stores Running Smoothly

No matter how diverse and differentiated the retail sector may appear, it’s all driven by the same motivation: selling products! Building automation can make an important contribution by providing an optimal environment – for customers, salespeople and store management alike. Therefore, solution providers need to follow two key rules: “understand your market” and “provide a simple, secure solution.” With its selection of products specifically for the retail sector, WAGO has spent years demonstrating what this looks like in practice.

Here’s How WAGO Supports Retail:

Ideal lighting, pleasant temperatures, efficient use of energy: Intelligent building automation provides optimal sales conditions in retail stores.
Recording current state information: The modular WAGO I/O System 750 lets you combine all your sensors and actuators through different fieldbus protocols.
The brains of the control unit: All of a store’s building systems are connected and controlled centrally through the PFC200.
Developed specifically for retail: WAGO’s Building Control application includes pre-programmed functions for configuration to meet specific requirements of the retail sector.

Some people go every week, some even go every day, but we all do it: shopping! Supermarkets, specialty stores, discount outlets, boutiques, gas stations, shopping centers and malls – besides online shopping and vending machine purchases, physical buildings play a key role in the shopping experience. In most cases, customers don’t consciously pay attention to the sales space, the store design or the building. They’re more interested in product availability, price or freshness. In contrast, the store operators worry about several factors: Does the air-conditioning work? Is the lighting in the sales area optimized? Is the temperature setting in the store at the ideal level? How much energy is being consumed, and where can energy be conserved? For these and many other questions, they need a clear answer at all times.

Is there a system that can answer these questions for a huge variety of different building systems? Or rather: Does a solution exist that keeps store operators from even having to pose these questions, because intelligent building automation ensures optimal sales conditions in the store? It does indeed exist, and it consists of hardware and software – plus, upon request, cloud services – that are designed to work together perfectly. What’s just as crucial is comprehensive experience with and knowledge of the specific challenges facing the retail sector. WAGO’s expertise combines all these elements, and its solutions have been meeting the needs of well-known retail sector customers for years.

To allow individual stores to concentrate fully on their core business while optimizing their operating efficiency, three success factors have proven crucial above all: use of central control hardware, configurable control functions, that can be tailored to individual stores’ specific requirements and a high level of service expertise on the part of the solution provider.

WAGO offers a lean, intuitive retail application that meets customer-specific challenges and can be scaled up as needed.

If you want up-to-date information about the state of electrical loads like refrigerated counters, or of subsystems ranging from ventilation systems to individual light points, you need a comprehensive data basis. The first step is to combine data from sensors and actuators across very different fieldbus protocols. The modular design and functionality of the WAGO I/O System 750 make it perfect for these tasks. More than 500 specific I/O modules and fieldbus couplers allow both ETHERNET standards and connection to all the bus systems typically used in buildings, in addition to specialized subsystems from the building technology environment such as wireless systems and lighting controllers. One central PFC200 Series controller is capable of connecting all of a store’s building systems, regardless of their manufacturer or the communication protocols required.

A reliable classic for controlling building automation: WAGO’s modular I/O system is fieldbus-independent and, in addition to ETHERNET standards, allows connection of all relevant bus systems typically used in buildings, as well as specialized subsystems from the building technology environment.

Analog and digital signals are required for monitoring, operating and controlling the actuators and sensors used for lighting, HVAC systems and shading. The WAGO Building Control application combines the controller functions necessary for this. This pre-programmed software solution is the result of many years of expertise in building automation, acquired in close collaboration with customers in the retail sector. It combines a high degree of flexibility with easy, efficient operation. The application software includes functions for configuration for specific retail sector requirements, such as lighting, heating and cooling systems, cash register signaling and energy data management.

The controller functions allow users to freely configure the logical connections, analog comparisons, control loops and time sequences and adjust them to the needs of the individual store without modifying the automation software program itself. For example, lighting scenarios can be adjusted for special opening times – no programming knowledge required. The WAGO Building Control application can be tailored to the specific needs of a local store – without reprogramming the controller.

A standard Web browser can be used for visualization and secure operation. Visualization pages display current measured values from the sensors. Critical store parameters, along with fault and status messages, are collected in a clearly organized format – an ideal tool for store managers and an efficient trouble-shooting solution.

WAGO’s pre-programmed Building Control application can be tailored to the specific needs of a local store.

The configurable controller functions grew out of years of intensive collaboration with many customers from retail – a sector that exhibits a high level of diversity in general. Its numerous and varied requirements necessitated a large number of functions for efficient building automation. These provide an excellent foundation for customer-specific function adaptation.

To ensure project success, WAGO’s experts are available to advise retail customers right from the design and development phase. This process goes beyond development of standardized multi-store application solutions to also take future challenges into account, such as networking geographically distributed locations, energy optimization across building systems etc. The goal is always to create the leanest, most intuitive application possible to meet the customer’s specific challenges that can be used in dozens or hundreds of individual stores.

The design and development phase is followed by testing or prototyping, in which WAGO specialists work on site to put the finishing touches on the software design in test markets. The roll-out phase doesn’t begin until implementation of all the required functions has been perfected. On the application side, the separation of application, parameter and language files provides a major benefit. The configuration can be distributed to multiple stores and then adapted to the specific location. Upon request, the companies involved in the commissioning process can receive targeted training from experienced WAGO employees. Once a system is in use, WAGO provides intensive support for retail customers during operation. Optimization activities are supported and carried out, and WAGO works with the customer to solve future challenges together.

The system aggregates all the energy consumption data essential for smooth store operation and provides a lean, clearly organized presentation of it in the cloud application.

All the Way to the Cloud: The Big Picture

The individual store is not the whole story – brick and mortar retail is often organized into chains that operate numerous store networks. Following a smooth large-scale roll-out of new automation concepts, there is often great interest in multi-store property management. Cloud solutions are perfect for this: They augment the system by providing global data access to an overall multi-store solution. Store locations are organized in a hierarchical tree structure, and performance parameters for individual locations can be retrieved with a single mouse click. A central alarm and fault management system signals anomalies, and the overall status of selected properties can be seen at a glance in visualizations.

Comprehensive reporting functions and the status and alarm messages collected from the distributed locations allow for systematic coordination of maintenance and service activities, as well as general optimization initiatives. The functional scope of WAGO’s cloud solution also includes service tools like a ticket system for automated incident processing. Setpoints like opening hours can also be implemented for multiple stores from central location with a few mouse clicks.

These days, a detailed overview of energy consumption data is particularly important. The system only aggregates data essential for seamless operation of the stores, keeping the cloud application lean and uncluttered. At the same time, WAGO’s cloud solution also offers direct, encrypted access to the visualization pages for all the stores connected to the WAGO Building Control application. Through the cloud connection, firmware updates and security patches can also be performed for the individual locations from the central control.

In summary: Through uniform integration and visualization of all building services, such as HVAC, lighting and cash register signaling, the overall solution described here offers the best possible oversight and user-friendly operation on site. This solution provides the building automation technology to help ensure an ideal sales environment, while also taking individual energy conservation targets into account. The networking of branch stores, as well as central property management via the cloud connection, complete the overall solution.

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Building Automation in the Retail Sector 28 April 2023 Keeping Stores Running Smoothly