In-store Product Placement Using LiDAR-Assisted Discrete PSO Algorithm

The fundamental reason for a business failure is not only because of the quality of products. Novel IoT-enabled approaches have good reasons to proliferate businesses in multitudes using IoT-enabled solutions. The traditional approach of placing products in pre-identified positions in shopping malls or showroom centers has delayed or missed customer attractions. This article proposes a Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR)-based in-store product placement approach. The proposed mechanism utilized a LiDAR sensor to quickly identify the missing products from racks; it incorporates Discrete Particle Swarm Optimization (Discrete PSO) algorithm-specific product placement mechanism. The decisions of Discrete PSO attempted to maximize the attraction of customers and minimize the cost involved in transporting products to corresponding racks. The proposed approach was experimented with at the IoT Cloud Research laboratory. The experimental results reveal that the Discrete PSO algorithm-based product placement approach reduced the delivery time of products and increased customer attraction with an efficiency of 38.02 percent in combined objectives. The approach will be beneficial for increasing the number of customers and product sales in in-store business locations.