The Dandy Lab is a menswear lifestyle store based in Central London. Using Cisco Universal Power over Ethernet on Catalyst switching as the foundation, The Dandy Lab has seamlessly integrated technology into their business to provide a cutting edge retail experience to customers.

In collaboration with the University College London, founders of The Dandy Lab Julija Bainiaksina and Peter Jeun Ho Tsang set out to build a retail store where cutting edge technology could be used to enhance customer experience. By partnering with Cisco, The Dandy Lab connects sensors, digital signage and other next gen retail technology in the store to create a truly immersive retail IoT environment for customers.

The Dandy Lab uses Cisco Universal Power over Ethernet (UPoE) technology as a corner stone for its digitization strategy. With Cisco UPoE on Catalyst 3850 and 4500E switches, devices such as security cameras, thin clients and even LED light panels can be connected to the network and powered with up to 60W per port -all over a single Cat5e/Cat6 cable. Infrastructure can also be further consolidated with the Catalyst 3560CX compact series switches which can be powered with Cisco UPoE from Catalyst 3850/4500E in the wiring closet and which in turn can provide PoE/PoE+ power to multiple devices, for example, at retail point of sale to a thin client, an IP Phone and a card reader. At The Dandy Lab, the Catalyst 3560CX compact switches are integrated into the furniture and other store fixtures so that the technology seamlessly blends in to the store.

Using Cisco UPoE has helped The Dandy Lab gain many advantages. First, because Ethernet cabling is cheaper and easier to deploy than traditional power cabling, The Dandy Lab was operational in less than two weeks. Also, The Dandy Lab was able to leverage Cisco UPoE for all cabling without having to drill holes in the walls -a key requirement since their rented space is a listed property. Second, by connecting Cisco UPoE to Cisco's Energy Management Cloud, The Dandy Lab is able to monitor energy consumption for each device, thereby reducing costs and being more energy efficient.

"The UPOE switches that we've had integrated from Cisco have been very useful. We're not having power cables running all over the place. We've been able to manage our systems, we've been able to run various bits of hardware through these switches, and that's actually been very beneficial for us, powering items with one single cable.", says Peter.

Finally, The Dandy Lab uses Cisco UPoE as the foundational technology to build the consummate IoT experience, with cameras, NFC card readers, sensors, Wifi access points, all powered with UPoE. With the IoT infrastructure in place, The Dandy Lab has been able to look at customer presence and location analytics such as customer dwell times, street to store conversion rates and repeat visits from specific segments to incorporate that into their business strategy.

With their cutting edge retail experience, The Dandy Lab is drawing a lot of press coverage, attracting customers, driving sales, reducing costs and enhancing customer experience. Highlighting the benefits of their digitization strategy, Julija says,

"The bottom line obviously for us as a company is to make sales and provide a good customer service for our client who are coming through the doors. By using technology we actually proved that it helps to increase the sales and to offer a better service for our customers. We feel proud to be involved with Cisco and work with them".

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