We are delighted to announce that leading Belgian grocery retailer Ahold Delhaize, in collaboration with Cisco Spaces, has been awarded the ‘Best Wi-Fi Customer Experience 2025’ at the prestigious WBA Industry Awards. This recognition is testament to an industry-leading partnership that’s redefining in-store shopping experiences for customers, by merging digital convenience with the physical retail experience – all made possible by the Cisco Smart Spaces Stack.
About the WBA Industry Awards
The Wireless Broadband Alliance (WBA) Industry Awards is a platform that recognizes excellence in wireless connectivity and innovation globally. Each year, it honors organizations that challenge industry norms, deliver exceptional customer experiences, and set new benchmarks in wireless technology. Winning this award is a significant acknowledgment of Ahold Delhaize and Cisco Spaces’ forward-thinking initiatives that are leading the way for the future of retail experiences, worldwide.
Customer Experience Designed For Scale: In-Store Engagement to Loyalty & App Downloads
Delhaize’s dedication to customer loyalty goes beyond shopper frequency — it’s about creating meaningful connections throughout the customer journey. With over 8000 stores, the retail chain partnered with Cisco Spaces to address the gap between the online and in-store retail experience. Cisco Spaces’ advanced features like location analytics, seamless Wi-Fi onboarding using OpenRoaming, and integration with CRM, allows Delhaize to offer customers a hyper-personalized shopping experience.
To achieve this, Cisco Spaces allowed Delhaize to tap into one of the most ubiquitous pieces of technology present in all their stores – the Cisco wireless access points. The platform turned their Cisco network into a powerful sensor, unlocking functionalities that helped the team refine their in-store customer journey.
Key milestones of the deployment included…
- Seamless Wi-Fi onboarding via OpenRoaming: By embedding the Cisco Spaces SDK into its loyalty app, Delhaize enabled customers to connect securely and effortlessly to in-store Wi-Fi. This eliminated the need for tedious guest onboarding processes. As customers approach a Delhaize store, they are automatically connected to the wireless network, ensuring a seamless digital experience from the moment they arrive.
- Integrating Cisco Spaces and Salesforce: By integrating their Salesforce CRM to Cisco Spaces via the Spaces API, Delhaize was able to access historical shopping behavior of customers, thereby understanding which deals and promotions each one would be interested in. By tying together customer identity (via the loyalty app), in-store presence, and past purchase data, Delhaize was able to create a unified view of each customer.
- Segmenting Customers: Using Cisco Spaces, Delhaize was able to segment customers into actionable cohorts based on key behavioral metrics such as visit frequency, preferred store location, time spent in-store, and more. These insights enabled more targeted marketing and store operations strategies.
- Delivering Contextual Push Notifications: Lastly, Delhaize needed a way to connect and engage with customers while in store. To do this, they deployed loyalty app push notifications initiated by presence and location context from Cisco Spaces and thereby influencing in-store purchasing behavior via contextual engagements, based on customer location within the store, as well as previous purchases and preferences.
And that’s how Ahold Delhaize was equipped with everything they needed to deliver a truly personalized shopping experience, by simply leveraging their Cisco wireless infrastructure that was already in-place.
Exemplary Results
In less than a year, Delhaize successfully onboarded 3.6 million unique devices onto their network, creating millions of personalized in-store interactions. Customers have praised the seamless experience, highlighting how it adds greater value to their shopping journey, helps them make thoughtful purchasing decisions, and enhances their overall satisfaction. By simplifying Wi-Fi connectivity and enhancing app functionality, Delhaize saw a significant rise in loyalty app downloads and usage.
Winning this prestigious award is a milestone for both Ahold Delhaize and Cisco Spaces, reinforcing their status as industry leaders and innovators. Together, they are creating moments that matter, setting a new standard for retail experiences.
