When Henry Ford, the founder of Ford Motor Company, opined, “It is the customer who pays wages”, he set up the service promise of all forward-looking business models. In a world where the consumer is spoilt for choice, customer-centricity and the single-minded pursuit of personalized, omnichannel customer experiences is the key to retail success. More so in the new normal. While it is clear that delivering engaging, personalized in-store and online retail encounters is a survival strategy for enterprises, it is no easy task.
As per a Google study on consumer trends, 56% of in-store shoppers use their smartphones to shop for or conduct research on products. This means that physical and digital shopping experiences have now converged. In order to ensure a seamless, intuitive customer journey, brands must leverage advanced digital tools and methods to create seamless, omnichannel, value-added customer experiences.
Hybrid shopping experiences in a demand-driven market
Shoppers restrained by the pandemic have returned with a bang. 2021 saw a 43.2% increase in customer count in retail stores across the USA. Today’s savvy shoppers are quick to look up price point comparisons on their smartphones and then choose the product that gives them the best value. But it’s not just the advent of hybrid shopping experiences, even the linear customer journey has changed. Purchases can now take place anywhere along the journey—on social media, in-store, and in digital marketplaces. With the rise of omnichannel commerce, it is incumbent upon retail businesses to deliver synchronized, complementary cyber and physical interactions. Managing and replenishing stockpiles, ensuring timely delivery through multiple delivery options, and upholding hassle-free returns and exchanges are no mean feats. Such market demands are dependent on agile supply chains for order fulfillment, once again reinforcing the need for retail digitization. Business profitability depends on it.
Redefining digital-first experiences
What are the key digitization trends that retail leaders must capitalize on? Here is a brief rundown:
- The advent of autonomous stores
Cashier-less stores, where a customer can walk in, retrieve products from stocked shelves, and self-checkout using a smartphone and the shop app eliminate critical pain points in the shopping experience. It reduces the wastage of time as the customer can bypass long customer queues. Because this contact-free, ‘grab and go’ feature reduces the time a customer has to spend in a store, autonomous stores became very popular during the pandemic. Sales are tracked by computer vision, cameras, and weight sensor shelves. So, lifting or replacing a product on the shelf automatically adjusts the virtual shopping basket. Amazon Go shot into popularity as the first cashier-less supermarket in Seattle. All customers needed to do was tap on the ‘In-Store Code’ on the app, pick what they need, scan in the QR code and keep going. Autonomous stores are quickly becoming mainstream because they rely so little on human labor and effort. They also represent a much faster way to shop and generate fewer errors. This enhances customer convenience while reducing the operational costs of the store and of the brand. - The rise and rise of BOPIs
The ‘Buy Online, Pick up In-Store’ retail strategy has taken the retail industry by storm. With the ‘click-and-collect’ option, customers can add what they want to their online cart and checkout from brick-and-mortar outlets at their convenience. BOPIs also have the potential to drive sales as they redirect e-commerce customers to physical stores. It is a cost-efficient and effective tool for attracting new customers. To further enrich the BOPI experience, stores can deploy augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) to create handy features such as AR maps, which can help customers readily locate products in stores. - The mainstreaming of mobile POS
The mobile point-of-sale (mPOS) is an electronic point-of-sale terminal powered by wireless connectivity. It can be described to be a portable cash register. Businesses no longer have to be tied down to countertop gadgets. Any connected smart device can be converted into a mPOS offering ease of payment on the go. Payments can be received at any location offering more flexibility to the customer. Many mobile POS solutions come with in-built tools to help businesses with operational efficiency. They can connect to physical and online store inventories, track customer data, and utilize the information for customizing retail approaches. - The convenience of conversational chatbots
Conversational chatbots are AI-powered computer programs that improve a company’s responsiveness in customer service. From Amazon’s Alexa to Apple iPhone’s Siri, chatbots have come a long way from dialogue boxes on business websites. They can now engage verbally with customers to help retailers with quick solutions. With personalized and quick messages, chatbots in retail can increase sales. If a chatbot cannot resolve a customer’s query, it can then be escalated to a human agent. This leads to quick query resolution for customers and saved human effort. - The making of magic mirrors
Technologies that give customers what they want before they realize what they were missing are the key to delighting your customer base. Smart mirrors enabled by two-way mirror technology help customers virtually ‘try on’ clothes and accessories in stores. Customers can skip the endless wait for a free trial room, mix and match apparel products, and be more confident about their purchases. Smart mirrors also help speed up the entire purchasing experience. As per a Markets And Markets survey, the global smart mirror market size is estimated to grow to USD 5.9 billion by 2027.
Disruptive technologies at the helm of retail digitalization—the road ahead
The retail industry’s digital roadmap will be defined by disruptive technologies like AR and VR, AI, IoT, and 5G. They are the key to capturing and captivating customers. But, as a growing number of retail enterprises adopt these innovations and migrate to the cloud, the absence of trained domain specialists becomes a critical challenge. Organizations must also contend with growing compliance requirements and regulations around consumer data safety. Here, partnering with a trusted technology leader, who can advise and execute across all levels of technology adoption, can be a game-changer. The digitization of the retail sector is inevitable. So, arm yourself with a trusted collaborator to yield the best dividends of your digital journey.
