The retail industry has experienced doom and gloom since last few decades. Digital retail Renaissance is on its way, transforming the retail world linking consumer, device and data generating a smarter shopping experience. With the perfect combination of smart in-store and online outlet, retailers can enjoy a profitable commercial future in the long run.
Grabbing the Opportunity
The adaptation speed of new consumers are breathtaking. The random use of mobile, tablets and other wearable technologies is heightening every day. Traditional retailers have fast included connected retailing to make the in-store shopping experience more exciting. So, it can easily be anticipated that connected retailing will soon be the new face of the retail world.
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This can potentially increase the footfall into the retail outlet influencing the shopper to shop more! Retailers can boost the in-store apps and get access to valuable insights via mobile usage data.
Consumer Connection
Millennial are super tech savvy buyers. To engage them into a physical outlet, retailers needs to be more innovative. Simple “browse and buy” will not melt their heart.
1. Dedicated Customer Apps turn a dull retail space into an engaging, interactive, and the two-way communication hub for retailers and consumers alike.
2. Digital labels are used to identify real-time information on various products.
3. Radio frequency identification (RFID) is a new tech innovation. These are tags attached to an in-store product to transmit data about that item to nearby devices.
RFID tags on apparels allow 'virtual reality’ mirrors to display virtual images of the garments look on the customers. The customer can then share these images with friends over social media sites to get their feedback and buy according to his/her
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In a retail environment, It provides a way to deliver product information if and when the customers are close by the store and so is likely to act upon it.
Beacon Technology is also used by the retailers to stay connected to their shoppers. Retailers use Tickto to deliver automatic, personalized greeting when the consumer enters the store premises.
To get the accurate customer feedback, beacon technology is used to ask the consumer to fill in a customer service questionnaire as they check out the store. This generates data like - how a consumer move around the store, which aisle is more shopper-friendly than others, and for how long a customer engagement is established at the store. So, you can term Beacon Technology as the "Google Analytics for the real world".
The Power Of Data Connection
Retail outlets are requiring people to register for the public WiFi service via in-store technology such as Tickto, assisting them in consumer interaction, which in turn pull out personalized data when the shoppers are in the store premises. This information is used by the retailer to deliver targeted promotional messages that could engage the consumer and boost the store
Currently majority revenue is generated by store sales but online sales from the stores’ websites are increasing. With US dollar getting weaker, international sales from these US based websites are increasing too. This creates significant positive outlook for the large incumbent players but also acts as a significant barrier of entry for new players.
The Australian supermarkets and grocery stores industry is very keen on inculcating technology in their day to day operations and also for their back end support. A good example to illustrate the gap in technology between the Malaysian and Australian supermarkets is the Self-Checkout Counters, they have been in Australia for quite some time and are now evolving but for Malaysia this is a new concept altogether. The Australian Companies are investing more and more in technology to make the shopping experience easy, refreshing and fun for its customers. Currently Coles, one of the leaders of the industry in Australia is working along with IBM to install radio tags on each item and this will drastically reduce the checkout time (http://www.heraldsun.com.au/technology/news/smart-phone-to-avoid-queues-in-supermarkets/story-fn7celvh-1226410624726). This integration of technology to attract more customers and make their shopping experiences better will be very crucial for them to gain more market share (IBIS 2016), thus Giant have to focus on this from the very
Also the checking out process has been technologically advanced as it was observed that iPhones and iPads are used on the sales floor to see what items are in stock at the location or other locations and to help customers in making a purchase. Using these items help with the communication among staff and customers. After making a purchase, the associate that assisted them will more than likely follow up with a personalized thank you note and invite them back to the store. Customizing the product for the customer also increases the use of technology. The customer chooses what product they want and they ask an associate to engrave their name on it, making it their own personal
There are many reasons for choosing to go into a store to purchase items needed. For instance, having someone assist you in finding what you need, or just answer questions about the product. It is also a way to get off the couch, away from the television, or off the computer. Another feature is you can see and examine what you are going to purchase. This helps in the decision making for most people. You know the minute the salesperson rings you up, the product is yours to take home and use right aw...
Radio frequency identification (RFID) is a computerized ID innovation that uses radio recurrence waves to exchange information between an onlooker and things that have RFID gadgets, or tags, joined. The tags hold a microchip and receiving wire, and work at universally distinguished standard frequencies. Barcodes are much smaller, lighter and easier than RFID but RFID offers significant advantages. One major advantage of RFID is that the innovation doesn't oblige any observable pathway the tags could be perused as long as they are inside the range of the spectator, whereas in barcodes in order to read the barcode the barcode scanner should close around 10-15 fts. In RFID data, for example, part and serial numbers, assembling dates and support history is put away on the tags and catches which help in maintenance of equipments. RFID technology as high value for asset management and inventory systems
RFID has taken strides from being a far off solution to becoming a mainstream application that helps speed the handling of manufactured goods and materials. RFID is an identification and tracking tool for a product using radio waves. It uses a microchip and a printed antenna that can be then packaged in several different forms such as a label or embedded between layers of a carton. These labels are then used to identify the manufacturer, product category and the RFID enables this identification from a distance and unlike earlier bar-code technology, it does so without requiring a line of sight. (Finkelzeller)
Thus, customers can get and receive information from each other instead of communicating to the corporations or the companies and as result they can easily spread information about company products as well as information about new arrivals
3. New technology allows marketers to track the specific purchase and usage behavior of their customers.
Totty, M. (2009, June 2). Business Solutions New Ways to Use RFID. The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved November 14, 2011, from http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203771904574175882366028604.html
The Internet is currently the third most shopped channel; brands are pushed to keep up with the trend of building an online shopping option for their consumers and this is evident through the increase in retailers offering online options for their consumers (Valerio). With solely digital stores like Net-A-Porter, Amazon and eBay, competition among digital stores and physical stores are tight. Retailers are pushed to keep up with the rise of digital shopping whether they want to or not. There are several retail implications with the rise of digital shopping, retailers are turning to multi-channel retai...
Online retail and shopping sales has been growing consistently every year, not just in the US but worldwide. Not only does online shopping give customers more convenience, more variety, and more discreetness but it also gives customers better prices. While it is quite true that Wal-Mart has product variety and cheap prices – things customers want – the physical stores do not really give the convenience and discreteness that online retail and shopping does.
There are many reasons for choosing to go into a store to purchase items needed. For instance, having some assist you in finding what you need, or just answer questions about the product. It is also a way to get out of the couch, away from the television, or off the computer. Another feature is you can see and examine what you are going to purchase, helps in the decision making for most people. You know the minute the salesperson ring you up the product are yours to take home and use right away. It also makes return on items simple, take it back to where you bought and get an exchange or a refund if needed. For the draw backing for in store shopping is you do spending hours looking for the right product or in the lines trying to just purchase it. Or listening to all the people around you and all the additional noises you hear in stores. Not to mention store have set hours on when you can shop and when you can not, this is something which can change with assign on the door.
For instance they can purchase anything at any point of time without going out to any physical store; they can compare the prices of the product from different websites and can purchase from the site where they are getting cheaper; it also saves time; customers can also avoid pressure when having a face to face interaction with the salesperson etc. We can summarize these factors into 4 categories:
Mobile shopping systems can be used by retailers to achieve both in store and outside sales; marketing functions like location based messaging for merchandise promotions, advertising, mobile coupons and loyalty programs; proximity and non proximity payment functions in and outside the store; order management, customer feedback, customer follow ups and mobile phone based reporting and performance management; avail real time product information to the consumers on the move; provide product comparisons, give updates on upcoming deals or offers (Chen,
With mobile retail offering enormous benefits to consumers as well as retailers, there is no wonder that every retailer today is investing on a mobile app, despite already have a web presence. Henceforth, it is high time you as a retailer, to invest in a mobile app today, if you still haven’t thought about it yet. With the level of competition in the retail industry, you ought to do this for not getting lost in the