Category: Retail

Mobile applications have been fueling the growth of the retail industry for quite some time. Retail giants like Walmart and Target have developed custom mobile applications to enable business growth.

So the new buzz for retail companies is around mobile applications these days! You can practically use mobile applications for almost all aspects in the retail industry, like customer service, payments, inventory management and the like. Technology itself has been improving the industry as a whole for quite some time now. Mobile applications are taking their turn now. Take a look at our article “How important is technology in retail: 4 focus areas”, to know how technology can be leveraged in different areas of a retail business.

Such being the level at which technology is used these days by retail companies, the benefits that accrue from it also have to be quite significant. And yes, there are massive improvements.

So what is all the hype about!?

Here we look at how mobile applications have benefited various retail companies in improving their business.

Target – Target’s mobile application enables customers to find products on their own, making their shopping much easier and quicker. It has a “My List” feature which allows customers to create their own shopping lists. You can make a list before you start shopping and also manage your lists and registries or even find your friend’s lists. It also allows you to search the store to find out if a particular item is available and get the exact aisle location of it. It has several other features as well, like a store locator, a barcode scanner to add products to a list or to get product details, and coupons for weekly deals. In addition, there is also a video online that explains how the app works. With this app, Target was able to increase their sales as well as customer base, as more people became convenient with their app. In a mobile-first era, they really understood the importance of an easy to use and powerful mobile app, and used it to gain competitive advantage. They ranked fifth in Comscore’s list of best mobile retailers this year.

Walmart – The world’s largest public corporation, Walmart, had their Savings Catcher Program as part of their mobile app for iOS and Android. The greatest value of Savings Catcher is its ability to link shopper data to personal accounts of customers. Along with that there are a number of features, like the ability to create smart lists and facility to navigate through aisles to find the exact location of a product, that make their app truly worth their efforts and expenses. What’s more, it allows customers to find in-store prices of products at their local Walmart stores ahead of time , without having to search for it. With all these features, the Walmart app is a total time saver and with its integration with their online store as well, they were able to increase sales both online and offline by a large margin. They came third in Comscore’s list of best mobile retailers.

Another example is the Best Buy App. It lets users scan QR codes in the store to access product reviews and compare product specs. And just like the other apps, it also lets you create a wishlist and find in-store availability of products, track past purchases, get reward points and also use special offers.

Some retailers also provide catalogs through their mobile apps. For example, Hollister provides a jeans fit guide in its mobile app, which displays the perfect fit for each style of jeans so as to assist customers in finding their perfect pair of jeans. It allows you to get front and back views of the jeans as well to make a more informed judgement.

Just like Target, Walmart, Best Buy, and Hollister, there are a number of retailers who have leveraged such mobile apps to serve their customers better and improve their business. These retailers have literally proved that mobile applications can do wonders for your business by being proactive in assisting customers.

Such being the level of benefits that accrue from using mobile applications, it is actually becoming mainstream these days. As the world moves to more mobile oriented shopping experiences, it would become a necessity for retailers to switch to mobile apps. It already has become old school to visit the regular brick and mortar stores, and pick stuff after long hours of search and enquiries. In the end, if an item is out of stock, then that’s it. Customers just have to live with it until they find it in some other store. This scenario is soon becoming a thing of the past. Retailers need to inevitably use mobile applications from now on, as otherwise, they stand the risk of losing their customers to other retailers that do.
Mentioned above are just a few retailers making big money through mobile apps. With time, these numbers are definitely going to grow and soon the entire retail world will be in the people’s hands, literally and figuratively.

Are you looking to build a mobile application for your retail business as well to stay in the game? Talk to our custom software experts and our mobile application experts for the perfect website and mobile app mix for your business.

The retail industry is one that constantly strives to stick to margins. It’s a live or die scenario for most retail companies these days, with their managers struggling to maintain their costs low and revenues high. That’s a pretty hard thing to maintain, considering the level of competition in the industry. Every retailer is always on the lookout for ways to lure more customers into their nets while at the same time keep their costs in check. And technology has always been a means for them to achieve both these goals.

Technology spending in the global retail sector is predicted to reach $203.6 billion in 2019. Ever-changing customer expectations are forcing retailers to digitally transform their businesses. Customer experience, inventory management, supply chain management and the like are some areas where technology is being used and improvements are being made. For example, wireless technology is something that has played a huge role in transforming the retail industry, by allowing devices and people to communicate with one another from anywhere in the world. Although, its adoption has been limited by a number of factors like security concerns, deployment costs etc.

Considering the race for retail companies to bag the most number of consumers, it is almost inevitable that they make use of technology if they have to stay ahead. It is indeed important to adopt new technologies in retail business, as customers always go for maximum ease and efficiency when it comes to shopping, and if you fall short, you are just going to get phased out.

Just like customer experience and supply chain management, there are various aspects in retail where you can leverage technology to increase productivity and profits. Here we discuss few such areas, where you can make use of technology and streamline your business.

Related Read: Top Tech Trends Every Retailer Must Implement NOW

Point of Sale (POS) AND Payments

The physical location where goods are sold to customers – the point of sale – was traditionally the place where customers used to stand in line for hours to make a purchase. But studies have shown that in long lines, one out of ten customers would leave without making a purchase. Long lines may also cause resentment among customers which makes them less likely to visit the store again.

Using technology can help prevent these issues in several ways. For example, with the help of handheld computers, scanners and printers with integrated credit card readers, the point of sale can be made to be fully mobile and hence a lot faster. During times of high sales, these mobile POS terminals can be used throughout the store at several places so that customers can get their stuff billed at any of those counters quickly.

Moreover, the sales personnel with these handheld POS terminals can also process transactions while moving through checkout lines in order to accelerate the checkout process as well. For customers with lesser products, their transactions can be completed while they are still in their lines. For other customers, their products can be scanned with a barcode scanner while they are in their line and tickets can be printed with prices along with a master barcode for the entire merchandise.

On reaching the counter, only the master bar code needs to be scanned for the total price. This eliminates the need for the checkout clerk to process each item individually, thereby hastening the entire process.

Contactless Payments

Contactless payments are one of the most beneficial technological advancements in the world of payments. These help in making check out processes faster in retail stores as well. Contact payment systems are basically credit cards, debit cards, smart cards or even devices like smartphones and tablets that make use of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) or Near Field Communication (NFC) technologies to make secure payments. They have an embedded chip and an antenna that allows users to simply wave their card over a reader at the POS terminal, and make their payment.

They don’t even have to sign a receipt or enter passwords or PINs (Personal Identification Numbers) as is the case with normal debit or credit card payments. This eliminates the need for customers to deal with the problems of handling cash or remembering their PINs. Also, speeds up transactions, which makes it one of the most preferred means of making payments for customers.

According to several pieces of market research, it has been found that sales volumes have increased as a result of fast transactions in a number of retail stores. A report by Chase shows that the time spent by customers at the POS is reduced by 30% to 40% and according to an American Express study, contactless transactions have been found to be 63% faster than cash and 53% faster than a traditional credit card transaction.
Hence, it is needless to say, how much of an impact contactless payments can have on improving business.

Customer Service

When it comes to customer service, one of the areas where the most number of issues arise, besides long lines in checkout is regarding the lack of store associates to direct customers or give more information about their product or store. This is where technology comes in handy. Self-help kiosks can be placed in stores, where the customers themselves can access product information, store information, inventory information (both for that particular store as well as other nearby stores in their chain), store directory (so as to locate what product is placed where) and the like.

Many retailers are already using such self-help kiosks instead of additional sales associates, which have helped them save a lot on costs. Some of these also have “get help” buttons, which alert nearby store assistants when pressed, and enable customers to talk to them through their voice-enabled Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs). Such kiosks allow customers to find answers to their questions on their own without having to look around for store assistants, thereby improving customer service.

E-commerce sites

Another area where technology can be leveraged to improve customer service is online shopping sites. Various improvements such as rotating and interactive product displays and other kinds of personalization are already helping retailers deliver a more delightful shopping experience online. Such personalized online experiences put together with in-store personalization provides customers with the most satisfying experience.

Augmented Reality

Some companies like IKEA, are also providing added services through their catalog, by making use of augmented reality to give customers a virtual view of products such as furniture in a living room and the like, so that they can make better decisions when choosing a product. Augmented reality is one of the best ways to improve customer experience and increase sales.

Customer Feedback

In-store feedback – one of the most effective ways to measure customer satisfaction can be made more effective with technology. Retailers can have wireless tablets and notes placed in their stores that offer easy-to-fill feedback forms for customers. Customers would always be happy to fill feedback forms if offered incentives for it, like gift coupons and discounts.

Related Read: Ways to Leverage Smart IT Solutions for your Retail Business

These are just some of the ways in which technology can be used in the retail business to improve profits. Even though a lot of these technologies are not being adopted by a number of companies due to various reasons, it is pretty clear now how important they are. As a matter of fact, with time a lot of the traditional methods in retail are sure to get phased and you will be left with no option but unfamiliar technology.

Relying on a proficient technology solutions provider like Fingent can help grow your retail business by integrating technology. Get in touch with our consultants today to map out the right technology solutions that provide your retail business a competitive edge.

Inventory Management

Management of inventory, both in-store as well in the warehouse has always been a major area of expense for retailers. Merchandise must be entered into inventory, tracked on movements and removed from inventory, on being sold. Also, real-time inventory information needs to be available in stores so as to plan the purchase of products, as and when they go out of stock. A total inventory management system that is integrated with the POS can put things in order to a large extent.

As the products are sold through the POS, they also get removed from the inventory and are updated across all systems that use such inventory information. A large clothing retailer makes use of hand-held computers or kiosks integrated with the central inventory system, which can be used to place orders to the warehouse. This is to directly deliver a product to a customer’s house because it was not available in-store when the customer asked for it.

In shipping, wireless barcode scanners can be used at the receiving place to enter stock directly into the inventory, as they get delivered, with the warehouse location of the items also being able to be tracked instantly. Many retailers are already using DEX/UCS (Direct Exchange/Uniform Communication Standard) to allow the delivery people to directly enter invoices into a store’s accounting system, thereby simplifying billing as well as accounting.

Price Auditing

Price auditing has always been a time-consuming process for retail companies. Looking up price labels on products and verifying them with the prices charged to the customers is definitely a hard thing to do. With wireless devices like a tablet or a notebook, the store associate can check the price labels of all the products by scanning the shelf labels using a barcode scanner. These devices can be linked to the store’s central database of products which are also linked to the POS terminals in order to track the prices of products being sold. If there are any differences between the POS prices and the database prices or the shelf prices, corrective action can be taken immediately. Hence, accurate pricing can be achieved and a lot of time can be saved, plus it adds to the trust factor for customers as well.

These are just some of the ways in which technology can be used in the retail business to improve profits. Even though a lot of these technologies are not being adopted by a number of companies due to various reasons, it is pretty clear now how important they are. As a matter of fact, with time a lot of the traditional methods in retail are sure to get phased and you will be left with no option but unfamiliar technology. 

Here is a video of the smart malls of the Future:

Flexibility, convenience, pleasure and less uncertainty. These are some of the factors that affect the shopping habits of consumers. According to a report by PwC, it is pretty evident that consumers are constantly looking for ways to ease their shopping experience and maximize efficiency at the same time. Hence, retailers need to think beyond regular channels in order to win over consumers and gain competitive advantage. As consumers are increasingly becoming more keen on developing their own approaches to researching and purchasing, both online as well as in stores, it is inevitable that retailers be more aware and ahead in using technology to generate more sales.

Technology is definitely the main reason for the change in consumer behaviour as is evident from the PwC report. It goes on to describe four such technological disruptions in the retail world, which are totally influencing consumer behaviour. They are as follows:

1. Store evolution – According to the survey, almost 36% of the respondent shoppers said that the store remains the central point of shopping for them. They go to a physical store at least once in a week. This is pretty huge compared to the ones that shop online weekly, which are 20% through PC, 10% through a tablet and 11% through a mobile phone. While the store remains to be powerful, reliable and long-lived, online shopping is increasingly becoming more popular as well. When some of the reasons were examined for the rise in online shopping, there were two predominant ones: one was the ability to shop 24/7 and another was the convenience of not having to travel to a physical store. At the same time up to 60% of the respondents also said that the ability to see, touch and try merchandise before buying them was one of the major reasons that made in-store shopping popular too. Digital disruption is taking place as there is less impulsive buying these days as shoppers depend on e-commerce websites for purchase decisions.
2. Mobile technology – It was proven in an earlier report of the PwC, that many developing parts of the world are fast reaching or in some cases have even crossed the US rate of mobile phone adoption. In fact, two years ago, reports had shown that 30% of survey respondents had used a mobile phone to make a purchase and this year’s survey shows that 47% have. That is indeed a sign of disruption. Although, only a 29% said that they see themselves using a smartphone as the main tool for a making purchases, and only 3% of them feel smartphones to be their preferred tool for making payments and purchases. Putting this thought aside, another use to which mobile phones are being put is, comparison of prices and location of stores. It is increasingly becoming a major tool for such pre-purchase activities and serves to be medium of constant connection between the retailers and the consumers.
3. Social networks – When asked if their interaction on social media has led them to buy more or has affected their buying decisions, a major share of the respondents, that is, a 62% said yes, it has. It is evident in the report that the social media engagement of retailers and consumers has increased. About 34% of the respondents followed their favourite brands or retailers online, a 28% said they found brands they didn’t know about or developed an interest in and another 27% said they researched on a brand using others’ feedback on social media. All these figures indicate a significant increase from the previous years. Although, considering that the social media is a platform for connecting people world over, only a less majority of the people actually share their favourite products with their friends (15%) and only an 8% made the effort to connect with people who liked similar products. Aside from that, one of the major factors that attracted customers to a particular brand page was attractive deals or promotions, said by almost 45% of the respondents.
4. Demographic changes – Unsurprisingly, the use of social media is the most significant difference between the generation of people who have been raised in the midst of technology and social media and the other generations among the respondents. The former generation of people said to be using the social media for following brands, discovering new brands and researching, while the latter does not use it much. Another significant difference between the two generations is the use of mobile technology. When asked whether they engaged themselves in activities with a mobile device, again the “digital natives” said to be using them more often than the rest of the respondents. Most often they have used a mobile device for making payments, scanning QR codes, locating a store etc. They also seemed to want more of in-store technology as they chose in-store WiFi to be one of their favourite one. It is pretty evident from all these factors that the current generation has a different view towards shopping altogether, than the earlier generation.

All of these changes point to one thing: all the new technology, whether it is e-commerce sites, or the social media or mobile phones, they have changed the way customers shopped. There is definitely a huge impact on the retail physical stores due to such technological disruption. Customers are now looking for ways to further personalize their shopping experience and find easy ways of doing with the help of technology.

Image credits: TonyV3112 / Shutterstock.com

When customers get more and more digitally advanced, what else can retailers do, but go over the top to get savvier and stay ahead in the race towards serving them better? Most retailers these days are struggling to maintain their faces with new technologies and marketing programs in the digital side of things. If you thought, a little bit of social media marketing would do the trick, then you might be wrong. True, social media does play a huge role in spicing up your digital marketing spree, but is that enough?

The answer to that, would perhaps, have been ‘yes’, maybe a few years ago. But with advancements in technology as well as the minds of the people today, who seem to be in an endless search for convenience and speed, the answer is definitely ‘no’. So, what exactly is the deal with this digital marketing and the people-the consumers, and what does it take to stay in the ‘present’?

Consumers have started to expect more from their vendors and retailers are bound to live up to this expectation. Let’s see, for example, how digital marketing has changed in retail to stay relevant and eye-candy for its customers:

‘Personalizing’ at its peak

One of the most effective and influential techniques of digital marketing is personalizing. And by that, I don’t just mean sending out personal emails to your customers, or adding their first names in the emails you send out. The in-thing now, is of course iBeacons; the latest Bluetooth LE technology used in malls and retail stores to send out personalized offers and messages in real-time. But that is when your customers are in your store. What can you do to get personal outside of your store?
The depth of the word ‘personalizing’ is starting to take new forms these days. And one of those forms is facial recognition technology. According to a recent report published by Transparency Market Research, the global facial recognition market is expected to reach almost US $2.67 billion by 2022. That is how big it is getting. Retailers can use this technology to gather information about customers, their buying habits, purchasing power etc. and then use that for marketing purposes like, presenting them with special and unique offers and deals.
Facebook, the social media channel, has been using this technology for the past few years for the purpose of identifying and categorizing pictures, and this data is being shared among other retail and social media sites, which enables them to target ads to users. Facebook also uses information from other retail sites by scanning their cookies and displays ads to users accordingly.
However, privacy concerns regarding this technology are still being discussed and how much acceptable it is going to get among the consumers, still remains unclear.

From wearable to digital assistants

This is for companies that use mobile marketing for leveraging their marketing programs. You need to really keep up with the latest advancements in mobile technology if you want to make your marketing effective. A “mobile-first strategy” is what a lot of retail brands adopt these days. This is according to Aaron Shapiro, CEO of New York based digital agency Huge. Shapiro feels that voice-activated technology, digital assistants and wearable technology are all set to change the way customers interact with their favorite brands, especially now that most of them use mobile devices rather than desktop computers and laptops. About voice-activated marketing Shapiro says, “ In cases where the screens are going to be tiny or non-existent, voice is going to be the way that we communicate.” It means brands will have to come up with ways for their customers to communicate with them in a voice context.
Shapiro also feels that mobile technology is definitely going to evolve into wearable as well.

Display advertising: Metrics better than click-through-rate

Click-through-rates are actually, most often, thought of as the best measure of display advertisements’ effectiveness. However, there are several limitations to this particular approach. It ignores factors like brand awareness and educating prospects. According to Sean Callahan, Marketing Director, Bizo, there are several other metrics that marketers can use to measure the effectiveness of their display ads. Some of them are:
Brand recall – where in, you can carry out an online brand study to see the differences in the awareness of your brand among the people who have seen your ads and among the ones who haven’t.
Branded search – where in, you can measure the lift in the number of searches for your brand, while your online ad campaign is running.

Likewise, there are a number of other such metrics that you can use to measure the performance of your ad campaigns.

All of these digital marketing techniques and tips are already being used by a number of retailers and are well on their way towards revolutionizing the retail industry as a whole. In a matter of few years, what we provide for our customers now, will probably seem outdated or maybe even absolutely ineffective. Like i said, if you have to stay in the game till the end, you have got to play it like it has to be played.

A recent survey shows that almost 60% of retailers do not have sufficient reliable data to personalize their campaigns or ensure that their targeted marketing efforts are successful.

So how do you get “personal” with your consumers?

Talk to them, engage with their experiences; simply stated you need to understand them. And to help you with this you need specific data relating to your consumer behavior. Their habits, emotions, and preferences should be at the epitome of your strategy.

Retailers, use a multitude of processes to access these informations. You may use loyalty campaigns, freebies and lot more (almost anything your marketing team would tell you to do). Nevertheless, with all this effort, the base methodology is still the same. A response collection activity. Backed by Data Analytics and real-time responses. Such surveys help gather information about a consumer’s personal interests and opinions and thereby help target your sales effort.

However, such surveys alone, lately have not quite supported your targeting efforts. This is mainly because they have not been receiving the response that they were expected to generate. Customers and marketing environments are changing as we speak. Here are Five best practices to keep your surveys engaging and productive.

1. Keep the survey short and simple – It is human nature to always want things quick and easy. Hence, It is better to have a short survey that focuses on a single objective rather than one that covers multiple objectives. The reason is that long surveys are often ignored or left halfway through by the consumers. Short and simple surveys generally have higher response rates.
2. Keep the questions short – You need to keep your questions short and to the point. It is better to ask for one piece of information in one question. Or else, the customers are likely to lose focus or get confused. It is also better not to have too many possible answers for any given question.
3. Avoid jargon – You may know what it means maybe even your manager, but not necessarily your customer, You need to, as far as possible, avoid words that are industry-specific or technical. The consumers need not be familiar with such words. As mentioned before, it is always better to keep it simple.
4. Use close-ended questions whenever possible – Close-ended questions are easier to answer as well as analyze. Hence, as much as possible it is better to use close-ended questions involving answers like yes/no or a rating scale etc.
5. Consider offering incentives – A recent research by a survey firm showed that offering incentives enhanced response rates by 50% on an average. People are always likely to do something if they are appreciated for it. Hence, here we seek to appreciate them for having spent their time on our survey, by offering some kind of incentive.

These are some of the points that can help you roll out an effective survey.Technology also plays an important aspect of your response collection. As technology has become mainstream in almost every industry, consumer feedback is another area where the retail industry can make use of technology. Using a Survey app, like Reach Out can ease the whole process of feedback, both for the consumer as well the retailer. It makes feedback a more engaging experience than regular surveys.

The Net Promoter Score as founded by Bain and Company is the measure of how well a company treats its customers. It is basically based on the question ‘how likely is it that you would recommend our company or product to your friends?’. The question will have a rating scale of 1 to 10, 1 being not likely at all and 10 being extremely likely.
This helps companies in making important decisions and framing appropriate marketing and selling policies. Among the three kinds of customers a company would have, the net promoter score is the number or percentage of the promoters less the number or percentage of detractors. The promoters are of course the people who are likely to recommend the company or product to his/her friend and the detractors are the ones that are highly unlikely to do the same.

According to certain findings by the Net Promoter System, almost 80% of a company’s business referrals are through promoters and detractors are responsible for up to 80% of negative word of mouth. That said, it is quite clear how important the Net Promoter Score is for a company. Now how does it benefit an organization?

Using the Net Promoter Score can have a number of benefits:

• Increase customer loyalty – Gone are the days when companies used to measure the level of customer satisfaction for deciding how loyal they are. You need to know how happy they are and what they would do about it in order to analyze their loyalty and strategize selling and customer relationship techniques accordingly. This single question for assessing the net promoter score not only helps to know exactly what is in the minds of the customers but also helps to analyze the effects of the changes you make in your techniques later on.
• Increase positive word of mouth – This score gives you an idea about how much of your customers are promoters of your company. That is, how many of them are likely to speak positively about your company and advocate it. For example, a score of 50% means almost half of your customers are happy and would spread that word. You can leverage such customer advocates and generate referral leads and thereby increase your customer base.
• Decrease customer churn rate – Several pieces of research by Bain and Company have proved that promoters have generally lesser tendency to defect when compared to other customers. Hence, they are likely to have a longer-lasting relationship with your company. This means you can safely invest in improving such relationships and turning more detractors into promoters and reduce customer churn. Since customer acquisition costs are always on the rise, it would be wise to reduce customer churn and improve business.
• Increase revenue and customer lifetime value – Since the Net Promoter Score helps to increase the number of promoters, it in turn helps to increase your revenue. According to findings by Bain and Company, promoters are likely to spend more on new offers and products than the detractors. Hence, it would be worthwhile to have more of them. They are found to be less price sensitive too, which means they would not be bothered about how much they spend when it comes to their purchases. And as mentioned before, they account for a majority of referrals and thereby a larger customer base.

Apart from all these factors, promoters are the loyal customers of a company. They have higher customer lifetime value than other customers. Hence, for every company such customers are quite useful to increase customer base and also profits. Assessing the Net Promoter Score can practically help you in every way in growing your business.

Interested in how you can implement and identify a Net Promoter Score for your business? Look at how solutions such as ReachOut automates key functions of customer engagement and helps run your business better.