Sandobap

Tag: retailers

  • Why data is the most powerful tool for retailers this festive season

    Why data is the most powerful tool for retailers this festive season

    The festive season is fast approaching, and with that comes the dynamic, fast-paced and competitive peak shopping period.

    According to Near Research, Australian consumers are planning to spend more this holiday season compared to last year. They are taking steps to make the most of their holiday budget, with 93% seeking the best deals and 68% planning to kick off shopping before Black Friday.

    Retailers can be using this time to engage with customers, retain loyalty and exceed revenue targets. But in the midst of a fiercely saturated market with shifting consumer behaviours, how can you cut through the noise?

    This is where data comes into play. Retailers need to invest in securely utilising data from both online and offline interactions, as this will help unlock data-driven insights and opportunities for retail success. Leveraging this data to its best ability will enhance consumer relationships and lead to tangible business results — ultimately enabling your retail business to provide better customer experiences this festive season.

    Personalised experiences = happy customers

    With personalisation becoming an ever-growing consumer expectation today, optimising customer data to create individualised experiences goes a long way in building trust & loyalty. Having the ability to deliver on this will depend on the robustness of the digital and data infrastructure, as the requirement will be to capture and process information of your shoppers across multiple touchpoints to build a customer 360- a unique view into your shopper’s behaviour, trends and preferences. To achieve this, building a customer data platform becomes the foundational element for establishing a holistic understanding of your customers to deliver a privacy-centric shopper engagement platform.

    Integrated tools such as Google Cloud’s Recommendations AI can take the data even further, delivering real-time bespoke recommendations and allowing retailers to anticipate and predict their  customer needs, thereby creating a highly personalised and superior service experience

    Getting ahead of the supply chain

    Against the backdrop of global supply chain issues, stock availability and fast delivery are front and centre in every shopper’s mind. However, inventory optimisation and last-mile delivery still are big challenges in retail today. It is therefore imperative for retailers to get better prepared by leveraging technologies and data-driven insights to optimise and fortify their supply chain.

    The first step is to get better visibility and transparency by creating a digital twin of your supply chain. Having real-time end-to-end visibility, alert-driven event management, analytics, and collaboration across your teams will help streamline your supply chain, enabling you to make informed decisions to mitigate any delays or setbacks.  In addition, it will also help in managing customer expectations during the busy festive season, such as letting them know when it will arrive on the doorstep or where they can find the product in-store.

    Second, to avoid excess inventory piling up (which is frequently the case during the holidays), retailers can build robust demand forecasting models using AI platforms like Google Cloud’s Vertex AI which in turn can help in reducing wastage and unwarranted discounting during this festive season. Delivering on these elements will not only contribute to the bottom line but also create a quality shopping experience end-to-end, as trust is built on transparent communication between the business and customers.

    Security and trust go hand in hand. Cloud adoption can lead the way.

    Juggling multiple datasets across the organisation can be time-extensive, inefficient and susceptible to security concerns. Modernising the data warehouse and shifting to a cloud-based platform can help retailers ensure the utmost data security in today’s privacy-centric environment. Moreover, consolidating multiple data silos to build a unified retail data platform will enable retailers to build a system of insight with capabilities to make informed decisions by processing & analysing streams of data in real-time.

    Take Country Road Group and David Jones for example. Having experienced a 50% increase in requests for data analytics, the marketing teams found that manually pulling insights from multiple dashboards and developing comprehensive insights had become incredibly time-consuming. Working with Cloud service providers, they restructured their data warehouse with Google Cloud’s BigQuery and Looker to better explore, share and visualise the company’s supplier and campaign data. This optimisation enabled the team to cut down on the time invested in manual reporting, with pre-built data models and custom-built analytics on hand for any specific retail needs and insights.

    Data is the most powerful tool when it comes to facing this year’s festive season and beyond. The key lies in adopting and leveraging cloud technologies to consolidate, analyse and activate this data to digitally transform the business. In doing so, retailers will be able to drive profitable growth coupled with superior customer experience, retention and loyalty while positioning themselves for the future. What are you waiting for?  

    Sameer Dhingra is director retail & consumer of Google Cloud.

  • Retail Review | Australian Retailers Association

    Retail Review | Australian Retailers Association

    A digital-first store critical to driving stronger connections with customers

    It’s not only the store format that will change, but also the technology within the store. To improve the customer experience, retailers need to embrace a range of technologies such as smart digital shelves, digital fact tags, and QR codes – enabling consumers to learn more about a specific product through the use of their mobile device.

    As shoppers increasingly use their mobile devices in-store, retailers can leverage artificial intelligence (AI) powered personalisation to drive in-person sales. For example, customers no longer want a generic home page experience, they expect retailers to know what they want and present them with unique and relevant recommendations online, which enables them to quickly and easily find what they’re looking for in-store.

    Furthermore, by launching or upgrading existing consumer apps for mobile, retailers can make the shopping experience more convenient and engaging with interactive wayfinding capabilities to identify where products are in-store and their availability, as well as sending real time push notifications alerting the shopper to store-driven promotions for products that are of interest to them. The app also provides a means to drive customers to join a loyalty program, with shoppers willing to download an app and check into a store to earn points. Salesforce reported that, 69 percent of shoppers say that being part of a loyalty program makes them more likely to shop with a brand.

    As the role of in-store staff evolves retailers need to upskill in digital

    If in-store staff are to meet today’s customer expectations for connected experiences across in-person and online, they will need a unified view of their customer data. According to our research, in-store staff log into an average of 15 systems on a daily basis to do their job. By having a central source for all of their data, retailers can better understand how a consumer is engaging with the brand before they step into a store. It’s never been more important to have quick access to a shopper’s order history with customers no longer willing to accept time-intensive experiences where staff cannot make tailored recommendations to meaningfully up-sell or cross-sell.

    Furthermore, as the store adapts to new shopper needs and expectations, so will the responsibilities of in-store staff. During pandemic-induced store closures, staff took on the task of virtual styling, online customer service and online order fulfilment while social media-savvy associates became their retailer’s best brand ambassadors. With these responsibilities likely to remain, retailers need to provide their staff with access to self-learning tools like Trailhead to get them up to speed to manage service and sales across all digital channels.

    Every store will become a fulfilment and distribution centre

    To deliver on customer expectations for convenient and seamless experiences, retailers were quick to implement new online fulfilment capabilities at the start of the pandemic including click and collect, pick up curbside, and partnerships with third-party delivery providers.

    Today’s shoppers have grown accustomed to these store-based fulfilment options with 65 percent of shoppers purchasing a product online and picking it up in the store in 2021. These capabilities will likely become standard features for stores in the year ahead.

    By leveraging out-of-the-box capabilities, retailers can better connect the online and in-store experience, unlocking store inventory to be sold and quickly and efficiently turn every store into a fulfilment and distribution centre.

    The future of bricks-and-mortar

    The store has a long history of evolution to meet new customer expectations, and this is the start of a new journey to blend in-person and digital experiences. While the implementation of store-based fulfilment was prioritised due to the pandemic, more change is coming to the store, including diversity in store formats to meet different shopping needs for convenience, discovery, and service. The interior of the store will see more technology implemented and the in-store shopping experience will be enhanced by the retailer’s mobile app. As the store evolves, the role of the store associate will evolve in tandem. And all of these changes will result in more data that retailers can leverage to enhance their customer experience. To be successful in this new era, retail leaders need to leverage new digital capabilities to create the experiences that today’s customers expect.

  • YOOBIC Communities Give Retailers a Secret Weapon to Combat Employee Turnover – Retail Focus

    YOOBIC Communities Give Retailers a Secret Weapon to Combat Employee Turnover – Retail Focus

    YOOBIC, the innovator of the all-in-one Frontline Employee Experience Platform, today announced the launch of YOOBIC Communities, a powerful expansion of the YOOBIC app designed to enable companies with frontline workers to drive engagement and give employees a shared space to build collaboration, camaraderie, and a sense of common purpose. The feature launch cements YOOBIC’s place as the premiere Frontline Employee Experience Platform (FEXP) for today’s most demanding distributed enterprises.

    YOOBIC’s game-changing mobile app is already trusted by 350 global brands including top retailers such as Levi’s, francesca’s, Lacoste, Boots and Lidl. The Communities feature empowers frontline teams to easily create common-interest networks and design and launch their own micro-communities within the organisation. The result: organic team building based on meaningful friendships and rich new opportunities for mutual support, collaboration, and innovation.

    Advertisement:

    With employers still feeling the impact of the Great Resignation and broader labour shortages, YOOBIC Communities offers an important tool to create engagement and boost employee retention. According to Gallop’s State of The Global Workplace 2022 report, only 21% of workers are engaged at work. Research shows that employees want to feel like they belong and they are part of something bigger than themselves. That is exactly what YOOBIC’s Communities feature delivers—giving frontline teams a real stake in their organisations and the ability to shape and take ownership of their company’s culture.

    Sarah Brown, director, field training and guest experience, at American fashion retailer francesca’s commented: “We have really transformed the way we work with YOOBIC.  It was a critical tool to transition from email and streamline communications with our store teams. We really love the Communities feature. It is another layer that brings our team together in a meaningful way and it has been a game-changer.”

    YOOBIC Communities is an engagement-driving tool for a generation of digital-native workers raised on social media. The results have been striking. In the Beta test group, weekly logins increased by 33% per user. Employees were also markedly more engaged with the platform, Communities drove 43% more engagement than the top-down digital Newsfeed, which already was achieving great results. These numbers show targeted engagement and employee experience are drivers in adoption and usage of digital tools for frontline workers.

    “We strive to build a family unit at francesca’s,” said Katie Kepic, district team leader, francesca’s. “We want a strong sense of camaraderie and community when it comes to peer-to-peer engagement. Our teams are utilising YOOBIC Communities to embrace our districts and be inclusive. Everyone can get to know each other and celebrate all things francesca’s throughout the day in the app. It’s given us the ability to transition away from email and really create a place of support and engagement for our teams.”

    “At YOOBIC, we know that meaningful employee engagement is the key to boosting employee morale and performance—as well as the agility, resilience, and profitability of the organisation as a whole. The Communities feature was designed to organically elevate that engagement and bring frontline teams together in a powerful and effective way,” stated Fabrice Haiat, YOOBIC CEO and co-founder. “Our app is the critical space where workplace orchestration meets employee experience, and as the category-defining FEXP innovator, we’re determined to keep pushing the boundaries of what’s possible for the success of our customers.”

    Advertisement

  • The Retailer’s Guide to Point-of-Sale (POS) Terminals (2022)

    The Retailer’s Guide to Point-of-Sale (POS) Terminals (2022)

    There’s a lot of technology involved in running a retail business. A point-of-sale (POS) terminal, however, is the most important. 

    It’s the central hub through which every transaction your business does takes place. Beyond just processing purchases and payments, it’s also the source of critical data that can influence major business decisions. That’s just skimming the surface of what a POS terminal can do.

    What is a POS terminal?

    A POS terminal is a combination of hardware and software that, at its most basic level, processes all of your store’s transactions. With a POS terminal your store can sell products, accept various payment methods, collect critical business data, and simplify operations.

    POS stands for “point of sale,” which is both literally where the sale takes place and shorthand for this software and hardware combination. A POS terminal is also referred to as a POS system, or just a POS.

    POS terminals are made up of several key components, including:

    • A smart device, like a tablet or smartphone, that runs the POS software.
    • A barcode scanner, which can be paired to the terminal. 
    • A payment terminal, also known as a card reader, which processes all kinds of payment methods, including credit cards, gift cards, and mobile payment options.
    • POS software, which enables these tools to work together and performs all of the functions listed in the next section, and many others.

    How does a POS terminal work?

    Now you understand what a POS terminal is composed of. Here’s a deep dive into how these components work together to help you run your store.

    Look up product and inventory availability

    A POS terminal stores your product catalog and automatically updates inventory quantities when a purchase is made. To check product availability, you can either scan the barcode on the product or search for the item using its name, SKU number, or a keyword.

    Add items to a customer’s cart 

    Adding items to a customer’s cart is easy with a POS terminal. Just like when you look up item information and availability, you can add products to an in-store order by scanning their barcodes or searching for them in the POS system.

    After you’ve added all of the items a customer is interested in to the POS at checkout, the POS will calculate the subtotal and total after tax and discounts have been applied.

    Accept payments and complete checkouts

    When the customer finds out their purchase total, they pay via their preferred method (of the payment types your POS terminal accepts). Then, the POS processes the payment. This can involve the card reader verifying a card payment or the cashier accepting cash and giving back change. At the end of the transaction, the customer receives a receipt as proof of payment.

    Manage daily store operations 

    A POS terminal does so much more than just complete sales; it’s an essential part of a store’s daily operations. 

    A POS system can, for example, assist with inventory management by letting staff know what’s in stock and how much of each product is left. A POS terminal can alert you when you’ve reached your reorder point and can automatically place replenishment orders.

    Reporting is another way POS terminals facilitate operations. The POS collects data about every transaction and product. It can learn a lot about your business, such as which products are the most popular, when the store is the busiest, or which of your staff members is responsible for making the most sales. Use these analytics to reach the right business decisions faster.

    Access customer information 

    POS terminals don’t only collect data about your business. They also gather information on your customers, like purchase history, frequency, and order size.

    This data is useful for marketing purposes. You can use it to send customers offers they won’t be able to resist. For example, if a customer purchases a video game console from your store, you can use that purchase history information to send them offers for games and accessories compatible with that console.

    Customer data can also be used to enhance the shopping experience. When a sales associate can look up a customer’s past purchases, they can offer personalized recommendations. For example, a sales associate at a shoe store can show a returning customer new arrivals that are similar to models they’ve purchased in the past, and bring out the right size without being asked.

    Types of retail POS terminals

    There are two main types of POS systems: cash wraps and mobile POS terminals. While cash wraps are the long-established POS system, mobile POS terminals are gaining popularity. Many retailers are opting to use a combination of both at their stores. 

    Here’s an overview of the similarities and differences between cash wraps and mobile POS terminals. 

    Cash wrap POS terminal 

    A cash wrap is what we traditionally think of when we think of a POS terminal: a stationary checkout point. A cash wrap setup consists of a screen (usually as a tablet), card reader, barcode scanner, cash drawer, and receipt printer.

    Depending on its size, a store may have one or more cash wrap terminals. These terminals stay in one place.

    Mobile POS terminal 

    This alternative to a stationary cash wrap is becoming increasingly popular among retailers and their customers. As the name implies, mobile POS systems usually run on small, handheld mobile devices for maximum convenience.

    They have all of the same features as a cash wrap, but without the cash drawer. You can still collect cash payments with a mobile system if you have a cash register somewhere in your store. 

    Mobile POS terminals let you help customers while they shop, give personalized recommendations, and look up inventory without interrupting the shopping experience.

    How to choose the right POS terminal for your store

    Which type of POS terminal is right for your business? Is it a cash wrap, a mobile POS, or a combination of both? Consider what kind of checkout options you want to give customers, the payment types you want to be able to accept, and how much you want to spend on your POS terminal to find the best fit for your store.

    Store checkout options 

    First things first, do you want to offer customers a traditional, stationary checkout experience, or do you want to give them the option to check out from anywhere in the store? Or do you want to be flexible and let customers check out however they’d like?

    Customers are familiar with the experience of a cash wrap POS terminal. Shoppers know to take the items they’re interested in to the checkout counter. For stores that want to offer this familiar experience, cash wraps are a good option. All transactions, including looking up inventory information, happen at the cash wrap.

    With a mobile POS terminal, every employee turns into a walking checkout point. Staff can approach shoppers to help them find items they need and make personalized recommendations by looking up the customer’s purchase history. Then, when shoppers are ready to pay, they don’t need to queue up at the checkout counter. Instead, they can finish the transaction with the employee through their mobile POS.

    A hybrid checkout option is a great option for stores that want to ease customers into a new shopping experience. Customers will still get the familiar checkout experience, but can also receive enhanced assistance from staff anywhere in the store. This model is also a good idea during busy seasons, like the holidays, when lines can get long at the checkout counter. When every employee is equipped with a mobile POS terminal, they can bust lines with ease.

    Accepted payment methods

    Next, think about which payment methods you want to be able to take at your store. 

    The benefit of a traditional cash wrap POS terminal is that they usually come with cash registers, which enable you to accept cash payments. However, storing cash on premises can make your business vulnerable to theft.

    With a mobile POS, you can accept non-cash payments like credit cards, gift cards, and digital wallets. These are faster and safer payment methods than cash. 

    However, with nearly 5% of Americans and 3% of Canadians unbanked, not accepting cash can exclude some customers. You can mitigate this problem and use mobile POS terminals by adding a cash drawer to your store.

    Terminal cost

    The final thing you should consider when choosing a POS terminal is its cost. Different setups have different price tags, and they can vary a great deal.

    A cash wrap POS terminal setup is usually the more expensive option. Below are the hardware costs you’ll incur with a traditional POS:

    A build-it-yourself mobile POS terminal setup is more cost efficient than a cash wrap. You’ll just need a smartphone (which typically costs several hundred dollars, depending on the device) and a card reader (starts at $49). 

    The most cost effective option is an all-in-one mobile POS terminal. Shopify POS Go, for example, costs $399 in the United States and is equipped with everything merchants need to transact, manage inventory, gather customer data, and more.

    These are just the hardware costs for a POS terminal, so make sure to save room in your budget for POS software costs. At Shopify, POS software starts at $29 per month.

    Which POS terminals are compatible with Shopify POS?

    If you’re already a Shopify or Shopify POS customer, or are interested in becoming one, you probably want to know what kind of POS hardware is compatible with Shopify’s software. Fortunately, you have multiple options.

    POS Go

    POS Go is Shopify’s all-in-one mobile POS terminal. It’s the most affordable POS terminal that’s compatible with Shopify’s POS software, and is also the most convenient to purchase. Instead of buying a smartphone, POS software, and card reader separately, you get everything you need in one compact device. The best part is it costs only $399 for US merchants. 

    With POS Go, you can do everything you can with a large cash wrap terminal, but in the palm of your hand. You can look up products, scan barcodes, issue digital receipts, access reporting, and much more. 

    Retail Kit 

    If you want a traditional cash wrap terminal, the most convenient option is buying all of your POS terminal devices from Shopify. Shopify’s Retail Kit is guaranteed to work with Shopify software. This hardware setup is optimized to help you run your business with ease. 

    Build your own POS hardware setup

    Another way to find POS hardware that’s compatible with Shopify POS is to buy individual devices from different sellers and piece together your own terminal. This can be a cost-effective option if you’re able to find discounts from vendors or purchase refurbished products. Just make sure to check that the products you’re buying are compatible with Shopify POS before making the investment.

    Wrapping up: What is a point-of-sale (POS) terminal?

    A point-of-sale terminal is the central hub for all of your store’s transactions. It’s the hardware-software combination that lets you look up products, collect payment for purchases, store customer information, gather business data, and much more. From mobile POS terminals to stationary cash wraps, and a la carte hardware setups to out-of-the box solutions, you have many options. Whatever your business needs are, Shopify has a POS terminal solution for you.

    Try Shopify POS for in-person selling

    Get all the tools you need to manage your online and physical stores, market to customers, accept payments, and sell everywhere from the same place.

  • Goldman Sachs upgrades Gap, says stock can rally nearly 30% despite challenges facing retailers

    Goldman Sachs upgrades Gap, says stock can rally nearly 30% despite challenges facing retailers

  • Retailers Focus On Customer Experience With Store Remodelling

    Retailers Focus On Customer Experience With Store Remodelling

    At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, it seemed as if the demise of physical retail was imminent. With stores forced to close, the popularity of e-commerce accelerated and many retailers wondered if in-store shopping would ever return. So far, such fears are proving unfounded – in the U.S., foot traffic has continued to rise, and retailers are expected to open more than 75 million square feet of new space.

    However, this is not simply a return to pre-pandemic normality. Retailers are recognizing that shoppers are now looking for a different experience – and are remodeling their physical space accordingly. Walmart spent $3.3bn on store upgrades last year and continues to remodel its spaces. Target is investing larger sums in revamps of existing stores and new openings.

    Aligning the physical with the digital

    In many cases, the store remodelling programmes now underway at leading retailers worldwide reflect an attempt to bring the physical shopping experience into line with the digital one. Retailers often talk about the importance of an “omnichannel” approach, offering shoppers a means to buy their products in any way they see fit. Still, these channels will not operate independently of one another – consistency and interoperability are important.

    The aim today is to redefine the role of the physical store. Many retailers are focusing on how they can offer customer experiences rather than simply serving as transactional venues. This could mean a superior product-discovery experience – with an app to help customers navigate the aisles or product grouping that mirrors the online experience. Or it could mean access to exclusive merchandise – through in-store only or in-store deals.

    Alternatively, think about experience in the broader sense of the word. The beauty brand Sephora now offers Sephora Color Match’, an augmented reality experience that helps consumers pick out the perfect shade of foundation when shopping in-store. 

    Another priority for retailers is to focus on digitalizing the store. French supermarket Carrefour has launched Carrefour Flash, a fully digitally-connected store that uses technology to enable consumers to choose products in the store and go directly to check-out, where their baskets are automatically displayed. Nespresso’s new Vienna store enables consumers to access immersive rooms to digitally interact with top chefs and coffee farmers to learn about coffee blending, characteristics, and the company’s sustainable activities.

    Nespresso's Vienna store
    Source: Nespresso

    Digitalization also creates new opportunities. For example, if store staff have access to customer data generated both offline and online – such as data on loyalty and purchase behaviors across channels – they can tailor their customer interactions accordingly. Even customers that start and end their journeys online can receive personalized attention in stores.

    Sephora again provides a good example of what is possible – it has merged its digital and physical teams into a single unified retail team; if a customer browsed online and then bought in-store, the team can see that.

    Fulfillment is another area where retailers are investing, offering more pick-up options in-store and investing in infrastructure that facilitates such convenience. The U.K. department store and supermarket chain John Lewis has more than doubled the number of stores in which shoppers can pick up purchases online. That is supporting digital sales growth, but also pulling customers back into its physical locations. Target, similarly, is adding more drive-up services at its remodelled stores.

    New world, new space

    Store remodelling isn’t only about digital alignment. There are many other ways to improve the customer experience – Walmart’s remodelling includes investment in bathrooms and facilities for nursing mothers. for example. Many other retailers are improving food and drink availability, often through partnerships with brands such as Starbucks.

    Other trends include the development of new types of space. Smaller shops that are easier for shoppers to navigate are making a return, particularly as retailers make larger ranges available online. Ikea’s Ikea City stores are replacing their large out-of-town outlets in many countries.

    Sustainability commitments will also be an important consideration for many retailers. In the U.K., the redevelopment of a flagship store by Sainsbury’s last year reduced energy usage by up to 30%. The supermarket group works towards its target to be net zero on carbon emissions across all its operations by 2040.

    Naturally, it will not be possible to do all of this at once – store remodelling exercises are expensive and may be hampered by practical constraints, such as leasing restrictions on planning regulations. Introducing new technologies also adds to the cost of overhauling the store.

    For this reason, larger retailers in particular will overhaul their estates over time – but it’s worth thinking about the cost of redevelopment in the round. As Sainsbury’s example shows, store remodelling can be a way to reduce energy costs – even before retailers start to think about the positive effects on revenues of winning new customers through investment in their physical spaces.

    Do you follow us on TikTok yet? Get insight into unique trends, trade shows, best practices, and so much more!

  • How retailers can turbo charge sales conversion rates this peak season

    How retailers can turbo charge sales conversion rates this peak season

    With rising interest rates leading to cost-of-living pressures, during this peak season for retail in the lead up to Christmas, it’s expected that shoppers will be even keener than usual to seek out a deal.

    Consequently, they may not be inclined to linger as long in a store or on a website. This will place a greater emphasis on retailers to ensure that when they do have a customer’s attention, they provide them with the most seamless and convenient shopping experience possible to convert more of those visits into sales.

    To drive sales conversation rates this peak season, businesses need to understand the latest trends in customer behaviour.

    From channel-less shopping and contactless payment methods to personalised shopping and social commerce, shopper habits and attitudes are changing in a multitude of unexpected ways. According to Adyen’s 2022-23 Australian Peak Season Guide, even existing customers are demonstrating new purchasing behaviours.

    The latest trends in shopper behaviour

    Convenience is king. Key to this is the unification of the online and in-store shopping experience, with services such as click-and-collect, cross-channel returns, and endless aisle, which gives in-store shoppers an opportunity to browse items that are not available in that physical store but can be ordered in-store and delivered straight to their home.

    This requires a unified omnichannel strategy to ensure that each of your customer touchpoints are integrated and no siloes exist, so that customer data is shared across your platform, instead of requiring customers to provide their personal or payment details at each point of your business they interact with, whether online or in-store.

    We recently conducted a research survey of over 10,000 businesses from 23 markets, including 2,504 from APAC (Australia, Hong Kong, Japan, Malaysia, and Singapore) and 40,000 consumers from 26 markets, including 9,005 from APAC, as part of the Adyen Australia 2022 Retail Report.

    53 percent of Australian consumers surveyed said they were more loyal to retailers who offered the option to purchase items online and return them in store.

    They don’t tolerate poor shopping experiences either, with 66 percent saying they’d not return to a physical or online store where they previously had a bad experience.

    An important aspect of omnichannel is the ability it provides to offer another service that customers are increasingly expecting, and one which contributes significantly to a good shopping experience – personalisation.

    Remembering your customers’ preferences and previous shopping behaviours enables a retailer to offer a more tailored shopping experience whilst building customer satisfaction and loyalty.

    Social commerce is also growing in significance as an enabler of good shopping experiences, by making the customer journey from seeing a product on one of the retailer’s social channels, to buying that product and having it in their possession, a seamless one.

    Customer demand for contactless and touch-free payments has also increased, not only due to the pandemic, but also the speed and ease of transaction it facilitates.

    How businesses can create the ultimate customer journey

    The key to this is the provision of a consistent customer engagement experience across all your channels. Remember that customers don’t see channels, they see your brand, and they expect to have the same high level of shopping experience regardless of where in your channel they happen to engage with you. It’s about putting shoppers first and enabling them to purchase and return goods from any of your sales channels, without any degradation in service. Use tech to ease customer engagement with rewards programs and access special offers. 

    How to boost and optimise sales conversions online

    Optimising your online checkout page, so that the steps required to complete the purchase are minimised, helps to reduce cart abandonment. Also, test to ensure that your checkout system works on all devices.

    Providing as many options for shoppers to pay is also important, as this will avoid the scenario of a customer not completing a purchase because their preferred payment method is unavailable.

    Enriching the in-store experiences and keeping queues short

    As we all know, during the festive period, the lines for checkouts can be very lengthy. By using devices such as mobile POS terminals, sales staff can engage with customers and enable them to check out without having to wait, again removing the risk of a time-poor shopper abandoning a purchase.

    Self-service checkouts also help to ease the process of completing a purchase for customers.

    Ultimately, by enhancing their customer engagement and sales processes, retailers will give themselves the best opportunity of enjoying a bumper festive trade.

    Hayley Fisher is country manager for Australia & New Zealand at Adyen.

  • Are Retailers Prepared for the Return to Bricks and Mortar This Holiday Season?

    Are Retailers Prepared for the Return to Bricks and Mortar This Holiday Season?

    By Shash Anand, SVP of Product Strategy, SOTI

    The holiday season is once again upon us and brick-and-mortar stores will need to be ready to address consumer expectations of a hassle-free, streamlined shopping experience. Are they ready?

    Forcing shoppers to deal with long lines and inadequate customer service during the holidays will test the loyalty of your customers and possibly damage your brand. With the amount of foot traffic expected to increase this year with less pandemic-related restrictions, it’s time for retailers with brick-and-mortar stores to reassess the shopping experience they provide to their customers – especially during this critical shopping season.

    To do so, the retail industry needs to modernize, particularly in how they track and manage the effectiveness of their mobile devices. These form a critical link from shippers to warehouse workers to customer-facing staff on the store floor. An effective Enterprise Mobility Management (EMM) strategy, that gives you full visibility into your business-critical mobile operations plays a critical role to ensure your organization has the tools and structure to form that critical link within the supply chain. According to SOTI’s report, 67% of shoppers stated that they believe retailers who use mobile tech provide a faster shopping experience. Additionally, 47% of consumers stated that self-checkout improves their in-store shopping experience. 

    Mobile Tech for a Merrier Holiday Shopping Experience

    Interactive mobile technology like self-service kiosks, barcode scanners, digital signage and sensors provide a personalized experience, directing customers to the products they are looking for. This not only helps relieve the burden on busy staff but also ensures correct product information is given to shoppers. 

    Retailers, however, need to have full visibility into their entire operations to create a truly seamless experience for both workers and customers. A major issue seen over the past number of years is understanding stock levels and where items are in the supply chain. Retailers have seen inventory discrepancies as big as 25%, which leads to disastrous shopping experiences. Customers search and find products online, only to discover the item is out of stock when they arrive in-store to purchase it or the retailer has miscalculated delivery time.

    Furthermore, Electronic Logging Devices (ELDs), trailer tracking and tracing systems help by providing real-time visibility into critical aspects of a supply chain, significantly reducing the number of unexpected delays. The problem is that companies can’t see what’s happening across the ever-increasing number of devices in the field. A device’s battery may be low, resulting in the need to change the device at an inopportune time or the battery having to be replaced. A delivery driver, warehouse worker or store staff may have forgotten to take a device or obtained a faulty one, resulting in potentially hours of downtime to retrieve a new device.

    A remote access and monitoring platform like SOTI XSight, allows companies to understand when an issue occurs and solve it remotely in real-time, monitor device performance day-to-day and improve future device performance based on rich data and analytics. For example, SOTI XSight provides metrics regarding battery health data so workers can ensure their devices are performing at maximum capability.   

    Post-Holiday Returns

    The wave of post-holidays returns is inevitable even more so with the continued adoption of e-commerce and needs to be considered as part of a retailer’s overall brand experience. Quick and seamless returns are key, and an effective EMM strategy plays a critical role here too.

    For example, trackable RFID tags provide the ability to track products and are particularly useful for many alternative return methods, like curbside drop-off. With the ability to monitor all remote devices across touchpoints, retailers can have an accurate line-of-sight on when a package will be returned. This allows managers to know when to pull staff onto “return duty” when the items arrive. This also eliminates staff waiting around due to potential delays, or inadvertently leaving items unattended on the curb. Additionally, consider real-time geolocation, which enables customers to track your return pickup vehicle in real-time.

    How SOTI XSight Empowers Smooth Holiday Shopping

    With SOTI XSight, retailers benefit from diagnostic intelligence, enabling them to use readily accessible data to make smart decisions regarding the effective use of their devices. Lack of vital information about your mobile devices can cause unnecessary device downtime for prolonged periods due to IT teams not having visibility into business-critical issues. However, integrating a solution like SOTI XSight into your infrastructure allows IT specialists to pull critical data about mobile devices. Such as battery health, device performance, data usage and signal strength analytics, ensuring your technology will run smoothly when it’s needed most.

    In addition, managers and head office can be made aware of problems the moment they occur, preventing device downtime. This is done by easily setting up watchlist parameters for battery drainage, data consumption and even physical damage. When devices exceed those established parameters, the organization is instantly notified and able to take proactive action to address the issue quickly.

    When problems do arise, incident management features allow IT teams to provide remote support as easily as having the device and end-user next to them. This real-time remote control allows staff to manipulate devices as if they were holding them and facilitates interactions with the end user by remotely drawing, whiteboarding and annotating on the device screen in addition to recording audio and video of the support call. This reduces the hassle of travelling back and forth for both the end user and IT team, saving both time and money.

    With a busy holiday shopping season upon us, retailers must be ready with the right technology solutions to ensure streamlined shopping experiences for their customers. Employees and customers no longer need to feel frustrated about the loss of productivity during this holiday season. Gaining a better understanding of their mobile devices across their entire network will be critical for success.

    To learn more about SOTI XSight, please visit soti.net/products/soti-xsight/

    About Shash Anand, SVP of Product Strategy, SOTI

    Shash Anand, SVP of Product Strategy, SOTI

    Shash Anand is an accomplished product strategy professional with a unique combination of senior management, strategic alliances, product management, sales, support and professional services experience complemented by a distinctive academic foundation of an MBA with a Computer Engineering degree. Also volunteer as the Chairman of the Board for a Not for Profit organization. Recognized for responsiveness and as a valued strategic partner with a commitment to achieving results. Reputation for being a passionate, supportive leader with an eagerness to tackle difficult business problems and deep dive at a technical level.

    About SOTI

    SOTI is a proven innovator and industry leader for mobility and IoT management. Organizations around the world depend on SOTI to enable their strategies for mobile devices, applications, content, as well as endpoints for the Internet of Things. Strong relationships with mobile technology and IoT partners around the world gives us advanced knowledge of new technologies and cutting-edge business solutions. Our commitment to innovation ensures your business is one step ahead with the solutions you need to take mobility to endless possibilities.

  • 5 Cash Flow Tips For Independent Retailers In October

    5 Cash Flow Tips For Independent Retailers In October

    The getaway period is about to start, and each and every retailer is happy for it mainly because dollars stream will appear to be to get much better. Let’s temper that a bit due to the fact Christmas 2022 is on a Sunday, which eliminates a single of those people critical income-producing days due to the fact people may well not have Monday off.

    This put up is much more about where by to commit that cash move than how to maintain on to it. (more…)

  • Dreamforce 2022 in Review: 10 Highlights for Retailers to Learn From

    Dreamforce 2022 in Review: 10 Highlights for Retailers to Learn From

    Salesforce arrived to daily life 23 many years in the past in a San Francisco condominium by Founder and current Co-CEO Marc Benioff. Dreamforce, its yearly event developed to provide collectively the world wide Salesforce group for finding out, neighborhood developing, enjoyable, and philanthropy, observed its conception 20 yrs ago. And this calendar year, I was equipped to experience Dreamforce for my extremely very first time – ultimately identifying just how impactful equally Salesforce and Dreamforce are to their partners and manufacturers alike. 

     

    With so a lot to take in in the course of these speedy-paced, information and facts-abundant 3 days, beneath are 10 of my favourite moments. 

     

    1. The Opening Keynote Offered by Co-CEOs Marc Benioff and Bret Taylor 

     

    Strolling into Dreamforce was unlike any other event I have ever attended, with the vitality of Dreamforce encompassing each and every stage I took. Seats stuffed quickly and several hours early for the opening keynote session of Co-CEOs Marc Benioff and Bret Taylor. Enthusiasm of news to be revealed about Salesforce enhanced features stuffed the place and – quite practically – the city days prior to this actual session. I was psyched to hear firsthand what all the chit chat was about, and I was not unhappy. As an avid believer that integrated, intelligent technological know-how is crucial in supporting enterprise functions, Benioff and Taylor eventually allow us in on just one of their very best stored tricks nonetheless. And that was that real-time information platform, identified as Genie, has been released to the presently strong and complex Salesforce system. For suppliers in particular, this sparked my exhilaration recognizing that gaining clarity from a 360-diploma angle in genuine-time on all touchpoints of their company is vital for optimized retail accomplishment. In the days that adopted, I was thrilled to discover even more about Genie and the positive aspects it delivers suppliers, which you can also examine listed here. 

     

    2. Data-Pushed Selections are Essential for Business Growth

     

     As a single of above 1,000 sessions at Dreamforce, I was grateful to pay attention to Salesforce consulting spouse, Slalom’s, Handling Director Jim Clarke and DECIEM’s Senior E-Commerce Director Heather Stables examine the value of information for business advancement. Stables unveiled that whilst their team does not have an formal internet marketing section, they lean on information retrieved from their quite a few technologies-dependent resources to make strategic and income-oriented conclusions that enable standardize and streamline their operational attempts. Speaking specially about their skincare business, The Standard, Stables shared that owning transparency was the most significant portion of their business expansion. Leveraging Slalom, this transparency grew to become a reality for The Everyday when also offering them data they could proactively react to for far more lucrative business progress. For all merchants, this can be mimicked if employing the right technologies. Fortunately, with tailor-made technology such as Slalom and Salesforce, this can be attained. 

     

    3. The Retail outlet of Tomorrow May well Not Be What You Be expecting It To Be 

     

    Jointly with Robin Smith and Irina Yurevich of EPAM Devices, a Salesforce consulting husband or wife, and Michelle Grant of Salesforce, I was thrilled to share in a dynamic panel dialogue about the “Store of Tomorrow: The Next Era of Technological innovation, Inclusion, and Responsibility in a Retail Surroundings.” We mentioned how technological know-how and traits alike are impacting bodily and electronic retail as very well as what prospects count on from buying encounters. Metaverse was a element of our dialogue, nevertheless it is not expected to be a homerun retail expertise by all panelists in attendance. It is, however, predicted to be an critical portion of the path to invest in for quite a few customers. Furthermore, generating absolutely sure you retain visibility and connectivity in between the a number of spots a shopper may perhaps have interaction on their unique route to invest in was an critical highlight of this conversation. 

     

    With each other with Michelle Grant of Salesforce, Nicole Leinbach of Retail Minded joined EPAM leaders in a panel dialogue about the &#8220Retailer of Tomorrow&#8221.

    4. Influencers and User Created Material Proceeds to Sway Purchaser Decisions 

     

    Prospects like knowing what other consumers consider and in our contemporary environment of commerce, this continues to be among the the primary influencers in customer choices. Keeping this in mind, retailer Ashley Stewart had a Q&A with Slalom and shared that the greater part of their promoting is mainly focused on influencer and person created information. They also lean intensely on buy now, spend afterwards messaging that is designed attainable by corporations this kind of as Klarna, Afterpay and other quad installment payment firms. And thanks to Salesforce partner Slalom, they are also in a position to deliver a more robust human component to their messaging, aligning with their motivation to personalize messaging and promoting to their clients. 

    5. The Close of a Buyer Journey is as Significant as The Beginning of the Journey 

     

    I have been a very long-time fan of the consumer journey being a best precedence for vendors, and listening to from Shoprunner, a FedEx subsidiary – and Salesforce associate – at Dreamforce strengthened just how critical it is to hear to what buyers want. Stressing that their goal is to “simplify the e-commerce practical experience,” Shoprunner aims to give a holistic and truthful view to their buyers thanks to a resolution that stems from customer loyalty and integrates with Salesforce Commerce Cloud Purchase Management Process. With these easy however vital main values, Shoprunner is serving to to redefine what customer transport appears to be like like in a planet that usually thinks speedy is most effective. But what about rapid with transparency, simple returns, and buyers in command? The stop of the journey is as significant as the beginning of the journey, and this reminder is a good a single to apply to your possess unique small business. 

     

    6. The Evolution of Loyalty in Retail Leans Closely on Buyer Experience 

     

    On Working day 2 of Dreamforce, I was lucky to sign up for a panel discussion that included Salesforce’s Michelle Grant and Slalom’s Shivanni Majewski and Bethany Platter. As customers ourselves, we all agreed that the practical experience of shopping &#8211 the two the positive and the adverse &#8211 influences our foreseeable future buy conclusions. As retail experts, we also agreed that the information top to a transaction matter. This dynamic dialogue is a single not to be neglected no matter if you are a smaller, mid-dimensions or large organization, as consumer loyalty doesn’t perform favorites to size but fairly to expertise. How manufacturers and retailers continue to be in contact with their clients is a massive component in loyalty, as nicely. Employing intelligence generated from earlier buys, stores can be far more strategic with when and why they get in contact with clients for long run procuring options. But it must not be ignored with how this happens either. E mail advertising continues to be a powerful interaction avenue, but SMS alerts and even social media affect a faithful customer’s path to buy. I obstacle you to assume about why you are loyal to the places you are as a purchaser your self, and then imagine about if your business mimics some of your preferred customer loyalty ordeals. The facts genuinely do make a difference below, as we just about every mentioned in this panel at Dreamforce. 

     

    Slalom "Customer Loyalty" Panel at Dreamforce 2022

    Retail Minded&#8217s Nicole Leinbach joined Slalom at Dreamforce to focus on buyer loyalty together with Salesforce&#8217s Michelle Grant.

     

    7. Shop Optimization Must Incorporate Worker Optimization 

     

    While it’s extremely hard to pick a favorite moment of my 7 days at Dreamforce, I’d be lying if I didn’t say the retail keynote was a single of my top a few. As a self-described retail geek, I was giddy with exhilaration to listen to from Salesforce’s Rob Garf and Michelle Grant with exclusive attendees from Gucci and Casey’s. As Garf shared in this participating keynote, “more and extra suppliers are turning to automation and AI” to support with keep and employee optimization. The genuine takeaway for me, nonetheless, was merely that a person just cannot be thriving with out the other. Retailer leaders need to empower their staff members to truly improve their retailer. Provider, in distinct, is elevated when workers are presented the probability to be elevated by themselves. With enhanced obligation and chance, they can truly understand their stock and customers on a further level. Genie built an physical appearance in this article, as effectively, reinforcing that client magic can be sent with happy searching ordeals when both equally the store and their staff members are positioned to produce the best purchaser care.

     

    8. The Companion Ecosystem at Salesforce Felt Like Family 

     

    1 of the quite a few fascinating discoveries I had whilst at Dreamforce was the initial-hand practical experience of looking at just how precious Salesforce views their associates. From my eyes, they felt much more like loved ones than just partners with energized colleagues satisfied to see each individual other, function with each other and collaborate to make merchants additional attained. It was an amazing experience to look at so many corporations working jointly, eventually wanting to supply heightened experiences for merchants with as significantly relieve, agility and transparency as attainable. It didn’t damage that these very same partners relished some laughs and authentic enjoyment together the way. Wanting back, I primarily relished my time at the “Women in Retail, Buyer Goods & Commerce Networking Event” from Dentsu wherever I fulfilled so quite a few great gals leaders. By the finish of the occasion, I understood I had achieved ladies I would be being in touch with in the many years to adhere to. 

     

    9. Believe in and Transparency is the Legitimate Evaluate of Success 

     

    On Working day 3 of Dreamforce, I began to consider about what have confidence in meant in a business partnership. Without having hesitation, I straight away imagined of transparency. Right after all, how can you have trust if you just cannot fully grasp all the specifics of one thing? When we glimpse at retail in unique, there are so numerous going parts at any one time that rely on is critical in creating guaranteed items will function out correctly. This was strengthened when I heard from Salesforce partner OSF Digital in a session at Dreamforce exactly where they talked about linked buyer experiences constructed around united companions performing alongside one another. Via a various ecosystem of partners, OSF Digital is ready to assist suppliers provide personalised consumer experiences that nurture client loyalty and fortify income, as well. But let us experience it. This are unable to materialize without having a very clear being familiar with of what is using spot. Transparency presents shops the means to have this knowledge, yet suppliers are not able to get this without having the proper engineering. Recognizing there is engineering like Genie that integrates with other systems from the a lot of Salesforce associates I bought to know though at Dreamforce proves trust and transparency go hand-in-hand. Collectively, they guide to successful activities no matter whether it arrives to consumers, inventory, transactions or extra. 

     

    Retail Minded&#8217s Nicole Leinbach chats with the OSF Digital workforce although at Dreamforce 2022.

    10. Retail is Not Retail With no Dreamforce 

     

    As Bret Taylor reported on Day A single of Dreamforce, “San Francisco is not San Francisco with out Dreamforce.” And I concur. But I also believe retail isn’t retail devoid of Dreamforce. 

    Experiencing Dreamforce as a initially-time attendee and self-explained retail geek was &#8211 no pun meant &#8211 a dream come legitimate. I still left there impressed, enthusiastic and admittedly, a little bit fatigued. It was a non-cease, education and learning-loaded encounter that also provided enjoyment and networking that I worth from both a private and professional viewpoint. I’m grateful for the experience, but I am a lot more grateful for the merchants that get to gain from the Salesforce partner ecosystem that is making retailers extra profitable and far more satisfying just one Dreamforce at a time. 

    For each “wow” there is a associate application + expert to energy the “how.”

    Uncover what is correct for you on salesforce.com/companions.

     

     

    The put up Dreamforce 2022 in Assessment: 10 Highlights for Stores to Find out From appeared initially on Retail Minded.