Those of us too old to fit the millennial bracket might just remember back to the late 1990s when we all first began to imagine how the internet might change our everyday lives, starting with the way we shop. The media reported widely that by now, we’d buy practically nothing in person – shopping would all be done online. Which was a pretty optimistic view given that desktops were the standard at home and at work at that time, laptops were relatively rare and the first (huge) iPod was yet to be launched.
While online, in particular mobile, is undoubtedly becoming the channel of choice in the UK, (currently 12% according to Retail Economics, and seeing double-digit growth), shoppers continue to visit actual physical stores in their droves, often as part of a customer experience that began online. And many of them are the millennials that don’t really remember the pre-Amazon days!
So what should retailers be doing to continue to drive that in-store retail experience forward and appeal to new generations of consumers? James Pickering of Cisco Partner Daisy Corporate Services gives us the low-down:
James Pickering – Head of Vertical Sales, Daisy Corporate Services
Reports of the death of the retail store have somewhat been exaggerated – in fact, recent research has shown that younger shoppers actually prefer physical shops. However, it is clear that the role of the store is changing; becoming a key point of physical engagement between the customer and a retailer’s brand. Moreover, bricks and mortar stores will increasingly become a fulfilment and returns location for digital orders, as well as a place to be engaged and spend time with friends and family.
It is therefore perhaps unsurprising that retailers are placing big bets on improving the in-store customer experience. Daisy’s recent survey of UK retailers revealed that more than half (52%) of those surveyed said in-store was their biggest focus when it comes to the customer experience.
When retailers were asked about the areas of major in-store investment over the next 12 months, self-service portals (53%) was the most popular response, followed by digital signage (49%). However, it appears that the majority of retailers are only looking at digital signage for purely cosmetic reasons. To fully capitalise on the benefits of digital signage it needs to be deployed alongside geo-location services; yet just 17% of retailers cited geo-location as an area of major investment.
While it is apparent that retailers want to innovate, they are being hampered by their current IT set up. For instance, connectivity is crucial to ensuring the success of many retailers’ in-store investments, yet over three quarters (79%) of them believe that poor connectivity is holding back their organisation’s customer data / marketing activity. A further 69% of retailers stated that complex IT is delaying the speed at which they can trial or implement new store concepts and innovations.
One of the main causes of this complexity is legacy systems. In fact, more than two-thirds (67%) of retailers believed that their old IT systems risked making them less competitive against those which use more modern technologies. The old approach of buying an old piece of equipment and then using it for 20 years is no longer appropriate for today’s fast-moving retail market. As the recent demise of BHS illustrates, retailers can’t afford to stand still!
The retail store is here to stay, but there is a danger that retailers’ future plans could be undermined if technology infrastructures fail to catch up. In order to succeed, it is vital that retailers have the necessary IT support to ensure they are delivering the future in-store customer experience.
To download the Daisy report ‘Is IT delivering on retailer’s in-store expectations?’ click here.
Daisy and Cisco are hosting several invitation-only retail networking dinners throughout 2016. For further details, contact vip@daisygroup.com.
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