FEATURE STEP UP TO TECH
people regularly undertake – and this something that the retail industry should be taking advantage of on the shop floor. The capability to pay by phone has been around for several years, but the arrival of Apple Pay in late 2014 has meant the technology has secured a host of new headlines. While Apple Pay is currently only available in the US, it’s believed it won’t be long until it crosses the Atlantic. Should this be the case, UK stores will be flooded with consumers wishing to swipe their smartphone at the till.
Kiosks, self-service and tablet selling
The explosion in mobile tablet devices and advances in technology means there is fewer requirements for fixed point of sale as staff can take payments around the store or customers use kiosks for self-service and to learn more about products. In this respect, retailers need to rethink store layout and produce a better journey for the customer which is less reliant on fixed points. This could mean more break out areas for personal selling over a coffee at a table and deployment of staff with tablets to queue bust at busy times of the day.
Click and collect
Step Up to Tech
In an increasingly tech-savvy world, the need for retail stores to keep up with modern consumers has never been more important. But what key aspects of in-store technology should retailers look towards investing in? Kevin Burns, Head of Solution Architecture at Vodat International, explains all.
In-store mobility
Today’s society is addicted to mobile, heavily relying on the technology throughout much of their daily lives. A smartphone can add speed, ease and convenience to many tasks that
30 | Spring 2015 Tomorrow’s Retail Floors
We live in an omni-channel retail environment where customers expect to be able to order, buy and collect products in a manner convenient to them. Click and collect has proved increasingly popular with consumers, however it places a strain on both store layout and back-end systems. There have been cases, especially in peak selling periods, of smaller shops being overwhelmed by click and collect orders. Therefore, for this to operate efficiently, stores need to be scaled up and staff up-skilled accordingly, acting act as mini distribution centres and meeting agreed service levels with customers.
Payments and cybercrime
As the cyber-attacks on US retailers such The Home Depot and Target last year showed, a growing number of criminals are targeting in-store payments systems. This has raised the profile of data protection concerns among consumers, meaning it has never been more important for retailers to safeguard payments technology in order to maintain their shoppers’ trust. Payment Card Industry (PCI) compliance is based on a set of requirements designed to ensure that all companies that process, store or transmit credit card information maintain a secure environment.
However, despite this being mandated by the PCI Security Standards Council, there are still companies who remain non-compliant. For a retailer who wants to focus on the management of their store base, payments regulation such as this can seem hard to manage. Therefore, retailers should invest in a solution that involves removing cardholder data from the store environment and POS solution altogether. In this case, a third party would take responsibility for maintaining the standards – meaning the retailer can place more focus on the day-to-day running of their stores.
www.thepaymentsnetwork.co.uk
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