FEATURE a & Development
ajor considerations, including the benefits and potential hindrances, to your business as a flooring retailer.
Across the board, the digital world seeks to gain greater knowledge about us through our interactions. However, consumers have recognised the value and sensitivity associated with giving away their data and are already moving towards a preference to withdraw engagement, in order to protect privacy. Retailers need to tread carefully here because, if these strategies are executed without the right balance, this could render the value of using these technologies as useless.
It’s also worth considering how the introduction of technology into the retail environment will change the dynamic of store staff. Unlike self-checkout stations, or Amazon Go, where the direct benefits are reduced labour costs and increased throughput of consumers, technology introduced into the retail flooring environment is likely to positively move the role of the in-store staff into the position of specialist experts. The role played will be much more about adding increased levels of specialist knowledge to purchase journeys, which may have been mostly already part completed by the customer.
Alongside this, staff will become more shop floor-oriented rather than at fixed desks. Everything from planning through to purchases will be made from mobile tech devices,
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allowing our already busy lives to be facilitated further at our convenience, and ultimately offering a much better level of customer service.
In summary, if you are looking to embrace technology to enhance your retail environment, you must be aware of several major considerations.
Start by researching and getting to know your shoppers and their shopping journeys. You then need to consider if your organisational structures are ready to support new technologies and improved processes. Create a unified data strategy which is insight driven, and learns from your customers. This will help you to optimise the ROI on the cost of big tech outlays. You need to view technology as the enabler to greater understanding, and not as a smart gimmick designed only to attract via novelty.
By focusing on the above points, you should be able to develop and introduce technology that truly enhances the shopping experience, builds trust, brand loyalty, and convinces them to purchase; which in turn delivers you data that actually means something. And hopefully an increased profit margin.
www.wefathom.com Tomorrow’s Retail Floors | 23
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