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Future of Retail — In-Store Technology
issue 06
employees have a specialist knowledge and skill set that can only be learnt through years of training and working in the store. Yet they spend over half their time simply working the tills. How often are you looking around a store for someone to help you, but no-one is around as they’re all maxed out at the checkout? Having a touch-enabled, interactive self- service kiosk hubs in the shop where customers can select, place and pay for their order will eliminate the need for a member of the team to be operating the tills. This will allow them to really focus on what it is they were trained to do, and get out from behind the till or counter, removing the barrier between them and the customer. This would go toward speeding up wait times for customers while reducing the stress on employees having to deal with long queues of people waiting to pay for their goods or to get their questions answered.
ENDLESS AISLE = ENDLESS SALES Some retailers have been quicker than others in understanding the importance of offering consumers an ‘endless aisle’ in-store. The ‘endless aisle’, which can be achieved by using an interactive touchscreen that displays the retail stores online catalogue, gives consumers the option to browse and purchase items that may not necessarily be on display in the store. Given a choice, most shoppers still prefer
to interact with a person at some point during their in-store experience. One way to enhance the existing sales assistant and customer relationship is to use a ‘side by side’ method, to allow both to interact more freely. This can be achieved by viewing products on a large touchscreen instead of across a customer service desk or till, when a customer cannot find what they’re looking for or need advice on accessories, models and so on. Usually this is done across the till with the sales assistant searching on the computer. By using a touchscreen they can browse stock (colours, style, sizes), check availability, and process purchases together in a less transactional, convenient and more personalised way - together.
‘Side-by-side’ is a great opportunity for
sales assistants to upsell complementary or completely different products that may or may not be in stock in that particular store. And despite this process being completed in an in-store online environment, nothing should change in terms of employee incentives or commissions based on sales. Assistants will use employee ID swipe cards and log-ins to track sales in the exact same way they would if the sale were completed offline, making sure they’re able to reap the benefits that the ‘endless aisle’ and ‘side-by-side’ methods offers them. Most of this technology is self-intuitive
to use, however employers will still need to ensure that adequate training is offered to employees so that they can get the most of what ‘side-by-side’ interaction can offer. As the use of such interactive technology becomes more and more widespread, we’ll start to see these kinds of interactions in all kinds of different retail environments.
SMOOTHER, STRESS FREE TRANSACTIONS Increasingly we’re seeing retailers begin to update their old legacy point of sale systems and replace them with newer, more responsive and interactive systems. Some legacy point of sale systems that
have been used for decades without a proper refresh are clunky and unresponsive in comparison to the new technology and solutions available now. Many large retailers will begin to refresh their outdated point of sale technology over the next few years, which will be driven in part by the generational pull of the new workforce. It’s predicted that millennials will make up
75% of the global workforce by 2025 according to accountancy firm Deloitte. Responsive, quick, and touch-enabled point of sale systems will be needed to reflect the level of adequacy that millennials have come to expect from technology. Having smoother, quicker point of sale
technology in-store will make it easier for the sales assistant to complete a transaction.
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