In this section, we will take a closer look at what digitization means to stationary retail, how it impacts consumer behavior as well as customers’ expectations, and how rapitag can help you to meet the nowadays customers’ expectations and boost the experience.
Table of content:
- Will digitization kill stationary retail?
- Understand your customers’ pain points and expectations
- 7 Ways of how rapitag can boost your in-store customer experience
Will digitization kill stationary retail?
In 2017 collected data by FGRT showed that nearly 7000 store closure announcements were made. According to CNBC, this is more than 200% compared to the prior year.
Coming with digitization consumer behavior has indeed changed. E-commerce emerged to gain traction. According to a survey from Statista reasons many people tend to do online shopping is because they are not dependent on shop hours, and they find more diverse product offers as well as more product information via the internet.
The good news is, there are still strong reasons for customers to come back to stationary retail. Bitkom e.V. found out that 80% of online shoppers also shop offline regularly. There are reports, like the one from Deloitte, that show that indeed the e-commerce channel is growing, and so will do the stationary retail.
There are some reasons why customers still buy in-store, namely, they want to experience the product as well as buying it right away. Besides, customers still like to discover new things when going out for a stroll. At this juncture, direct human interaction also plays a significant role. Customers shop in stationary retail stores as they are seeking for interpersonal interaction and communication as well.
Data shows us that customers still love shopping in-store. However, this raises the question of why so many store closure announcements have been made. When we take a closer look, we can reveal that most of the companies had too many stores, very poor experiential services, and low differentiation. Those facts point to the importance of quality before quantity, to more brand value, and last but not least, one of the most important: The Customer Experience.
Understand your customers’ pain points and expectations
As mentioned above, experiencing and buying products right away are strong reasons for your customers to come back to your store. However, in the long term, that will not be enough to meet your customers’ expecations. For ensuring your customers will buy your products in the future, it is essential to understand that your customers’ expectations have changed and enhanced. Hence, the stationary retail needs to change as well. For keeping your business alive, it’s necessary to align your service to your customers’ expectations.
According to a study from Zebra Technologies, 77% of executives and managers think that customers are happy with the in-store experience. However, there are just 57% of customers that say the in-store experience would be satisfying. As we can see, there is a big gap between what retailers think they would know about their customers’ satisfaction and how customers’ satisfaction is. Lots of retailers forget to ask their customers.
To answer the question of what customers expect, we need to understand our customers’ needs and desires. How do we do that? Right, we could ask what they want, likewise also asking them what they don’t want.
A research from Adyen shows us what pain points customers have when they go shopping in-store:
Adyen not just asked consumers about their pain points when going shopping, they also asked customers about their expectations and desires and found out that:
- 78% wishes to have the possibility to check the product stock before they go to a store
- 65% desire to have self-checkout services to avoid long waiting lines
- 60% desire to get a push message if the desired product is again available in-store
- 55% desire to get personalized offers if they close to the store
As we can see, customers wish to have more features that make shopping more comfortable and enjoyable – as we know it from e-commerce.
The advantages of e-commerce are characterized by digitization, which was empowered by new technology and business ideas. So why not bring the benefits from e-commerce to stationary retail? People would have a unique shopping experience in offline stores. They could enjoy the benefits of offline and online shopping. Now you might ask yourself how to achieve that? That’s a simple question. rapitag can digitize your store and boost your customers’ experience.
7 Ways how rapitag can boost your customer experience
1. Mobile Self-Checkout & independent PoP (Point of Purchase)
As we can see from the chart above, waiting in a long queue is one of the biggest pain points customers have while the purchase process is occurring in-store.
If we take a look at today’s stationary retail, we can assess that more and more stores are offering self-checkout services. However, if it comes to products that needed to be secured by anti-theft tags, there is hardly an appropriate solution that would help your customers to make a fast and independent purchase by themselves.
The good news is, rapitag can provide a solution to that challenge: rapitag converts anti-theft tags into IoT devices to empower your customers to purchase products anywhere and anytime in the store by just using their mobile phones. Your customers will love this solution as it is easy to use and as it saves them a lot of time.
Your customers only need to follow 4 steps:
- Tap the tag,
- Pay Mobile,
- Release the tag,
- Leave the store with the product.
It’s just that simple! That will bring your customers an exclusive experience as they
- are not dependent on a fixed PoP, and they can pay anywhere in-store,
- don’t need to wait in a queue and save a lot of time,
- can interact and pay with their smartphone as they know it from online shopping.
2. Real-time inventory information and in-store navigation
Results from the Ayden survey say that 21% of customers find it annoying that particular products are not available, and 19% are unhappy with not finding specific products they are looking for in-store. Hence, rapitag solved the problem by empowering customers to check the product stock before going to the store. Besides, when customers are looking for specific products in-store by using an app on their mobile phone, they can get navigated to the desired product. How does rapitag do that? Via low energy wireless technology enabled routers rapitag maps out every store and knows in real-time the number of products and their location. Pretty sure your customers will love this type of feature as shopping in your store will be very comfortable and time-saving.
3. Digital Shop Assistant
What else can make a customer happy than having their personnel shop assistant that answers any questions to them?! rapitag allows customers to use their smartphone as a digital shop assistant that gives them information about prices, colors, ratings as well as product stocks. Why rapitag tackled that kind of problem? According to a survey, 47% of customers wish to have digital experiences that deliver them additional data about products. The feature is not only stunning, as it makes your customers happy, but it also helps your staff to concentrate on crucial things in the daily business like consulting customers who need help.
4. Loyalty Programs
Bonus systems and loyalty points are one of the standard tools for retailers and brands to increase customer loyalty. By using rapitag, you increase your customers’ collection of loyalty points by offering exclusive deals via self-checkout. All purchases via rapitag will automatically generate loyalty points. Besides, rapitag empowers promotion deals and individual prices. Your customers will love the loyalty program, and they will come back to your store to enjoy your stunning customer service.
5. Never out of stock
Out of stock items are one of the immense pain points for customers. Unlike e-commerce, anything that is not available in stores can not get sold. rapitag combines the live inventory of stores and warehouses and enables shoppers to buy products that are not available at the specific store with one click in the app. Afterward, the product will be sent home to the customer. Providing this kind of service will increase your customers’ satisfaction as many customers say they would like to find such services in-store.
6. Individualized Shop offers
That kind of service is, according to a survey made by Soti, one of the most wanted services: Getting individualized shopping offers on the smartphone if customer are in or near the store. And that is indeed what rapitag is doing. The “rapitags” hardware can act like browser cookies and become the basis of tailored in-store experiences. Knowing what a customer wants and sending customized offers is just known from e-commerce. However, rapitag can legally track every customer’s interaction with a tag and product as long they accept the T&Cs in the app. By using rapitag’s solution, you will be able to track interactions with the digital twin of the in-store product and gather insights on personal product preferences. Hence, if customers enter your store or are close to your store, you will be able to send them special offers and push messages on their mobile phones.
In conclusion, we can say that digitization and new technology is not an enemy from stationary retail. Instead, I would say that new technology is a chance for offline stores to provide their customers with a completely new experience while shopping. Using rapitag’s solution means immense innovative progress for stationary retail as benefits of offline and online shopping will be combined.
From surveys, we know what customers desire due to in-store experience and what they dislike the most. Now it’s on us to take action and to fulfill our customers’ wishes.
Want to learn more about rapitag? – Get in touch with us!