Mobile, self-service options to become widespread in retail industry
With the rise of digital technology, retailers have learned how implementing solutions and devices into their operations have provided benefits in the form of increased customer satisfaction and revenues. Now, businesses need to be prepared to adopt even more technological systems to accommodate consumers who want mobile and self-service options during their retail experiences. Failing to integrate these types of preferences can have a negative impact on brands, as customers are more likely to bypass merchants without the wanted solutionsand instead visit competitors.
Technology leads to changed expectations
Many retail industry experts know that more mobile and self-service options are set to cometo forefront of operations for many businesses in 2013 and beyond. Frost & Sullivan’s Information & Communications Technology practice states that the emergence of smartphones, tablets and other digital solutions have given way to an evolution of consumers’ expectations when it comes to shopping with brands. This is resulting in a change of how companies provide service for their customers, and many are attempting to implement new strategies aimed at boosting shopper satisfaction.
“Customers now expect superior, consistent customer service from companies 24/7, but their experiences have been hobbled by complex self-service menus and by long hold times when trying to reach customer service representatives,” states Frost & Sullivan Information & Communications Technology principal analyst Nancy Jamison. “The rise in the use of mobile and social as customer contact channels driving the need to improve self-service and intelligent virtual assistants is a way of accomplishing this.”
Point of sale going mobile
Resource Nation writes that these mobile and self-service options are working to make shoppers’ retail experience faster and more efficient. One waythese solutions are impacting operations is through point of sale. The source writes that while traditional cash registers and card processing terminals are still widely used, businesses are increasingly implementing systems that can accept mobile payments from consumers’ smartphones, and they are even giving associates mobile devices that can process credit and debit card transactions on the sales floor.
This is especially beneficial for customers who visit brick-and-mortar locations with certain products in mind that they want to purchase. These mobile options allow them to enter stores, pick out their wanted merchandise and quickly pay for it, providing greater convenience for shoppers and increase satisfaction for companies.
