3 Winning Strategies to Boost Customer Experience in 2020

Attracting customers into physical stores is not just about competing with eCommerce. Today, retailers must think about competing with the total experience they offer across physical and digital channels. In other words, the battle for the consumer is about giving them not just a product or a service, but an entire experience.

Retailers can be confident that stores still bring unique value to the omnichannel customer experience. And the use of technology to accomplish their strategic objectives is more proven than in previous years, which should make retailers more confident in deciding where to focus their investments, and what outcomes they can expect from that investment.

Here are three strategies where retailers can focus their efforts if they want to increase foot traffic in their stores in 2020.

Focus on Experience

The emphasis on experience means stores must become more interactive and offer customers something more than a venue for conducting transactions. Retailers are also using stores and pop-ups as a showroom – a three-dimensional billboard that encourages customers to step in and visualize products in the context of their own lives.

Compared to eCommerce, physical stores have the power to engage their audience more effectively through in-store engagement and personalization, which have been shown to drive sales both in the store and online. Retailers looking to improve customer experience should invest in POS technologies that helps sales assistants build customer relationships by leveraging customer data and transaction history, and personalize products with assisted-sale capabilities.

In-store technology can be used creatively to highlight product potential as well as for personalization.

Focus on Services

Many retailers are offering additional services as a way to enhance customer experience. For the customer, there is a big conceptual difference between buying a coffee and sitting at a café to enjoy the coffee you just bought.

Technology can also allow retailers to improve the services they offer, from fitting or tailoring to repair and maintenance of a product. Many retailers have noticed that it gives people more reasons to enter the shop, and ultimately spend money. Adjacent services may include such as in-store dining or workshops, where a similar-minded community can develop skills and interests – such as a yarn shop that offers knitting classes.

Many retailers also consider that the ability to fulfill online orders, process returns, and speed up checkout are also part of services that belong to the omnichannel customer experience.

Focus on Convenience

If the strategy is to enhance customer experience through convenience, then retailers should be looking at technologies that prioritize speed, efficiency and convenience for customers as well as staff.

Not all customers really want to interact with store assistants so much, or rather, they prefer a more independent experience. Nevertheless, these more independent customers are prepared to spend money in the store. In which case, interactive in-store touch screens not only allow stores to reduce the amount of inventory they carry on-site,  but they also empower customers to search for products, make a purchase and choose how it should be fulfilled.

Retailers who invest in RFID and NFC technologies can implement digital technologies such as mobile POS and mobile apps. These technologies also support faster checkout strategies like accepting mobile payments or incorporating self-checkout kiosks.

In addition to helping customers on the floor, digital technologies make it easier to perform daily operations like verifying stock levels and expedite various omnichannel transactions for customers.

Want to know how Openbravo Commerce Cloud can help you deliver the experience, convenience, and services your customers have come to expect in 2020? Visit our website, www.openbravo.com or take a Product Tour.