The retail sector is ripe for innovation and is a hotbed for creativity and, well, innovation!
In the retail world, most innovation is customer-centric, given that it is the customer who is the engine of the sector, and shoppers have access to more information than ever before, thanks to the digital revolution. Customers are looking increasingly for the ability to shape their shopping experience — no customer, no retail. Here are four (of multitudinous) innovations that have changed the face of the retail world and enhanced the customer experience in the process.
Customer In-Store Enhancement
It is not uncommon to find stores bedecked with bright flat LCD screens enticing customers with their wares, replacing the bulky Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) screens of twenty years ago. Cheaper to produce, the lighter, smaller foot-print LCD devices are now everyday in retail stores and, in many establishments, have all but superseded printed media and outdated posters.
With screens, content can be changed via cloud-based digital signage software giving the retailer incredible flexibility. This includes changing displays on-the-fly without labour and shipping/transport costs, and they can also be scheduled for different time slots, along with customising imagery to the desired audience.
On the back of augmented reality and image detection technologies, screens are also now displaying interactive content to draw customers as well as livestreaming catalogues for ease of access. All the info at their fingertips, literally.
RFID tagging
Merchandise can now be tracked and identified through radio-frequency identification (RFID) tags attached to individual objects. The tags contain electronically stored information. Typically, within the retail environment passive tags collect energy from a nearby RFID reader’s interrogating radio waves with the tag positioned near the barcode.
The most common application is for inventory counting and stocktaking. However, the outlay is costly and only a small number of large retailers have been able to justify the additional cost per product of the RFID tag.
A London clothing retailer, Spitalfields, embedded an RFID chip into its plastic loyalty card, which detects the customer as they walk past the store or walk into it! This tracking ability allows the store to target customers via notifications sent to their mobile phones, literally calling out to them ‘live’ as they walk past, enticing them into store with targeted offers…
The Rise of Crowdsourcing
Crowdsourcing works when individuals or organisations use contributions from Internet users to obtain services or ideas, often with entrants into the marketplace having minimal or even zero access to investment funding. Think Uber and Airbnb. The retail sector is starting to use crowdsourcing to reduce costs of last mile delivery, something which until recently, was the domain of delivery firms such as DHL and UPS.
Amazon introduced Flex, a crowdsourced delivery service that competes with Uber Rush, wherein Amazon Flex will pay people “$18-25 per hour” to deliver packages out of their own, privately-owned cars. Using Amazon’s exclusive delivery app, the drivers can use to choose delivery shifts as short as two hours or as long as 12 hours to suit their needs and to work around their other commitments. They are tasked with delivering within a specific ‘local radius’ that accommodates their length of chosen shift. All they need is the time, a car and GPS.
IoT and Robots
Supermarkets and hypermarkets in Portugal are deploying robots to move around the stores, three times a day, capturing images of every shelf and aisle. The images are then digitised at scale, using proprietary computer vision and Internet of Things (IoT) technology, and reports are generated.
The reports come with metrics and insights and are delivered via a mobile app to store relevant staff, enabling them to have a current overview of what is happening on the shelves and, to more quickly and efficiently resolve issues such as out-of-stock and pricing compliance issues. This technology ensures that every store is more productive, profitable and future-proofed.
These innovations merely touch on innovation trends within retail and whet the appetite to explore the benefits of technology in an effort to even better streamline the customer experience.
Look out for when we cover other examples of out-of-the-box thinking and the benefits to retail.
