Rekindling the retail-shopper relationship with technology

By Cat Yong

Over the years, technology has facilitated retail shopping across vast distances and geographical boundaries, helped shoppers make more informed decisions, but also made the whole experience seem rather distant and impersonal. It’s up to technology once again, to make the retail shopping experience personal and personalised once more.

Retail used to be based on relationships, but over time it had moved toward being promotions-driven, and the customer experience was sidelined. Motorola Solutions or MSI’s Verticals and Solutions Marketing Manager in Asia Pacific and Middle East, Matthew Kuan observed that in today’s fast paced hypermart –type of environments, nobody knows anybody anymore.  This results in lost sales opportunities.

But, all that is about to change as the customer’s shopping experience is becoming a priority again for retailers and he posed the hypothetical questions, “What if retailers could know who was in the store and communicate with them? What if they could replenish the shelves with goods in a timely manner and anticipate customer dissatisfaction?”

One Motorola Solutions’ survey had discovered that one-third of store visits ended with missed opportunities to spend an average of USD125 due to factors like stock having run out, limited assistance from associates, inefficient payment approaches and deal-habituated behaviour.

With retail competition being as fierce as it is  these days, MSI also discovered that 83 percent of retailers surveyed, recognise that their shoppers can find a better deal elsewhere. 

Motorola Solutions believes however, that with technology, providing right and timely data to retailers for example, can help them reconnect with and recapture their customers.

Targeted relevancy
Kuan noted that thanks to the Internet, sometimes shoppers can be more informed than store associates about services and products, pricing-wise, features-wise and so on. If there was a seamless experience from the online store to the physical store, store associates could be made aware of their customers’ requirements and preferences in advance.

How this works is a shopper who regularly visits his or her online store, could have their browsing behaviour captured by analytics.  Armed with a mobile computing device that displays guesstimates of this customer’s brand preferences, budget, specifications and so on, store associates can offer relevant and targeted recommendations to facilitate a buying decision, when the customer walks into the store.

SAM’s Groceria is the first retailer in Asia-Pacific to implement the Personal Shopping System (PSS) by Motorola Solutions which enables customers to keep track of their purchases as they shop and makes checking-out at the counters quicker and more hassle-free.

This mobile computing device has access to the retailer’s backend systems and more information like availability of stock and so on. Shopper frustrations are reduced, as is the time to arrive at a purchase transaction.

With Motorola’s wireless network technology, retailers can also have capability to track and locate customers. Kuan said, “We want to be sure that the associate knows where loyal shoppers are, for example. And this is where the network comes into play, so that associates can be sent to the right location when assistance is needed. “

When a Motorola wireless network is coupled with a Motorola mobile device as well, a proximity feature is enabled. For example, as soon as a customer with a Motorola device steps into the store, the retailer is alerted.

Kuan explained another useful proximity feature. “If you go down an aisle, the retailer could also detect your device via Bluetooth and give recommendations or reminders of what to pick up off the shelves.” This ultimately saves the shopper, valuable time.

Massive shift
Kuan further shared how retailers can address the massive shift in shoppers’ buying behaviour.

“What retailers need is a good strong strategy. It is a progressive journey, and MSI will be there as a trusted advisor in the retail industry to provide insight into best practices and what industry experts are saying.”

He concluded, “As of today, we are engaging retailers, understanding where they are right now and putting the proper technology in place, to address the immediate challenges they have.”