By Mustafa Khanwala, MishiPay
Over the last
12 months, it seems online shopping has continued its strong growth, while more
and more high-profile retailers face up to difficult trading conditions on High
Streets and in shopping malls around the world.
However, there’s
absolutely no denying that the High Street still offers inherent qualities that
online shopping hasn’t been able to replicate — the pleasure of genuine shared
experiences, the empathy and emotion of interpersonal relationships and
one-to-one knowledge sharing. In short, the human touch.
Advertisement
In fact, it
might seem counterintuitive if you read the news headlines, but shopping
in-store is actually on the increase. A recent PWC report found that 44% of
consumers said they shop daily or weekly in-store, which is up from 36% in
2014. What this same report found is that “experience is everything” — what customers
really want is the human touch, enhanced with the efficiencies of digital
technology.
What’s more,
it seems that as human interaction becomes more scarce, people value it more — as
75% of those surveyed believe that as technology improves, they’ll want to
interact more with a real person.
The problem
is that High Street stores clearly aren’t getting this right at the moment. The
same report found that 59% of consumers feel companies have lost touch with the
human element of customer experience. So how can High Street retailers harness
the power of digital and combine it with the personal touch to create an
irresistible combination for shoppers?
Plugging The Data Black Hole
One of the
biggest disadvantages that High Street retailers face versus their online
equivalents is the amount and quality of data they have access to. Online
retailers know what their customers view, what they put in and take out of
their basket, how long they spend browsing, how frequently they visit. Most
High Street stores have a data black hole when it comes to insights like this.
Smart
retailers use this data to create a much more personal experience, with
tailored communications based on each individual customer’s shopping habits. Customers
have become so used to this level of personal experience that they now expect
it from all their shopping transactions. So embracing technologies that allow
them to collect, harness and utilize data in a similar manner from in-store
visits will allow High Street retailers to transform their marketing, and
create a personalized customer experience that is scalable.
Harnessing Digital Solutions
Another way that online
shopping currently trumps in-store is the amount of information customers can
access about a product — with a click of a button shoppers can not only get all
the specifications for a product, but also the reviews of other like-minded
shoppers.
However, studies show
that 83% of consumers in the UK carry a smartphone while they shop, so this
same information could be at their fingertips even while they are in-store. Digital
solutions such as MishiPay have been developed to help retailers with this,
allowing shoppers to scan the barcode with their smartphone and access all the
information they need. If they are happy with what they have seen they can
check out with a tap of their smartphone, but when they do need more
information or advice, in-store staff are freed up to help, creating an
experience that’s the ideal mix of tech and human interaction.
Utilizing digital also
enables retailers to make the very most of their available floor space. At a
time when soaring rents and rates are in focus, it’s clear that more efficient
use of every available square foot of retail space is vital. Again, mobile
self-checkout can be used by shops to be more efficient, as it enables
retailers to reduce their checkout space, giving them more space to utilize for
stock storage, experiential development and display experimentation.
The challenge is that lots
of the world’s most famous retail brands have been established for so long that
they lack the ‘digital DNA’ of many of their younger competitors. However, there’s
no denying that digital transformation could be the tool that can help to
revive their fortunes. What’s key to its successful implementation is that
retailers must first focus on understanding their clients and what they want,
not only today but also in the future, and then use digital to help give it to
them — without losing the all-important elements that still make shopping a
favorite leisure activity for millions of people around the world.
Mustafa
Khanwala is the founder and CEO of MishiPay, an award-winning British
company whose “Scan, Pay, Leave” innovative technology enables mobile
self-checkout, so in-store shoppers can simply scan, pay and leave without
having to ever wait in a queue.
