In an age when retailers feel they need to know everything about their consumers, the brick-and-mortar store is still a blind spot for a majority of merchants. Only 42% of retailers have in-store technologies to view customer information across all of their touch points, according to a report from Kibo.
Additionally, 64% of retailers feel they are only somewhat effective at capturing in-store data on customer preferences.
Retailers feel they are “flying blind” about their customers’ in-store activities despite investment in selected in-store technologies: 82% of retailers use mobile devices and/or tablets to enhance the store experience and 76% use displays/kiosks. However, only:
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- 41% use mPOS;
- 36% use BLE beacon technology; and
- 19% use Near Field Communication.
Merchants appear to be aware they can do more — 52% plan to invest in personalization in the next 12 months or are already implementing a strategy. Yet 22% of retailers have not yet begun to personalize, or aren’t sure if they even have that capability.
41% Still Don’t Trust Inventory Accuracy
For those merchants coordinating between digital and physical storefronts, inventory visibility is a major key to providing a seamless experience. But 41% of retailers lack trust in inventory accuracy or don’t have visibility, and only 17% have full enterprise–wide inventory visibility. When it comes to the rationale behind their distrust, 21% of retailers say that they always call to make sure what the system tells them is actually available, while another 15% say the inventory data often is inaccurate, and refreshes slowly.
Beyond inventory measurement issues, many retailers are still struggling to figure out where omnichannel fulfillment fits in their plans. Reasons for not offering multiple fulfillment choices vary. “My organization is not ready to implement” was cited as the leading reason for not offering Save the Sale (44%) and In-store Pickup (41%). “My technology won’t support it” was cited as the leading reason for not offering Ship-From-Store (42%).
Kibo gathered responses from 115 retail executives in this on-site benchmarking survey, titled: Technologies That Are Changing How We Think Of Brick & Mortar.
