In today’s highly competitive business climate, being able to attract, serve and satisfy more customers is a key to success and increasing revenue. A happy customer is more likely to be a loyal one, a customer coming back to your store. Customer expectations are evolving faster than retailers are innovating and they expect to be put at the center of the experience.
Today’s consumers live multi dimensional, multi platform lives and their buying behaviors reflect the same complex dynamics. These days it’s rare for a customer to be a ‘purely online’ or ‘purely bricks and mortar’ consumer; increasingly they expect their retailer of choice to provide convenience, choice and seamless interaction across all channels. All of this puts increasing pressure on retailers to deliver a consistent customer experience – and by implication, brand experience – whatever the channel.
Consumers thus have a new and maturing set of expectations of retail. Many of the shifting attitudes of customers are being led by people currently between the age of 18 and 34, often referred to as the Millenials. There are two billion Millennials and they are estimated to spend $2.5 trillion by the year 2020. Millennials expect to have a much more active relationship with brands and retailers than previous generations and they have a low tolerance for inefficiency and are looking to more sustainable modes of consumption.
So what are the customers of the future expecting?
Customers are looking for fluid, seamless, frictionless shopping experiences. They want what they want and they want it now. The last thing a consumer wants is that their customer journey is interrupted, whether that is caused by a website glitch, an inattentive sales assistant, or poorly designed in-store technology.
So how do you meet these expectations?
Retailers are increasingly looking for products, processes, design, and technical solutions to meet the ever higher demands from their customers. Solutions to provide better customer experiences exist today and they come in many forms. These solutions include:
- Appointment systems that integrates not only with your web and mobile experiences but that also integrates with the in-store experience to provide fluid and seamless customer journeys across channels.
- Mobile solutions to allow customers to shop while they wait for services or products regardless of where they choose to be or when they choose to shop. Solutions that allow you to reach and maintain conversations with shoppers both online and in the store.
- Integrated Digital Signage solutions that provides personalized communications and marketing messages that are relevant to the individual customers behavior and expectations.
- Mobile Workforce for mobile devices to empower your frontline employees and create better first impressions to ensure high quality, personalized customer experiences.
- Business intelligence solutions gathers detailed data from the customer journeys and allow you to analyze and improve your customer experiences in high detail.
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