A Mediaplanet Guide to the Future of Post-Pandemic Shopping
Future of Retail Technology
Annette Franz The author and customer experience expert talks smart retail and rapidlyevolving customer desires.
The new onboarding tools empowering retail employees How leveraging data can help retailers achieve omnichannel success
MARCH 2022 | FUTUREOFBUSINESSANDTECH.COM
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he global pandemic drove the adoption of omnichannel models in the retail industry — and they’re here to stay. But many retailers aren’t engaged in a true omnichannel approach, and it may be costing them consumer loyalty and sales. “The experience consumers expect is seamless and consistent,” says Steve Prebble, CEO of Appriss Retail, a retail software and data anal-
ysis company. “It’s one where they’re treated the same whether they’re shopping in-store or online.” Missing out But many retailers aren’t leveraging the data they collect. “Often, retailers built e-commerce as a separate business,” notes Prebble. “They’ve got siloed data, and the e-commerce and in-store teams aren’t always working together.” By bridging the gap, that
data can be used to create a “holistic view” of your consumer and their interactions in ALL your channels. “That information is essential to ensure you’re giving the shopper the right experience.” says Prebble. Data to the rescue Better data analytics is increasingly crucial with respect to optimizing returns. A recent report sponsored by Appriss Retail found that returns comprised 16.6 % of
“The Retail Doctor’s” Prescription for a Booming Business Bob Phibbs offers his insights into how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected retail and what businesses can do to gear up for a potential mass post-pandemic return to in-person shopping. What are the biggest challenges facing modern retailers today, and what advice would you provide to these businesses? @MEDIAPLANETUSA
I think you have too many places to buy too much of the same thing. The old model of buying something unique and then being the only one with it in town is over. The only way to compete is through your employees and your service, and that’s going to take training. You can’t just do it to be done with it — training is a way of life. Take a look at some of the premier retail brands @FUTUREBUSINESSTECH
like Lululemon, Starbucks, and The Container Store. It’s about elevating the culture and creating the feeling that employees are your greatest asset. What long-term changes do you foresee the ongoing pandemic having on the retail industry? Digital natives are going to continue to downplay stores
total sales in 2021, totaling $761 billion. Fraud has risen right along with it, with fraudulent returns estimated at $78.4 billion. That makes improving your returns systems a necessity. “A refund is the worst kind of a return,” notes Prebble. “You have to respect the consumer’s decision to return the item, but you also want to capture those refunded dollars by giving your shopper the opportunity to re-spend and get a better experience.”
and say they’re irrelevant, while I think the smart retailers are going to understand that stores are still the hub that everything else comes from. Customers are going to want to stay local for the foreseeable future, and I think the closer you can get to the customer, the better. Everyone has to realize that the customer is the most important thing; you drop everything to help them. That’s what retail’s point is. It’s about talking to someone and making them feel, for that one minute, like they’re the most
This could mean offering the consumer the chance to purchase a different item immediately or giving them the option of shopping later. The key is relevancy — using data to know what your consumer wants then delivering it. For Prebble and Appriss Retail, their holistic approach drives their value to their customers. “We use data from that specific retailer to optimize the whole return experience for both the consumer — to give them the most seamless and best experience possible — but also for the retailer, to ensure they do it in the most profitable way possible.” n Jeff Somers
Learn more by visiting apprisscommerce.com
important person in the world. That’s what builds that gossamer thread between people and communities. Back in 1918, when the Spanish Flu hit and we lost 600,000 people, the media was saying, “This will change retail forever,” and “This will change shopping forever.” Then a year later, we were at crowded speakeasies drinking bathtub gin. People are pretty predictable; they’re going to want to go back to what they’re familiar with. Finally, I think these doom-and-gloom sayers are going to be proven wrong. n
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Store Shelves Can’t Be Full When Staff Rosters Are Empty
Retail is a people business. Success requires skilled employees to maintain shelf inventory and high customer service levels. So, what happens during a talent shortage? This is the state of the current retail industry. Last year, as stores and restaurants reopened, those employers had trouble finding staff. Then, throughout the year, record numbers of workers across all industries quit their jobs, with the retail sector sometimes leading the pack. About 4.5 % of retail workers quit their jobs in October and November 2021 ahead of the busy holiday season. And experts don’t expect the labor shortage to be resolved anytime soon. In many cases, workers switched to jobs that offered better pay, benefits, and schedules. Many of them needed more schedule flexibility to care for children, elderly parents, or other relatives. Others sought jobs that limited their COVID-19 exposure through less contact with the general public. Meanwhile, not enough products are being manufactured to meet demand, packaging is in short supply, products are not being moved to stores as quickly as before, and there aren’t enough workers at stores to unload and stock products. All of these challenges have combined into a perfect storm of empty store shelves, rising prices, and retailers needing to reduce the number of services
they offer or cut operating hours. This isn’t the customer experience any retailer wants to deliver, but it has unfortunately become the norm. Changing the way stores work The solution requires taking a step back to reconsider the employee experience. Workers are not interested in taking on jobs with low pay, high stress, and fluctuating hours. To attract talented people, retailers must first think about how they can become the employer of choice. Some standard approaches include increasing hourly pay, offering sign-on bonuses, and providing tuition benefits. However, these steps only take retailers so far. To win the talent wars, employers must think about how they can use innovative technologies to make work safer, less stressful, and more fulfilling. Retail technology can create a smoother customer experience amid staff shortages. Self-checkouts and scan-and-go checkout technology can help shorten checkout lines while also adding more space between workers and customers. Retailers also can leverage technology to reduce the burden on human workers. As in other industries, technology can help retailers automate mundane tasks and free up people to do more challenging and fulfilling tasks such as customer service or problem-solving. Retail robots
manage inventory by scanning shelves to ensure products are in stock, in the proper location, and labeled with the correct price. Others can clean and disinfect stores, pick orders, and transport orders for curbside pickup. Be human too One place where the human touch is still necessary is in management. The people business of retail requires leaders with empathy and emotion. Although key performance indicators are important, they cannot be the cornerstone of people management, Cheer for your workers when they do a good job, partner with them to solve problems, give them opportunities to grow and be flexible and understanding when they need time off to care for themselves or family. Finally, do what you can to ease the burdens of today’s challenging retail environment. Recognition, communication, and leadership are among the top five factors that most influence employee happiness, satisfaction, and engagement. When business leaders can check these boxes and boost morale, workers will be more fulfilled, work harder, and even help recruit more employees. Effective engagement helps employers retain and grow staff. For retail to succeed, similar employee engagement methods need to be leveraged up and down the supply chain. When manufacturers, distributors, warehouses, transportation companies, and more can recruit and retain workers, they can carry out the critical supply chain activities that keep products moving from the source to store shelves. When each step of the supply chain flows as it should, then stresses are relieved throughout the entire network. But it’s the people of the supply chain who make this happen. Priority one must be creating a positive employee experience. n
Technology Helps Retailers Shake Up Status Quo In retail, one of the things we talk about a lot these days is “disruption” — the new buzzword for upending the way business was done in the past as innovations lead us into the future. One of the most powerful disruptions is technology. To some, disruption might not sound like a positive. But in a business context, disruption shakes up the status quo. When a new technology disrupts a product or a business, it often replaces old inefficiencies and makes things better and stronger than they were before. Innovations in retail 2022 could be the year when many technologies that have been in startup mode will begin to become reality. Artificial intelligence and virtual reality might not be taking over completely, but they are starting to emerge. We are at the point where consumer expectations are rising and influencing how retailers who want to stay on top must interact with their customers. TV shopping, a predecessor to online shopping, is being reborn with fully shoppable programs, where everything seen is available for purchase with the click of a mouse or a tap on a touchscreen. Similarly, social media is increasingly full of opportunities to buy. In-store, retailers are using technology like “Li-Fi” that transmits data via LED lightbulbs rather than radio-based Wi-Fi. Mobile payments are becoming more popular, along with mobile point-of-sale terminals on tablets or smartphones that let sales associates go to the customer and avoid the need to stand in long checkout lines. New retail jobs With retail using all this technology, the world of retail jobs is changing as well. Retailers don’t just buy gadgets off the shelf and use them. Retailers today operate their own innovation labs to come up with the latest in cutting edge technology. That means they are hiring engineers, software designers, and social media experts. Technology isn’t just the “what” of the future, it’s the “who” as well. From the days of the general store, to paper catalogs, to online shopping, retailers have always been constantly reinventing themselves. With technology, the pace of that reinvention has accelerated to a level that’s never been seen before. Matthew Shay, CEO, National Retail
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You Might Need a Loyalty Program If... As a marketer, there are some telltale signs to look out for that may indicate that you need a loyalty program:
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You are competing in a “sea of sameness” If your product or service is at high risk of being perceived as very similar to competitors, in addition to adding features or benefits that differentiate you, adding a loyalty program can give you an edge. Don’t buy it? Look at the airline, hotel, rental car, and specialty retail industries. While a loyalty program alone won’t truly differentiate you, for countless industries and consumers, a strong loyalty program is the “tie-breaker” at the moment of truth.
Elisabeth Keller Senior Vice President of Client Service, Brierly
Dr. Rusty Bishop Chief Marketing Officer, Bigtincan
Steve Prebble CEO, Appriss Retail
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Your “leaky bucket” looks more like a sieve The leaky bucket analogy states that companies are always losing customers, so to maintain or build share, we have to keep that bucket full of new customers at a faster rate than we’re losing them. If you’re losing customers faster than you’re gaining them, it may be helpful to focus on retaining and delighting more of your existing base. Obviously, acquisition is critical to any organization; however, allocating a portion of your
marketing budget toward a loyalty solution can help drive retention and maximize customer lifetime value, plugging more holes in that bucket.
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You know nothing about your customers Do you know your customers? I mean, do you really know your customers? Many companies preach at the altar of personalization, but to deliver that holy grail of customer engagement, you need solid and ongoing insights into individual customer behavior.
What are they buying, not buying, how frequently, and in what combinations with your other products and/or services? Do you have a robust customer database that is continuously updated with their latest purchases and behaviors? A loyalty program establishes that 1:1 connection that enables these personalized engagements and provides the platform from which you can profitably grow your customer relationships. These are just a few of the major symptoms that indicate
some form of loyalty program may be right for you. If you’re interested in seeing if a loyalty program makes sense for your organization, reach out to us at www.Brierley.com and we’d be happy to explore your options with you. n Brierley
Learn more about our platform by visiting brierley.com
3 Experts Predict the Future of the Retail Technology Industry A panel of retail experts share their insights on the future of retail technology, the challenges it poses, and how it can be utilized to improve the customer experience and boost pro�ıts. What does “smart retail” mean to you in 2022? Elisabeth Keller: “Smart retail” is continued convergence of digital and physical retail for a seamless shopping experience. Buy online, pick up in-store is the tip of the iceberg in this
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convergence. Blending virtual try-on with in-store pick-up is one foundational element. What is the biggest challenge facing modern retailers today, and what advice would you provide to these businesses? Rusty Bishop: Digital and social interactions have evolved to where customers expect personalized experiences that “wow” them and help them make great purchasing decisions. When
we enter a retail environment in-person, we come in the door carrying those expectations. I believe the largest challenges will come from this dichotomy. What will the retail technology industry look like in the next �ıve years? Steve Prebble: Data volumes, sources, and accuracy will continue to grow, providing more contextual, real-time data that will enable even more relevant consumer engagement and quicker, more
accurate, and more profitable retailer decision-making. Mid-size and large retailers will leverage the benefits of true omnichannel integration. Their consumers will choose when and how to interact with each channel and enjoy a true, seamless experience. Returns will remain an important part of the consumer journey, but retailers will feel less threatened by their cost and use them as a relationship-development tool by implementing technology to improve the entire shopping experience. n
Building Better Retail Results by Exceeding Customer Expectations As consumer expectations continue to rise, retailers are responding by leveraging data, technology, and empowered customer experience professionals to create improved in-store and omnichannel experiences and results. Today’s consumers expect retail shopping to provide both great experience and value. Progressive retailers are meeting these challenges by enlisting customer experience professionals to work across their entire organization and its functions to ensure that the retailers meet or exceed their customers’ expectations. These professionals — empowered by a brand commitment to customer-centricity — leverage data, technology, and insight drawn from customer feedback to drive better results for both the retailer and their customers. Intentional design The COVID-19 pandemic has changed consumer expectations, creating increased expectations for safety, convenience, and omnichannel integration. Customer-centric retailers understand that many consumers feel more comfortable patronizing businesses that provide a safe, welcoming, hygienic environment and have upgraded their facilities to reflect these priorities. Supply chain disruption has also had an effect. Consumers want straightforward ways to determine what is in stock and a seamless process to complete the purchase.
While there are times when speed and ease are primary consumer expectations, other retailers are finding success in transforming the buying process from a mere transaction to a value-added interaction. In-store café spaces, demonstration kitchens, and activity centers are just a few examples of how retailers are attracting potential buyers to retail stores, building brand engagement, and keeping shoppers happily in their store for longer periods. Other advancements include relevant value-add elements such as related accessory recommendations, recipe suggestions, and user communities to help the customer have a wonderful experience using their purchase — and to build a continuing relationship with the retailer. New consumer monitoring Leading retailers are going beyond traditional solicited feedback methodologies (such as asking purchasers to complete a post-transaction survey rating their experience) to gather insight on the efficiency and quality of the retail experience. Innovative technologies monitor consumer time-in-store or on a website, and even provide insight into shopper emotion through facial analysis. Many retailers are using sophisticated systems to monitor and evaluate public social media comments to ensure that the brand is aware of shopper perceptions, both positive and critical. Of course, collecting and monitoring this data is just one element. Com-
panies must be prepared to use this information to assist shoppers as close to real-time as possible and to redesign processes when the data uncovers repeated points of friction for consumers. Preparing for returns While the aim of a great retail customer experience is to help make a smooth, informed purchase that meets the consumer’s expectations, it is a reality that some purchasers will want to return a product to the retailer. This is always a decisive moment — a point of influence at which the customer’s perception can radically change. A carefully designed customer experience process for returns can meet that challenge with a positive outcome. Progressive retailers are making it easier for purchasers to receive and retain their purchase receipts, understand the return options and process, and evaluate options such as returning an online purchase in-store or via a pre-paid return mailing solution. Focusing on strategy To achieve success in this new environment, savvy retailers will hire customer experience professionals and invest in customer-centric technology to lead these transformations across people, processes, and technology. When executive leadership believes in the power of customer experience and empowers their staff to deliver it, businesses and their customers will prosper — together. n Greg Melia, CAE, CEO, Customer Experience Professionals Association
Improving Customer Loyalty During the Pandemic With COVID-19 changing the way people shop, it’s more important than ever for retailers to keep up with consumer demands. Enhancing the customer experience should always be a priority for businesses, but the current climate makes that extremely challenging. Retailers need to be aware of the different technologies and tools available to make the buyer’s journey easier. “First and foremost, they need to accept that in a world of abundant choice and anytime, anywhere, anyway convenience, even very good is not good enough anymore,” says Steve Dennis, the president and founder of SageBerry Consulting. “Retailers need to eschew one-size-fits-all approaches and become much more dynamic. Given that it’s so hard to figure out where both technology and customer desires are headed, they must build agility into their business model and establish a culture of experimentation.” Recognizing shifts in shopping trends Dennis notes that over the past year, the average customer has changed the way he or she makes purchases. “The most obvious way is that it’s much more digitally driven or enabled. We have also seen a great acceleration of trends, like curbside pickup, virtual shopping, contactless payment, and more home delivery. Out of safety concerns, consumers are tending to consolidate their spending at fewer retailers and spend less time in stores.” Shopping, he says, is becoming much more hybrid in nature, demanding a more harmonized experience across channels. “The most remarkable retailers are embracing the blur that is shopping today and taking steps to better integrate the digital and physical worlds, providing more choices for how customers can gather information about their potential purchases and ultimately have their orders fulfilled.” Cindy Riley
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urnover in the retail industry is as high as 60 % overall, which has a negative impact on the customer experience. “It’s clear to the customer when things are not seamless between online and in-store experiences,” notes Tiffany Chan Liban. Chan Liban is a former training and development manager at a global apparel, accessories, and lifestyle brand and current senior customer success manager at Bigtincan, maker
of an AI-powered Associate Empowerment Hub. “That’s exacerbated by high turnover of staff.” Impact of turnover When an employee has to call for assistance, customers experience frustrating delays. That frustration goes both ways, driving turnover. “Part of liking your job is feeling that you’re good at your job,” Chan Liban notes. “If someone doesn’t feel supported, they’re going to leave.”
Retail technology The solution is a modern onboarding and training platform focused on mobile-first and micro-learning. “It can’t be sitting around for four hours in the stockroom hearing about policies and reading policy manuals,” says Chan Liban. “The focus should be on getting vital information to the employee quickly so they can assist the customer.” Bigtincan’s Learning Hub uses videos, documents, and other assets in an easy-to-use, searchable app that can be
Intelligence Takes on a New Meaning for Retail Loss Prevention Technology As retail evolves its digital and automated methods for servicing customers, the approach and the technologies protecting retail are getting a whole lot smarter. Once data-poor, the retail world is now data-rich with expanded transaction details that allow for the learning of shopper patterns and habits, identifying their sizes and preferences while recognizing their likes and dislikes. In asset protection, we are collecting 6
similar detailed data on merchandise frequently stolen from shelves, hijacked from trucks, or diverted online. In the past, the challenge with all this information was time. Regardless of how valuable the information was to us, it would still take significant time for someone to compile, sort, prioritize, interpret, and absorb the available data, and then turn it into a valued and productive resource. Enter the world of artificial intelligence — machines digging through the details, identifying pat-
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terns and trends, and driving smart data to make intelligent decisions. This is the new world of retail, and the future of retail loss prevention. Smart systems can now be utilized for everything from reducing the cost of returns in the stores to identifying patterns of fraudulent online sales, and even watching and interpreting video to identify when merchandise is leaving the stores without payment. These enhancements help the retail company make smarter decisions, improving the cus-
accessed on mobile devices. “The Learning Hub keeps the training short, it keeps it easy — and it keeps the employee on the floor,” says Chan Liban. It also offers a “recognition” channel where employees can post achievements as well as a way to easily communicate concerns or suggestions upward. Managers can see learning progress from “Manager View” on their mobile device. Bigtincan’s Retail Associate Hub brings learning and communications together in
tomer experience while helping control losses and increase profitability. And as the technology advances, we learn to better use all the resources at our disposal, taking our decisions, our efficiencies, and our results to another level. Intelligent teams, intelligent communities These times have pushed many to the brink of bad situations and poor decisions. Fueled by regulation changes, poor response by law enforcement, and lighter retail staffing, there has been an explosion in brazen shoplifting attempts, smash and grabs, and organized retail crime. Many retailers were ill-prepared to handle the situation, making it easier for these organized groups
one place while measuring engagement at all levels. The platform also offers tools to help customers understand products and options, and Bigtincan is exploring adding augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) tools. The goal is to empower retail employees. “When an associate feels they’ve added value to a customer and the customer is grateful, it makes you feel valued,” Chan says. n Jeff Somers
See how Bigtincan can transform the buying experience for your employees and customers, visit bigtincan.com
to profit at the expense of the retailer and the potential safety of store employees and retail customers. Fortunately, many retailers are actively engaged in sharing intelligence about these issues with smart technologies that support identifying patterns and trends. Where it matters most, competitors are working together as colleagues to learn from each other and protect both their stores and the communities they serve. These efforts are making our communities safer, more engaged, and more productive. n
Kevin J McMenimen, Digital Contributor, Loss Prevention Magazine, Chief Operating Of�ıcer, LPM Media Group and Jac Brittain, Editorial Director, Loss Prevention Magazine
The Importance of Customer-Centricity Annette Franz, founder and CEO of CX Journey Inc., shares her expert insights on what businesses need to survive (and thrive) in today’s retail landscape.
What does “smart retail” mean to you in terms of customer experience in 2022? Smart retail can be summed up by a few words: data, technology, omnichannel, and seamless. Data is at the heart of designing and delivering a great connected customer experience. Technology facilitates and enables those experiences. Expectations are high for retail customer experiences, including that they must be omnichannel and seamless, which is facilitated by data and technology. More and more, customers are expecting personalized experiences. Personalization is no longer about “know me.” Now it’s “Hear me. Know me. Understand me. Show me.” And “show me” translates to a lot of different things, like context, relevance, and timeliness. Context is important to hyper-personalization and can come in the form of location, channel, time of day, product category, previous brand
interactions, why a customer is buying, and more. Smart retail means brands and retailers will take the time to understand customers and deliver the experience customers expect. What are the three largest challenges for retail owners given evolving customer expectations today? The more products and services have become commoditized, the more customer experience is the one true brand differentiator. Brands need to make sure they deliver the best experience possible for their customers. What does that mean or what does that look like? Your customers will tell you. It’s more important than ever to keep tabs on their expectations and how those are evolving. I believe the three biggest challenges are:
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Understanding customers Taking the time to listen to them in order to learn what’s going well and what’s not. Staying ahead of their needs
and expectations, acting on what you hear, and designing for customers, with customers.
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Massive amounts of data Brands need to centralize the data, analyze it, and get it into the hands of the right people at the right time to deliver the experience customers expect. Legacy systems and disparate data hinder this.
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Delivering the experience customers want While the first two challenges are at the root of making this happen, ultimately, keeping up with these expectations is a huge challenge. For example, I’m aware of a brand that is working to get their delivery times down to four days, while current customer expectations are for delivery to happen in less than two days — or even within a day, for that matter. What are the main types of resources companies are in dire
need of right now to better cater to customer wants/needs? Retailers need to spend time getting educated on a lot of different things, continuously: data, technology, artificial intelligence, automation, customer experience, employee experience, building a customer-centric culture, and so much more! They need to be in continuous learning mode as the business evolves, customers change and their needs evolve, new competitors come into the marketplace, product innovations emerge, their suppliers’ and logistics providers’ businesses change, and the technologies advance. Look to Amazon Style as one example of why retailers must keep their fingers on the pulse of all of these topics. Sadly, there’s not a one-topic solution for learning these days. If you’re not reading every day about a variety of topics, you’re falling behind. n
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