There may be fewer days in the 2013 holiday shopping season, but there will certainly not be a shortage of shoppers. The National Retail Federation predicts shoppers to spend 3.9 percent more this year compared to last year, totaling $602.1 billion in holiday sales. To properly manage the influx of transactions, traffic and data coming into stores over the next few weeks, retailers can turn to machine to machine (M2M) technology.
Deloitte’s 28th Annual Holiday Survey found that 68 percent of shoppers who own smartphones plan to use them to help in holiday shopping, and 63 percent of tablet owners plan to do the same. Not only does this mean retailers should be thinking about marketing on mobile but they should also be moving in the same direction.
Tablet-based point-of-sale (POS) solutions do more than just bring mobility to a retailer. M2M and tablets offer features like integration with payment platforms, consumer analytics, PCI compliance, back-office management tools, coupon support and more. Retailers can use tablets for interactive customer assistance by offering more product details, product demonstrations and even options based on other brick and mortar locations or online special order choices.
M2M can also power vending machines and digital kiosks and make the management of these easier on retailers. Telemetry solutions can provide real-time information about inventory, sales, errors and the number of coins and cash in a machine. This data can help retailers by reducing the number of visits to refill the machines, lowering operating costs, being able to adjust setting or pricing remotely and integrating other retail trends, like digital signage.
Advertising in retail is moving toward digital, enabling retailers to promote products, create video messaging, deliver real-time updates and launch mobile ads. Digital signage can also pick up on shopper analytics by tracking demographic information like age and gender. These analytics can help not only identify customers but also learn to optimize displays and store layouts based on customer traffic.
Retailers need to always be thinking of how the technology they select will enhance the customer experience. In some cases, users may not be ready for the technology retailers think has potential. Digital signage is one of these, as a recent study found that 67 percent of U.S. consumers think personalized promotional campaigns used in physical stores are invasive.
Retailers know to prepare for holiday shopping with more inventory and staff, but are they being as efficient as possible? M2M enhances the retail experience in multiple ways, and can be a boost to the success of this year’s holiday shopping season, making the experience as joyful as the holidays themselves...Read More
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