Data is king, but without the ability to collect and analyze that data, it is useless. As more commerce moves into the omnichannel ecosystem – in-store, online and social – the ability of retailers to accurately reflect everything from inventory levels to delivery times is becoming more complex.
The pandemic made sure of that.
“The fulfillment need was dramatically increased because of the pandemic [with] … a big response around making sure orders can be fulfilled from stores,” explained Samuel Mueller, CEO and co-founder of Scandit, which provides mobile data capture platforms to enterprise businesses. “The question is how do you get those store associates empowered to pick those orders?”
And once you do that, how do you get the item to the end consumer? New research from Scandit has found successful in-store order fulfillment strategies enhance customer satisfaction and loyalty by 88%, according to a survey of U.S. retail executives conducted by VDC Research.
Accelerated by COVID-19, omnichannel fulfillment methods such as buy online, pick up in-store (BOPIS), ship from store and curbside pickup increased an average of 97% at the beginning of the pandemic with grocers seeing a rise of up to 109%, the survey found. The survey results also revealed that demand for omnichannel services has stayed consistent (55%) or even increased (46%) since early pandemic levels.
A second Scandit survey found that picking the items is only one part of the problem, getting them delivered is another. Research released last Wednesday found that last-mile delivery companies are focusing investments on contactless processes (41.2%) and delivery app enhancements (35.3%).
Augmented reality was a popular choice for global enterprises as well, with 76% believing AR is an important last-mile technology and 34% stating it is a priority investment for them today. Businesses that use smartphones are the most likely to recognize the importance of AR, with 85.8% believing it is important and 42.9% important to invest in now.
A unified shopping experience
Mueller told Modern Shipper AR is a technology that retailers can use to help bridge the gaps that exist between the physical and online worlds.
“Mobile devices and AR capabilities have not just seen initial levels of adoption, but we are starting to see large-scale deployments take hold,” he said, noting that the pandemic was a big catalyst for this. “There was an immediate response to the pandemic and I think retailers were scrambling a bit to what was happening. Those that were a bit more on the frontier and had smart mobile devices [already] deployed across the workforce” saw better results when commerce switched online.
Scandit found that 48% of retailers using smartphone technology in-store identified themselves as “highly agile” compared to dedicated device users. Now, as customers are returning to stores in waves, retailers need to mesh their digital approach with their physical approach. This means improved inventory tracking, especially in situations where the store offers BOPIS or ship-from-store fulfillment.
“The first wave we saw happening was that store associates were put in the middle of the action [as pickers for online orders],” Mueller said. “Now they are relying on the information that is made available on their own smart devices to answer questions that shoppers have in store.”
Mueller said AR is helping store associates also more closely track inventory levels – information that is used to keep online stock inventory levels accurate – and to showcase relevant product information for the in-store shopper.
It is not just the store associate that is benefiting from technology, though.
“With all the investments that retailers made in online engagement during the pandemic, as store traffic rebounds, we’re seeing a lot of retailers begin to evaluate how they can offer a similar level of digital engagement in their stores,” said Nikki Baird, vice president of retail innovation at technology provider Aptos. “As consumer smartphone adoption skyrockets – there are approximately 6.4 billion smartphone users worldwide in 2021 – there’s a real temptation for retailers to bypass store associate involvement and focus on how they can engage directly with in-store shoppers via those shoppers’ personal mobile device.”
The in-store experience
Baird said retailers should try to engage with shoppers through their digital devices, but they can’t ignore the importance of the store associate.
“There’s still a significant percentage of shoppers who visit stores to engage with associates,” she said. “In 2022, savvy retailers will look to elevate the role of associates in the overall store experience and leverage mobile technologies to support this.”
In both cases, technology is at the forefront, and Baird said retailers are expected to invest in major IT system upgrades in 2022.
“Retailers are at the point where they know they can’t fake it anymore,” she said. “They have to get the basics right – and this includes real-time inventory visibility. If retailers can’t provide real-time inventory visibility, they’ve already lost. There’s no way retailers can keep up with the speed of consumers without it.”
These system upgrades will ultimately result in a mating of the physical and online worlds.
“Prior to the pandemic, there was a lot of focus on creating experiential store concepts, almost as a way of trying to compete with the online channel,” Baird said. “Fast-forward to 2022 and we’ll see retailers pursue holistic store experiences that are focused on helping shoppers transition between physical and digital interactions with their brand. One good example of this is a virtual closet, which would allow consumers to create a digitized representation of all the products they own from that retailer. And then the virtual closet would be accessible to that retailer’s store associates so when the shopper is in the store, associates could recommend several items that would complement previously purchased items.”
Mueller pointed to the ability of mobile devices and IT to blend these experiences. The result, he said, is that the omnichannel experience will improve and customer satisfaction will follow.
An AR revenue stream?
Looking forward, Mueller pointed to the possibility that AR and computer vision could track in-store inventory levels passively as store associates walk the store floor and devices automatically scan shelves, or even the possibility that devices attached to carts or robots could do the same.
Stores could also see new revenue streams develop as they engage customers digitally, allowing for paid searches, for instance, to appear on the devices in much the same way that paid search articles appear alongside organic search terms in Google.
Mueller gave the example of a customer shopping for the right wine to pair with a dinner.
“You’re looking at massive shelves with bottles left and right and many choices, price points, etc.,” he said. “You can point the camera/phone at the shelf and those bottles that satisfy your search criteria get highlighted — for example, French wine costing less than $50.”
That’s where paid search can come in. The wine shop may be able to highlight the right bottle of wine but also provide complementary item suggestions on the device.
In the end, the idea is to improve the customer experience, wherever that experience takes place.
“The store is really becoming a center of discovery rather than just a utilization [experience],” Mueller said.
Click for more articles by Brian Straight.
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