‘Tis the Season for Tech to Elevate the CX & EX
Unlock ways to elevate the holiday shopping experience for customers and keep the employees engaged.
Carl Rysdon, vice president of Ricoh USA, shares how technology has become integral to enhancing both the customer and employee experience during the holiday season and beyond. Technology continues transforming how businesses operate from providing personalized shopping experiences to enabling remote work and automating tasks. Embracing and leveraging technology is crucial for businesses to stay competitive and meet the evolving expectations of customers and employees alike.
Anyone who has stepped into a Walmart or Target recently knows that the predicted demise of brick-and-mortar stores could not have further missed the mark. In fact, though e-commerce grew substantially during COVID, today, more than 85% of retail sales occur within physical store locations. But with that in-store shopping experience comes an expectation for seamless ease and convenience and an opportunity for retailers to leverage technology to reinforce brand loyalty and keep those shoppers coming back.
Ready for Returns
The concept of omnichannel retailing has morphed from delivering a seamless and consistent shopping experience across channels to allowing shoppers to customize their experience. Buying an item online and picking it up in-store, for example, ensures that the exact coffee maker or skateboard you want will be there when you want it. To manage the surging holiday crowds, that could mean a separate physical location such as a secured locker. Click-and-collect e-commerce locker solutions can be implemented quickly, providing shoppers with the ease and flexibility of buying online without incurring shipping costs.
Similarly, many of us purchase goods online and return them to the store. According to Appriss Retail and the National Retail Federation, returns nearly doubled last year from pre-pandemic levels, accounting for 16.5% of total U.S. retail sales. This is especially true for items like apparel. You can’t always walk into a store and find the size or color you’re looking for – and some shoppers may prefer trying clothes on in the comfort of their homes. Purchasing online addresses those concerns, but if the perfect pants don’t quite fit when they arrive, returning them to a nearby store may be more convenient than repackaging and shipping them back.
We can expect returns to spike after Christmas when shoppers return the not-so-perfect gift or look to exchange it for what they want. But – retailers should keep in mind that the return experience can drive loyalty as well. A recent study found that 65% of respondents make the most returns at the places they shop most frequently, providing an opportunity for retailers to make the return process as painless as possible to boost sales during the holidays and beyond.
A Harris Poll commissioned by Ricoh found that more than three-quarters of Americans (76%) would consider using a locker to return online purchases. Convenient location (52%) and convenient hours (46%) top the features that would likely motivate Americans to choose a locker to return their online purchase. Beyond convenience, by placing lockers in a strategic location, retailers can drive additional foot traffic and increase in-store conversion rates.
Inventory Management
Capturing that additional revenue requires the right items on the shelf, yet having accurate, real-time visibility into inventory throughout the enterprise is one of the biggest challenges retailers face. If a customer returns a pair of shoes that were purchased in one city to a store in another, retailers need to know where that item is to be able to sell it online for pick up in-store. Or, if it doesn’t belong in that store, they can reallocate or mark down to quickly move it.
Digital transformation allows retailers to maneuver and manage their merchandise more easily. The inability to manage returned items downstream not only impacts sales potential but can also drive up costs. Like produce, many items are seasonal – and the longer they sit on the shelves, the harder they can be to sell. Some merchandise may be sold to secondary markets, but much gets thrown out. Having inventory management technology in place can help retailers effectively manage the impact of returns and exchanges on operations, minimize waste, and purchase more carefully.
See More: 5 Ways AI is Impacting Retail Marketing
Automating the Front Line
While having inventory visibility is critical at the enterprise level, it is equally important to the customer-facing employee who is expected to find the items for pickup. Many retailers are becoming micro-fulfillment centers to make the fulfillment and return of online orders more efficient. According to a report published by Virtue Market Research, the global micro-fulfillment software market is expected to double by 2030.
Surely robotics and other sorts of automation technologies are taking hold in this environment, but giving staff the tools to automate administrative tasks such as using a mobile device to quickly find and pack items for same day pick up or locate merchandise in-store with a customer, can go a long way in bettering the employee and customer experience.
Even simple things, like asking customers if they’d prefer a digital receipt, can not only have an impact on sustainability by minimizing paper but can also improve the experience by making it easy to share gift receipts. It creates a direct relationship, opening the opportunity for further engagement with that customer through digital communications. When returning an item, there’s no need to dig for a paper receipt. Instead, the customer simply has to present their mobile device for scanning.
Putting it all Together
It’s been clear for a while now that the retail industry has not been exempt from the impacts of an increasingly digital world. While the in-person customer experience is still a priority, the way that consumers shop – and what they expect from their retailers – looks different now than in years past. Consumers now walk into a store and expect a more-or-less, quick, and seamless experience.
Over the last several years, many retailers have invested heavily in mobile technology to improve the customer experience and empower their associates. With the busiest shopping season of the year here, there could not be better timing for retailers to bolster this mobile technology using data and more process automation that elevates efficiency to another level.
The return and exchange season is always one of the biggest tests for stores. Retailers need to remember that engaged, empowered, and happy employees make for happy customers. Supporting employees by innovating and streamlining sets them – and stores – up for success in working within this modernized industry. To keep up with heightened consumer expectations, retailers must look to implement the latest technology to keep up with the transformation of the in-person shopping experience.
How are you leveraging technology to enhance the customer experience during the holiday season? Share with us on Facebook, X, and LinkedIn. We’d love to hear from you!
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