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According to a recent report, all high street stores will transform into hi-tech, high touch ‘experience’ centres in 2012.
Predicted findings by Manhattan Associates, a global solutions provider for supply chain leaders, reveal that many retailers are set to change to meet the demand of a multichannel world.
The industry experts foretold that more products will be sold online and that items sold in-store will focus on a narrower more personalised range. But the corporation envisages that more retailers will look to make their high street presence more experiential to cater to the evolving needs and tastes of shopper.
The company also believes that self-checkouts and sales assistants armed with mobile devices will renovate the way customers interact with sales staff.
A recent example which confirms the forecast is a store in Paris which opened an interactive lab where consumers could test out the kitchen equipment in-store before ordering online.
But the report states that retailers need to be prepared for customers to buy through a variety of channels and to offer them an array of shopping experiences for them to research, buy and collect wherever they want.
Craig Sears- Black, UK managing director of Manhattan Associates, said that 2012 will be a challenging year for the retail industry but that at the same time, the opportunities for retailers to serve consumers better will be greater than ever because of new technologies.
Protouch touch screen software can help any retail business meet the growing needs of consumers.
Just have a look and see how our touch screen kiosks aided leading clothing and homeware retailer, Matalan.
A retailing survey has revealed that the British economy is missing out on close to £850 billion in sales- simply because of poor customer service.
Findings by Best Buy UK show that some 85% of consumers would go out of their way to shop somewhere with better service and therefore businesses with poor service could be losing on their share of trade by up to £847 billion.
The research, which involved over 2,000 adults, found that 71% would pay more for good customer service and 71% wanted helpful and knowledgeable staff available when shopping.
A touch screen kiosk can benefit the retail industry immensely in that customers can be better focused on because staff can give their time to making their experience better, whilst menial tasks are taken care of by kiosks.
Deploying a kiosk is catering to modern day customer’s needs, as the survey found that most people do not want to be approached whilst they shop. Only a small minority, 23%, would like to be offered help within the first minutes.
Steve Jensen, managing director of Best Buy UK, said: “To thrive you’ve got to give customers the service they demand and deserve. We as customers shouldn’t have to put a price on good service. Unfortunately people perceive they have to pay more for what we believe should be a given. Every company is missing out on crucial sales if they don’t make customer service the focus of their business.”
The hospitality sector came out on top in the survey as it was the most likely to have satisfied customers, with 62% of restaurants and 45% of hotels.
Jo Causon, Chief executive of the Institute of Customer Service, said: “It is only companies that make great customer service a priority in store and in the boardroom too that will find success. Every business has to ensure that employees are given the right training particularly on those softer people skills to ensure they’re in the best position to deliver a positive customer experience. You have to fight for every customer now and keep them coming back or your competition will get there first.”
Protouch can help you please each customer by installing touch screen technology that offers more services in-store. A kiosk can help by offering more products online that they can buy there and then, ticket dispensing special deals and way finding features. Consider the future of retailing and better customer service with Protouch.
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