MARKET REPORT Retail
“Companies are investing heavily in AI technology to improve the customer experience and make
staff resources more efficient. Retail, to be fair, is better than most at doing this.”
Tony Rich, Head of Global Propositions & Industry Verticals, Unify
into the shops. You see this
often in big shopping centres
which may have cinemas or iceskating
rinks on site. It could
be as simple as a co ee shop
on site. Companies are also
investing in how they interact
with consumers at the presales,
mid-sale, and post-sales stages.
Negative experiences have a
dramatic impact on brands, all
companies should take note of
the consequences. According
to Genesys, UK consumers
are most likely to stop doing
business with a company that
they’ve had a bad experience
with (46 per cent) and are likely
to share the negative details
with family and friends (45 per
cent). Additionally, shoppers in
the UK will register a complaint
directly with the company
using traditional methods such
as xed-line phone or postal
service (42 percent).
Rich commented “One of the
things selling well is the growth,
or adoption of, a customer
experience centre. It is contact
centre format but taken to the
next level. Sales conversations
with customers are evolving
and are more demanding than
ever, not only do customers
want answers, they want them
now and they want a pleasant
environment while receiving
them. A customer would now
rather open a chat and continue
browsing the web, than have to
hold on the phone.
Companies are investing
heavily in AI technology
to improve the customer
experience and make sta
resources more e cient. Retail,
to be fair, is better than most
at doing this. Automation is
selling well, but there is a caveat
with AI, it needs to feel human
not robotic, ensuring your
product has humanised AI is
key to continued growth in this
service.”
Vishal Chhatralia added
“Connectivity and EPOS play
a critical role in the customer
experience today. However, as
society becomes less tolerant
to putting e ort into low value
tasks which reduce the quality
of life, speed of execution
is increasingly important.
Purchasing behaviours re ect
that, such as auto replenishment
of ink cartridges, rather than a
manual entry for ordering.
Technology will continue to
move at pace from IoT enabled
parts, accessibility of cloud
and 5G. However, the critical
accelerator which will render
EPOS and traditional services
obsolete will be when these can
really create customer value by
delivering an e ortless customer
experience over and above
current solutions – which is no
doubt around the corner.”
ED SAYS…
Despite the tough time the traditional retailers are going through there is opportunity for
the Channel to lead a digital strategy as businesses look to e-commerce platforms to fi ll
the gap. The Customers Experience opportunities continue to grow and enable partners
to actually demonstrate ROI to customers over the long term. For those willing to look,
opportunities continue to present themselves.
SME CHALLENGES
Research by fi nance
solutions provider, Duologi,
found that just 46% of small
and medium sized retailers
think their business will be
successful in 2030. One in
10 retailers said they worry
that they simply cannot
keep pace with the demands
of the rapidly evolving
industry, with a quarter
(24%) citing keeping up
with new technologies as
their biggest challenge over
the next 12 months.
Those in the sports and
leisure (57%), jewellery
(54%), electrical (53%),
health and beauty (53%) and
fashion (45%) industries all
cited new technologies as
their greatest challenge in
the next year of trading.
the opportunities that digital
and technology can provide.
Investment in online journeys,
use of data for better targeting,
use of technology for product
innovation, moving to service
and subscription services and
the on-going move to cloud.
However, there is more to do.
To get ahead and stay ahead, it
is all about the customer, how
can the channel collaborate
with customers, suppliers
and partners further a eld to
understand customers more
deeply, yield deeper insights
and bring innovation and
value to customers – it all
starts with understanding and
delivering exceptional customer
experiences in new and novel
ways.”
Customer Experiences Matter
As retail continues to be a
competitive space one huge
area of di erentiation is around
Customer Experience (CX).
is can happen on a number of
fronts. Firstly, retailers are using
di erent engagement strategies
by teaming up with other forms
of retailers to lure customers
26 | Comms Business Magazine | March 2020 www.commsbusiness.co.uk
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