We always read/listen on consumer empowerment and various
initiatives being undertaken by retail organizations to achieve the same. This
trend has enabled retail organizations to explore new channels to not only develop
their customer base but also nurture loyalty.
Books have it that nurturing loyalty among its customers is always cheaper for retail organizations and enables saving in the form of acquisition costs, servicing time and brand development. This has resulted in a trend to manage customer’s experience not only inside the store but also outside.
Customer experience has been also promoted by the extensive use of mobile devices (with web connectivity) and social media which not only promotes price/product comparisons, availability and other options but also enables interactive kiosk, self-check-out systems and custom promotion availability.
Focusing on in-store customer experience, technology could be the drivers through the following modes:
Books have it that nurturing loyalty among its customers is always cheaper for retail organizations and enables saving in the form of acquisition costs, servicing time and brand development. This has resulted in a trend to manage customer’s experience not only inside the store but also outside.
Customer experience has been also promoted by the extensive use of mobile devices (with web connectivity) and social media which not only promotes price/product comparisons, availability and other options but also enables interactive kiosk, self-check-out systems and custom promotion availability.
Focusing on in-store customer experience, technology could be the drivers through the following modes:
·
Customer Entry: As soon a customer enters a
store he is offered the opportunity to participate in-store experience through
a mobile app
·
Product Choice: Scan feature availability in the
app which allows customer to scan the product bar-code and know the best price,
availability, store location and options in the price bracket
·
Payment: Either through the M-wallet feature
linked to the app or the online payment gateway
·
Purchase Check-Out: Scan based checkout post
payment confirmation and delinking of the product (through bar code delisting
from the store DB)
·
Experience Sharing: Customer can provide
feedback through social channels to his followers or provide feedback using the
app
The full process would have a two part technology usage:
·
One which is front end facilitated by mobile app,
custom feed development for the store associates to assist customers in case
they do not a compatible device, and interactive kiosk
·
While the back-end would be driven through database
management, and app/product/price DB integration
After all HAPPY CUSTOMER translates to HAPPY BUSINESS J 
