Today's retail/hospitality challenge: Serving 'digital natives'| Webinar – Kiosk Marketplace
A pair of experts from Zebra Technologies offer insight on how retail and hospitality decision makers can address the growing demand for omnichannel shopping.
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How do retail and hospitality industry leaders provide a multi-dimensional shopping experience for the new digital savvy customer who expects to be able to shop the way they want?
A pair of experts from Zebra Technologies — Richard Thompson, sales vice president for the global OEM business, and Mark Thomson, director of retail and hospitality solution — offered insights during a webinar, “Serving the Digital Natives.”
Thomson defined the omnichannel shopper as someone who buys across multiple channels. And while this audience encompasses all age groups, Gen Z and Millennials are changing the retail landscape because they are the largest consumer group.
“They are very digital savvy,” Thomson said. “If you don’t do it right for them, they are very quick to respond, and they use their digital channels to respond and provide negative reviews.”
Zebra’s annual global shopper study has offered insight into the overall omnichannel sophistication level of today’s audience.
“Retail is not totally shifting online,” Thompson said. “Shoppers and particularly this cohort of shoppers (Millennials and Gen Zers) prefer a retailer which has both online and offline offerings.” The survey found 74% of Millennials and 74% of Gen Xers prefer a blend of in-store and online shopping.
When the shopper is in-store, they want to be able to use technology to pick up, collect, purchase or return products in their own preferred way, he said.
The survey also indicated that most retailers understand the need for both physical and online interaction but plan to sustain physical stores, he said.
“Their expectation is that the ease of doing business online is as easy as when you’re in a brick-and-mortar store as well, and that’s where the latest technologies come in,” Thompson said.
“The shopper also expects the store staff to also have the latest technology in order to aid them should they need that service,” he said.
In addition, customers also expect retailers to maintain COVID secure work spaces, Thomson said.
Thompson said he believes retailers are getting the message that they need to have the latest technology.
“Eighty-four percent of decision makers at retail organizations believe that their customers can find information much faster themselves compared with asking a member of staff,” a 9% year-on-year increase, Thompson said.
He said there has been an increase in the amount of kiosk and self-service technology deployed at retail.
Over a recent 6-month period, 47% of shoppers used self-checkout, 34% used contactless payment and 25% had a personal shopping experience provided by a store, the survey found.
Online shopping comparisons have been common for years, Thompson said, but now it is also taking place inside the stores. Retailers are enabling customers in-store to do pricing and availability comparisons.
“The customer wants to know they are getting a good deal and I think they want that technology to tell them that,” Thompson said.
The technology is also helping retailers retain customers, he said. For instance, a product may not be available when the customer is in the store, but by learning they can have it delivered they will choose to do so rather than look elsewhere for the product.
“This is happening everywhere,” Thompson said.
Retailers should also think about the experience they want the customer to have across all retail channels, Thompson said.
Digital natives, he said, don’t think about the channel they as using.
“They think about the brand,” he said. “You want to think of a customer across and through all of those channels.”
Newer technology has to interface with a store’s inventory systems to be able to advise a customer about product availability, Thompson said. This can be challenging, especially for retailers who have older back-end software.
Hence, there is a necessity for retailer/technology provider partnerships.
Thomson pointed to the partnership between Starbucks and Amazon on a frictionless coffee shop as an example.
Different technology products have become integrated, such as inventory management and point of sale, as opposed to several years ago when the projects and their associated data were siloed, Thomson said.
Asked if consumers will use voice instead of tapping a phone to shop, Thomson said voice technology, as well as gesture recognition self service, are not yet widespread, but making headway.
He said he is aware of a casino grocery store in France that allows customers to interact with a self-serve screen using voice.
Thomson pointed out that many of the new technologies affect numerous departments within a retail or hospitality organization, be it IT, inventory management, supply chain or loss prevention. Hence, the return on investment is greater than if it were specific to one silo and requires the involvement of more senior level decision makers.
“We are seeing more and more of those senior level decision makers get involved in what were traditionally IT projects because they are more complex now, because they impact not only more departments within the business, but also, more importantly I think, the customer and the experience that the customer gets,” he said.
At the same time, retailers have overestimated shopper satisfaction, indicating challenges remain.
“There’s an ever increasing over anticipation of the experience being better, easier, quicker, faster, more consistent, etc.,” he said.
Elliot Maras, editor of Kiosk Marketplace and Vending Times, moderated the webinar.
To listen to the webinar, click here.
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