In the next excerpt from Brand View’s Ecommerce Excellence Study USA: CE & GM 2016, we look at the different in-store technologies retailers are using to drive shopper engagement and purchases.
Purchase and Payment
In-store technology will continue to shape the future shopper experience with increasing experimentation with in-store beacons – utilising GPS to determine promotions that are relevant to the shopper dependent on the aisle they are in and duration at any one fixture.
Increasingly, retailers are looking to beacons to enhance the in-store shopping experience while simultaneously bridging their physical and online experiences. These Bluetooth-enabled devices are being installed in stores across the country, but despite the deluge of media and retailer interest, beacons are still in their infancy – and there’s no data yet showing they make a substantive difference on in-store sales.
That said, the ability to upsell relevant accessories and additional, related items to the shopper is proven online and it is easy to understand why some retailers are looking to replicate the same strategy in-store. Making the path to purchase as easy as possible is obviously advantageous to all involved and suppliers are looking to partner with retailers that, for example, have made it simple for shoppers to purchase products on cell phones with ‘the one-click purchase’ – via an App where registered shoppers’ credit card information is already stored and the whole transaction takes a matter of seconds.
One manufacturer said “Target is really pushing this and is possibly doing the best job of making the user experience seamless. Target also has a market audience that is more comfortable with an ecommerce experience than others.” Target’s App is activated as the shopper enters the store, highlighting promotions and products that may have gone unnoticed. As a result the retailer has found that it can gain huge benefits by displaying physically large items, like outdoor furniture, in-store. This encourages shoppers to purchase them there and then with the items then shipped to their house directly, instead of hauling them home.
Target’s App is activated as the shopper enters the store, highlighting promotions and products that may have gone unnoticed.
Ecommerce Excellence Study USA: CE & GM 2016
The objective of the qualitative study has been to research and benchmark how retailers and manufacturers view each other in the most important areas of the manufacturer-retailer relationship and to understand what others can learn from best-in-class businesses.
The study has identified those retailers who set the standard of performance as ranked by their trading partners. This has provided benchmarks across all trade channels.
The specific goals of the research are to:
- Identify the best manufacturers and retailers, as evaluated by their trading partners.
- Provide insight into what makes them ‘the best’.
- Define the importance of key metrics between trading partners.
- Highlight areas for improvement for the industry as a whole.
- Improve collaboration in the marketplace.
Study participants include Presidents, Global Directors and Heads of Ecommerce from Best Buy, Target, Reckitt Benckiser, Dyson, Samsung, Electrolux, Whirlpool, Sennheiser and WellPet.
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