Importance of technology in Retail – 4 Ways

The retail industry is always looking for better technology innovations that can benefit them to make a higher profit and brand name. In the competitive retail world, retailers are keenly watching the arrival of new developments in technologies to stay ahead of the curve. The profit of every retail store depends upon its performance in this competitive market and how well and easily you adopt the new technologies.

High-tech tools have an important role in increasing customer experience and sales. During these pandemic times, brick-and-mortar digitalization helped them to provide a seamless customer experience by following the safety rules.

Role of technology in the Retail Industry

The retail industry is very much dependent on the technologies and tools to stay up to date. Retailers are striving to achieve their goals by implementing new systems and technologies that their business demands. Customer management and retention, inventory management, people counting, theft control, and supply chain management are those areas where the retail industry is completely dependent on technology. Just check some of the important tools/technology which helped the retailers to achieve customer satisfaction and brand value.

Point Of Sale Systems

One of the biggest advantages of digitalization in the retail industry was the modernization of the payment systems and the easier checkout facility for the customers. Point of sale systems comes with a hardware unit, software, customer display, barcode scanners, and printers. Before the arrival of POS systems, customers had to wait for a long time for checkout and 10% of the customers will leave their shopping carts at the checkout queue if they are in a hurry. This 10 % sales loss was very huge while we counting altogether.

The POS systems make the payment procedure more easy and quick so that the customers have no more to wait for long to make the payment. The option of paying by cash, card, smartwatch, or mobile wallet makes the POS system the biggest invention for retailers. POS software like Retail Pro Prism can integrate the sales data of the online sales with the brick and mortar stores.

Nowadays Self checkouts and BOPIS (Buy Online Pay In-store) facilities are the most preferred shopping experiences for the customers. The pandemic makes so many changes in shopping behavior and the technological advancements helped the retailers to achieve their margins even if the situation around the world is a little bit crucial.

Inventory Management

The inventory management was a tiresome task for the warehouse managers and staff. Keeping track of each inventory going in and out was difficult and takes more time. But the arrival of RFID inventory management systems and the physical inventory count solution for android devices like Stocktakelivemakes the process easier. These technologies not only reduced the time but also reduced the manpower and money needed for managing the inventory. More organized inventory management led to more sales. The RFID solutions by Checkpoint offering software, hardware, labels, tags, and connected cloud-based solutions for managing inventory. Some recent inventions in handheld RFID barcode scanners make them capable of scanning 700+ barcodes within seconds.

CCTV cameras for Security

CCTV cameras are not a new technology for retailers. But combining CCTV technology with an alarm system and people counting solution makes it an advanced invention. Thermal cameras for temperature detection is a recent advancement in CCTV technology that can be really useful for fire detection. Another application of CCTV in Retail is for access control. The overall security of a retail store can be secured by implementing these high-end CCTV solutions.

Customer Service

Technology has a vital role in making customers happy. When a customer enters a brick and mortar store the first thing that a customer may notice may be the digital signage they have placed in the store. For getting a pleasing impression this signage can help. Many retailers are now providing the virtual view of their product through augmented reality to make their customers more interested in the product and turn it into sales.

In-store analytics tools like Retail next help the retailers to get a detailed view about their customer’s journey inside the store. By analyzing the data received from the in-store analytics solutions retailers can understand where their customers are spending more time, which product displays get more impressions, and what kind of shoppers they are, etc. The internal shrinkage and shoplift can be reduced by implementing these technologies. Shopping mall management software like E-Goal can capture the entire mall operations.

Remarketing strategies can be implemented by using the data received from these technologies and Customer loyalty programs can be implemented to make the customers happier.

Easy checkouts can increase sales and brand value. Every customer expects a personalized shopping experience while they visit a retail store. If the retailer can win the customer’s mind, that customer will stay a long time with the same brand.

Technology is benefiting in many ways to increase the sales in a retail store. E-commerce itself is the biggest example where technology makes changes in retail management. Technology saves money, manpower, and time. The applications of technology in the retail industry are not limited here. Retailers are waiting for the arrival of new technologies to check how they can help them to boost sales.