The Impact Of Mobile Technology On The Retail Business

While the evolving technology has brought many challenges for the businesses, at the same time, it has also offered numerous brilliant opportunities. It can’t be gainsaid that the mobile revolution has ushered the retail shopping in a modern era that has transformed the experience into a fast and convenient exchange through mobile devices.

The ever flourishing online shopping trend has encouraged the brick-and-mortar stores to endeavour ways to enhance their in-store experience so as to stay competitive and active in the market.

Since, mobile has inextricably become an eminent part of our day-to-day activities, mobile customers seek an impressive and personalized brand experience. It is, thus, common to observe that people who didn’t get a promising mobile shopping experience from a brand, they often don’t prefer purchasing from the brand via any other medium.

This is why ensuring a pleasing and engaging mobile presence is crucial for brick-and-mortar businesses to rivet potential customers.

Today, the mobile technology has amazingly evolved into a prolific medium that not only allow users to compare products, and shop anytime and anywhere comfortably via their handy devices, but it has gone a great way. For instance, Google Wallet is an awesome mobile payment system that works as a fabulous revenue generating tool for the retail business.

Let’s delve deep into the topic and learn how the advancement in mobile technology is influencing the retail business. How is mobile technology helping retailers deliver a seamless shopping experience?

Omni-Channel Customer Experience

Whether your retail business boasts an Internet presence, a physical store, a mobile presence, or a call center, customers expect that the retailer will know the relationship history regardless of the chosen channel. Thus, they expect a seamless and flawless flow of the information from a channel to another.

For instance, if one has created a wish list on a mobile application, the same registry must be accessible to his friend even if his friend is exploring the website (not the mobile application).

To win the hearts of the customers, retailers must share the precise info at the fortune of the moment, and cater to the customers’ need by executing the requisite processes proficiently. Moreover, since customers hook up to services that deliver instant solutions, immediacy and gratification have become crucial in retail businesses.

Fortunately, mobility facilitates exceptional access to inventory, order, and product shipping info. Thereby, enhancing the user experience by sharing accurate info at the right time.

Order completion and Inventory Management

To completely overhaul the store operations and ensure an absolute omni-channel customer experience, one must exclude the unconnected sources of info spread across the supply chain. A retailer can gain the loyalty and trust from his customers by offering a consistently better trading experience and gratification.

Organizations are making strives to proficiently address these objectives and control things from going awry. For this, they are integrating top-notch technologies, including Beacon, M2M sensors, NFC and so forth, in their ecosystem.

There is no doubt that integrating the mobile-based advanced technologies in the supply chain can offer a plethora of benefits. It will provide uninterrupted access to info, enhanced real-time responsiveness, smooth flow of data across internal and external organisations. Therefore, retailers must switch to the mobile-first approach to make transformation efforts in an effective fashion. Their business strategy must address to the aspects of technology, end users, and process.

Pop-up Retailing

Pop-up retail shops or temporary physical stores have become quite common nowadays. There are innumerable online stores that are successfully generating a hefty profit without investing in any physical storefront. However, there are several successful retailers that do online retailing and open pop-ups to set up a connection with their potential customers. The pop-up retails help retailers reap the benefits of seasonal sales or target a location for a particular audience.

Pop-up retailers are highly dependent on a range of mobile technologies for processes like secure off-site inventory access and simplified payment, to name a few.

Authorizing Sales Representatives

In fact, there are many retails from niche industry that have provided their sales representatives with wearable devices for more productive and cost-effective business. This empowers even a rookie sales representative to work competently, and get accustomed to the products and processes of the retailer via the introduced wearable technology.

Moreover, the representative will get the power to deal with customers conveniently by accessing his digital profile and wish list (of course, with requisite permissions). This will offer retailers satisfied customers, elevated sales and ensured better retention rate.

Augmented Reality

Several efforts have been made to integrate the Augmented Reality in the retail business. The impressive and interactive window displays and virtual fitting rooms are a few of the examples that show how merchants are consistently making strives to implement the Augmented Reality to deliver a worthwhile shopping experience and attract the target audience. You will observe an increase in these efforts in the coming future.

Wrapping Up

With the current retail trends and the anticipated future, there are no signs of mobile slowing down anytime soon. It will keep blooming the industry with its fabulous services, and retailers without missing the opportunity will invest in more Loyalty applications, streamlined mobile ordering processes, and secure and reliable mobile payments (leaving the card payments behind).

By observing how the mobile technology can impact the future of retailing, it can be said that boasting only a mobile presence is not sufficient. Retailers need to incorporate high end mobile services in their business strategies to ensure their surefire success in the industry, which is already in a cut-throat competition that will only heighten with time.