How technology can support this quest? Technology presents brands with huge opportunities to engage with their customers wherever they are. In-store touch screens, virtual reality booths or shoppers’ own phones give consumers the chance to browse before they buy.
Customers increasingly want all the info they need at the touch of a screen and brands must make sure they’re giving the modern shopper what they need. With multiple channels being used, whether it be in-store or online, the shopping experience must be as unified as possible.
Unified commerce isn’t just changing where and when consumers shop, it’s changing how they shop too. Shoppers are attracted by the buy online, pickup in-store (BOPIS) offering. In fact, most shoppers would feel more encouraged to shop in stores that offer BOPIS than stores that do not. Shopping becomes a leisure activity that’s done when it suits the consumer and BOPIS offers this.
Shoppers are even researching online before buying in-store at this point. Regardless of how they shop, they want to engage across multiple channels, something that brands must be ready for. Consumers want to be able to look online at products and then go to the store and buy them, and vice versa. Nowadays, the competition is just one click away so failure to do this could seriously impact the retailer’s profits in the long run.
With consumer shopping habits changing, retailers must be prepared to put in the work to ensure they’re up to date with regards to the newest technologies. Because the power now lies with the consumer. They’re now fully in control of where, when and how they shop. Unified commerce is creating a much more educated shopper. They’re able to research the right products for them before hunting down the best deals. And it’s clear deals and discounts are important. So retailers should jump on this if they want to further entice their customers.
