What technologies are enhancing customer experience today?
From a customer perspective, virtual reality and augmented reality are a powerful and refreshing way for brands to directly engage with consumers. The technology is noticeable. Alternative realities are innovative and are considered appealing especially by the younger and tech savvy market. VR and AR impress this potentially affluent demographic, and if you can offer a viable use for it, they are likely to flock to your business to try it out.
From a retailer perspective data intelligence tools offer the ability to craft a personalised and more focussed approach. Retail businesses manage incredible amounts of information. Every interaction generates a new record, and every new record is an opportunity to learn more about how to make your retail business more efficient and successful.
Where do retailers begin when rethinking their customer journey?
People are complicated. They can’t be defined be one characteristic or interest. If you want to truly understand your customers, you need to build up a 360° view of your shoppers – connecting the dots between shopping habits and social behaviour. When looking to improve the customer experience, you need the data to understand their journey and then consider what outcome you are after. This is the first step in building a customer experience strategy.
Which retailers are getting customer experience right?
- Asos. Personlised campaigns on Facebook and through emails as well as targeted promotions based on holidays. Returns are easy and customer service and delivery is fast and easy.
- Waitrose: Excellent personalised service both instore and online.
- Amazon: Personalised recommendation engines and its Prime delivery.
What are the big factors holding retailers back when it comes to digital transformation?
In the digital age, you must rethink how to design customer experiences, operate you customer touchpoints, build your products, organise you teams, run your business, invest in technology and measure the results. It’s no mean feat. And digital transformation is as much a cultural transformation as a technology transformation. Many retailers still struggle to define a meaningful digital business strategy. To build a transformational business, the retailer must first understand the customer experience.
Why is K3 sponsoring the Retailer Lounge at RBTE 2017?
At K3 we immerse ourselves in everything retail and RBTE is one of our favourite events in the retail calendar. The K3 lounge is a vendor-free networking zone which retailers like; it’s a busy show and they appreciate a cup of coffee and a bit of a sit down to gather their thoughts, and meet up with industry peers.
What are you most looking forward to at RBTE?
The buzz. RBTE is a lively event and the lounge will get busy. I always look forward to meeting new faces and catching up with familiar ones; customers, partners, competitors, speakers – it’s a blast. The retail community is tight and it’s great to be a part of it.
K3 Retail is sponsoring the Retailer Lounge at RBTE
