What’s In Store For Retail: The Connected Associate
By Ian Hutchinson, Samsung
Last year, Americans spent over $513 billion on e-Commerce. That’s a sizable sum — but it’s pocket change compared to the trillions spent inside stores. Online shopping accounts for only 10% of retail in America, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce. In other words, even though we can buy almost anything we want with just a few taps on our smartphones, more often than not, most customers still enjoy shopping in person.
But that doesn’t mean brick-and-mortar stores can bypass digital solutions — especially when it comes to delivering a differentiating, high-quality in-store experience. Today, the most successful traditional retailers are implementing digital strategies to enhance the best elements of shopping within a store.
Some stores are already using digital touchscreens as interactive shelves, allowing customers to see products that aren’t in stock, while others are encouraging shoppers to download and use their apps while browsing, allowing them to scan barcodes to learn more about products. But perhaps the best way to fully leverage the digital possibilities of today’s retail environment is by developing a truly connected retail workforce.
Ensuring retail employees are fully connected — both to each other, and to their customers — is essential in a world where constant connection has raised customers’ expectations higher than ever. For instance, greater connectivity lets retail sales employees not only communicate better with each other, enabling faster, more accurate communications within a store, but it can provide essential information to every team member, helping them to become an on-demand expert in the process. Using mobile technologies that are available today, here are two scenarios being put into use today to consider:
- The Connected Associate: Put simply, shoppers like buying from people who know what they’re selling. Using smartphones or tablets, salespeople and employees can now become connected associates — or experts on a given store topic or product. By equipping them with the right mobile device and application, today’s in-store associates now have solutions to gain real-time access to the information required to answer specific customer questions related to a product category. For instance, in home improvement stores, a sales associate can use their tablet to access information on toilets or gardening tools or lighting — enabling them to answer questions quickly and knowledgeably and present their expertise. This ultimately helps improve interactions and complete a sale.
- The Connected Team: Of course, connecting associates to the information they need is only half the battle. The other half is connecting associates to their colleagues, creating connected teams. By leveraging mobile technology, employees can communicate in an instant through notifications and alerts, ensuring workflows move smoothly. For instance, after a customer checks into a restaurant on a smartphone, the host can be notified instantly on their smartwatch, so they can add the customer to the queue. Once that customer is seated, the host can send a notification to the rest of the team, and a waiter can respond to it, greeting the customer at their table. These are crucial digital tools within the physical world, and they’ve quickly become the norm when it comes to elevated service.
These technologies aren’t replacing human interaction, they’re enhancing it — creating more relevant and fruitful connections by offering an experience to customers that they could only find by walking into a store.
To use these devices to their fullest potential, however, retailers need to be mindful of two key issues: mobile device management and enterprise security.
In terms of mobile device management, an arsenal of connected mobile devices isn’t much use if businesses don’t have an easy way to manage and update them. Thankfully, there are several digital solutions that allow businesses to simplify IT management and customize devices to fit their unique needs — installing or removing applications over-the-air. These solutions allow IT managers to remotely manage and control their company’s entire fleet of devices through the cloud — restricting the use of a mobile or wearable device to business-related apps.
Second, device security is imperative. That’s why leading security platforms allow IT managers to send alerts or sound alarms when devices are removed from the perimeter of a store. They’re also built with lockdown capabilities, using geofencing to automatically disable devices when they’re lost or stolen. In the worst-case scenario, IT managers can even wipe a device remotely.
There’s no denying that digital platforms have driven disruption in retail. But digital solutions have the potential to transform brick-and-mortar outlets for the better, allowing retailers to more efficiently serve their customers’ evolving needs and improve their bottom line. By equipping teams with the right mobile tools — the smartphones, smartwatches and tablets — retailers can create a truly connected sales force, and businesses will be able to remain more competitive for years and thrive in the decades ahead.
Ian Hutchinson leads Samsung’s Business Development efforts for the retail vertical, with a focus on digital and go-to-market strategies. He is passionate about enabling enterprises to move the needle with their customers by applying unique technology solutions. Hutchinson holds multiple U.S. and international patents in the field of interactive spaces. When he is not helping retailers implement new technology solutions, he is a lead facilitator in the Mobile Innovation Workshops for Samsung enterprise customers.