It’s no secret that Britain’s high street businesses are struggling and have been for a number of years now, the Covid-19 pandemic proved the end for many and left others retrenching. While the cost-of-living crisis has already seen many high-profile retailers slip into administration – Made and Joules are the latest additions to a growing list. With such massive pressure on the sector, it’s easy to see why investment in technology isn’t high on the list of many retailers’ priorities. But there’s good reason to believe that technology could provide the solution bricks and mortar businesses need to weather the current financial storm.
Why do businesses need to prioritise tech investment?
There are multiple reasons why a growing number of businesses are turning to technology to support them through the current economic downturn.
Customer experience
With the ease, convenience, choice, and cost-effectiveness of online shopping, the primary reason most people visit bricks and mortar retailers is experiential. They want to browse, see and feel physical products. But if the experience isn’t enjoyable, they’re unlikely to make an effort again any time soon.
Technology can be used to augment the customer experience (CX) in a variety of ways. It can be used to create a mix of touchpoints that encourage the customer to interact with the brand physically, this makes them feel closer to the brand and creates longer-lasting relationships. Technology is vital in creating interactive experiences that see the customer take away unique content – like the bespoke jump booth our interactive brand Xi installed across the new Sports Direct flagship stores. The installation measured how high players could jump using body recognition technology then created a slow-motion playback and a leader board creating content for individuals and leaving them with an unforgettable experience, and a piece of takeaway content. Tech is also an integral part of an engaging loyalty scheme, whereby going into a store and scanning a barcode or accessing a digital screen provides customers with a discount code or promotion that is only accessible in that store.
With the right technology, businesses also unleash the potential for targeted ads and promotions. By using a loyalty app able to detect when a customer is in store, they could be targeted with tailored offers based upon previous shopping trends, offering limited-time discounts unique to each shopper.
Return on investment
If properly used to enhance CX, technology can deliver an almost instant return on investment (ROI). But it can also save costs and bring in money in other ways. Whether through self-serve checkouts, which speed up the customer journey, allowing them to buy products or browse to find out more about them independently, without needing to rely on a sales assistant or the improvement of point of sale (POS) tech. Where POS screens are added to the till points of stores, customers can be strategically marketed to while they’re waiting to pay – something that is important to 84% of UK retailers, who believe digital signage creates significant brand awareness. Enhanced POS can also help improve checkout times. Storing customer information to enable better service generates more personalised marketing and offers. Both of these can be integral to a business’s survival during a recession.
With programmable digital displays, businesses can ensure that signage is only being used when it is most beneficial, helping with energy reduction through off-peak idle modes and adapting the screen display. While the programmable nature of the screens removes the need for printing costs with each campaign change and minimises the effort of each big window change-out.
Intelligent investment decisions
Understanding customer behaviour can be integral to securing sales and avoiding waste. In-store analytics technology can be a great way to help brands get to know their customers better. Not just individual shopping habits, but how customers travel through their store. With heat tracking cameras, it becomes a simple matter to determine which areas of a store are busiest, to enhance product placement. But it can also help to determine the success of particular displays, and which areas of the store simply aren’t working.
While other analytic software can be used to tailor displays to customer demographic or the weather. With environmental monitoring, you can break out the virtual umbrella display when it’s raining and see the sales unexpectedly climb. With facial analytic technology, stores can determine who’s shopping and when, changing screen content to match, something that can be of equal benefit during busy and off-peak periods.
Technology can seem like an enormous investment in straightened times. But when it is used to enhance a whole range of key performance indicators, not investing can seem remiss. Potentially exposing businesses to risk by letting the competition get ahead. While savvy investment can help businesses to weather the most turbulent of storms.
By Josh Bunce, founder and CEO of the iuf Group, trusted by iconic global brands to capture and retain audience attention with creative AV solutions. A serial entrepreneur and investor, Josh is on a mission to create a new retail world using innovative, practical and sustainable technology.
