While the pandemic is likely to have a long-term effect on retail, 87% of people say that shops will be as important to them as they were before the pandemic.
That's not to say that business as usual is possible. The challenges that were facing the sector prior to COVID-19 have become more pressing.
These include the fact that shoppers are more fickle and less loyal, people are looking for more innovation and digitally-led services in-stores, and online sales are rising upwards.
With these issues in mind, and to make sure businesses capitalise on the affinity that people have for shopping, there is a strong case for looking at how retailers can make the store experience more dynamic, compelling, and easy.
There are several components to this, and Diebold Nixdorf's new whitepaper explores the subject in detail. For example, personalisation remains a core area of focus.
Creating Dynamic Journeys
Clearly, physical stores have a way to go when it comes to capturing the level of data harvested from online shoppers (and using that to influence sales in real-time).
But things are changing, and there are new ways to personalise store journeys – by identifying who is in the store, creating versatile checkouts to let them shop in the way that's best for them, and making the most of customer interaction with associates providing the best service at all points during a customer's in-store journey.
To read more about in-store personalisation, click here.
Looking forward, the ability to better capture and use data in stores to roll out new services and create personalised offers requires further channel integration of IT systems.
In response, Diebold Nixdorf has created 'Storevolution' – a comprehensive suite of technologies and open APIs that enable retailers to operate with much greater agility.
Diebold Nixdorf's new whitepaper 'Mobility, Agility and Profitability' explains Storevolution in more depth. This includes how it makes it easier to create, trial and roll out new store-based services at a higher cadence and lower cost.
To download the whitepaper, visit retailexperience.store.
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