Raymark | Beyond MPOS: Diversifying Retail Mobile Solutions for Greater ROI

BEYOND MPOSDiversifying Retail Mobile Solutions for Greater ROI

01 | BEYOND MPOS | Diversifying Retail Mobile Solutions for Greater ROI

Retail technology is progressing at a rapid pace, as companies look for ways to remain competitive in an ever-changing market. Consumer expectations have evolved with the growth of the internet and e-com-merce, due in large part to real-time access to infor-mation at home, on the go, and in the store. Compe-tition has increased due to the low cost of entry to many retail channels, most notably, e-commerce, and as a result, price has become a major focus of the retail value equation.

With the exponential growth of social media, con-sumers have much greater access to input and feedback from others; be it through online reviews, social commentary, or interaction with friends on social media. As a result, orchestrating amazing customer experiences is fast becoming as criti-cal as price in determining the value of a product or brand. While price remains a key factor in the pur-chase decision, many other service-related elements have become equally critical to a final decision to buy,

and as a result, to the retail organization as a whole. A vast majority of sales still take place in the brick and mortar environment, and there is still no substitute for the tangible, hands-on experience the consumer has while in the store.

Unfortunately, technology beyond point of sale has been somewhat slow to work its way into the physical store, due to a variety of technical and cost considerations. This can, unfortunately, place the store associate at a disadvantage, as consumers are more connected and even more knowledgeable than some store associates. In order to change this imbal-ance, retailers are embracing the notion of providing more tools to the associate to deliver the knowl-edge of the enterprise to the point of decision. Mobility offers the ideal platform for such initiatives, as tools delivered on mobile devices can provide the right information at the right time, and empower associates to enhance the relationship with their cus-tomers, and to deliver superior customer service.

BEYOND MPOSDiversifying Retail Mobile Solutions for Greater ROI

Copyright 2015 Raymark Xpert Business Systems, Inc. All rights reserved.



1

CONSUMERS ARE CONNECTED

Today’s customers are connected through mobility in their daily lives: at home, in stores and on the go. They have access to information

when and where they want it.

Consumers use their devices for price comparison when looking at a product, or to access real-time

reviews before making a purchase. For instance, 82% of smartphone shoppers use search engines for browsing product information

in-store. A recent study stated that 34% of consumers (and 90% of smartphone shoppers) investigate purchases online before making an offline purchase, even though most retail sales are still taking place in

the store. (Google)

As a result of this access to com-petitive information, reviews, and

comparative prices, it is not uncom-mon for a customer to actually have more information about a product than the in-store associates them-

selves. This has begun to negatively impact the experience in the store,

as consumers expect a level of knowledge from their associates

that is superior to their own and in many cases do not find it.

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PERCEPTION IS REALITY

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KNOWLEDGE IS POWER

Why is in-store mobility so important?

Another reason that mobility is important in today’s retail environ-ment is the unfortunate fact that

there is a very real disconnect in the perception of the level of service provided by the typical retailer. A

recent Bain & Company survey re-veals just how commonly companies misread the market. Bain surveyed 362 companies and found that 80% believed they delivered a “superior

experience” to their customers. But, when they asked customers about their perceptions, they rated only

8% of companies as truly delivering a superior experience.

Customers are not willing to wait. And even the smallest wait feels lon-

ger to them than it actually is. In a study published by the Association for Consumer Research, consum-

ers and sales associates estimated transaction time in a retail environ-ment. Consumers overestimated and sales associates underesti-

mated transaction times.

It’s easy to see where mobile technology can come into play to

counteract long lines, especially dur-ing peak periods.

A study published by the Harvard Business Review found that, when

customers were surveyed, they stated that 20% of the products they wanted to buy were out

of stock. This was despite the fact that, according to retail inventory management systems, only 2-3%

of items ever ran out before being replenished. (HBR, The Future of Retail)

The system’s numbers weren’t wrong. Customers just couldn’t

find the products they wanted or knowledgeable associates to help out. Mobile solutions for inventory management or even simply prod-uct lookup can have a huge impact on reducing these easily prevent-

able lost sales.

With so many SKUs and ever-changing inventory, associates need technology to help them locate the stock consumers want at any given

moment.

Mobile solutions can give associates the upper hand without needing to leave the customer’s side, resulting

in more informed and more per-sonal service.


HOW CAN INVESTING IN ASSOCIATES YIELD BIG RETURNS?Mobile technology to influence the buying decision.

Mobile technologies bridge the information gap between con-sumers and associates and pave the way to superior customer service. Retail mobility empowers the store associate by pro-viding the knowledge of the enterprise to the associate at the point of decision. This puts the associate in a position to not just facilitate a sale, but to actually influence the buying decision, and establish long-term relationships with a customer.

The associate IS your competitive advantage.

Mobile technology for associates is a great way to help elevate the overall store experience, empowering ordinary associates with the tools and technology needed to provide outstanding service. Alison Paul, a retail consultant for Deloitte, says that tra-

ditional retail needs to be retooled, and an important part of that retooling is investment in employees. “Retail has had a culture of keeping labor costs under control,” says Ms. Paul. “But there’s a slow revolution happening. There’s been a shift from retailers pushing goods to consumers being able to pull what they want from a variety of different places that didn’t exist five years ago. Retailers are recognizing that their key differentiator could be that person standing in the store.” (Time)

It’s about building relationships, not just executing transactions.

So, what can retailers do to up their game when it comes to customer experience? LuxurySociety.com reports, “Provide sales associates with powerful mobile devices to influence the customer decision by building relationships, not just executing transactions. In order to dramatically increase customer reten-tion, educate and equip the sales team to use mobile devices to collect relevant customer data and to communicate with clients respectfully and intelligently.”


“Provide sales associates with powerful mobile

devices to influence the customer decision by

building relationships, not just executing

transactions. In order to dramatically

increase customer retention, educate and equip the sales team to

use mobile devices to collect relevant

customer data and to communicate with clients

respectfully and intelligently.”

LuxurySociety.com



1

POINT OF SALE

The first priority for many retailers is mobile POS. With 79% of retailers planning to integrate MPOS by

2015 (Forrester, Mobile Point of Sale Solutions for Retail), it is fast becom-ing apparent that mobile POS is an

imperative for modern retailing. Mobile point of sale not only speeds

up the transaction time for many sales and helps to reduce lines, but it also enables associate to provide

better customer service.

Although it’s true that mobile tech-nology provides important benefits for retailers, it is important to rec-ognize that the potential of mobil-ity in retail stores is not limited to

mobile POS. Mobile devices in retail have the same potential to be the

all-in-one tools for store associates as they are in many of our personal

and professional lives.

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INVENTORY

3

CLIENTELING

Thinking Outside the MPOS Box

Cross-channel product location is another important solution for the

in-store retail mobility strategy. Providing access to this information

adds greatly to associates’ ability to close a sale, either by locating to the available stock in the store, or

across stores or e-commerce sites.

Associates can even place or fulfill omni-channel orders from a mo-bile device, making the endless

aisle a reality. These solutions also provide for intelligent alternative se-lections, as well as up-sell or cross-sell suggestions, so the empowered associate can not only make the first

sale, but enhance the sale.

Mobile solutions for managing in-ventory can also benefit the retailer

by enabling faster, more accurate receiving, transfers and physical

counts, effectively enabling associ-ates to focus more of their time on

the selling floor.

Perhaps the most compelling of all mobile solutions for associate

empowerment relates to concepts typically referred to as clienteling

and assisted selling tools.

Using these tools, associates are provided with solutions that help to influence a customer through

the entire customer lifecycle – from the first sale, the repeat visit, to

continued loyalty and even brand advocacy.

These solutions help to combine the operational aspects of the

retailer with the personal customer information to truly personalize

the experience for each and every customer.



MEETING THE CHALLENGE

WITH THE RIGHT TECHNOLOGY

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DATA AGNOSTIC

Data agnostic software pro-vides the ability to access

data from existing solutions, as well as consume data from within. This becomes critical in achieving a holistic view of the customer and for omni-

channel consolidation.

These capabilities are made possible through design

patterns that separate physi-cal data from a logical data

model, through open APIs by third-party public applications and by web technologies such

as RESTful web services.

2

OS AGNOSTIC AND NATIVE

The ability to run the same application on a PC, tablet,

and smartphone and provide the same code base and user experience is important for

adoption and lower TCO. Mo-bile deployments should also run natively on the device, in

order to provide the best user experience and performance.

These capabilities are en-hanced by the HTML 5 stan-

dard and by development tools that enable applications to be compiled for a variety of platforms, and then installed

as native apps.

3

DEPLOYMENTAGNOSTIC

The ability to host the solution, deploy it on premise, or to create a hybrid environ-

ment provides added flexibility to retailers wishing to reuse existing hardware to keep recurring costs down,

or those who wish to offload maintenance work to a third

party.

This is possible through new orchestration capabilities,

federated security, Web API layers with RESTful services

and more.

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FLEXIBLE AND EXTENSIBLE

Future-proof mobile retail software will provide the

ability for retailers to add and remove features, modules

and/or apps, but also to cre-ate and publish capabilities

developed internally.

The ability to migrate to a fu-ture OS or hardware platform

with minimal effort will also be important in protecting

the investment.

The good news is that technology is up to the

challenge.

The last few years have introduced a number of

development platforms, tools, and new capabilities, which can provide solutions that

meet the following four elements.

Raymark5460 Côte de Liesse Montréal, QuébecCanada H4P 1A5T: 1-800-346-7296F: 1-514-737-0014E: [email protected]: www.raymark.com

For 25 years, Raymark has been empowering retail with leading-edge enterprise software solutions that help the world’s most prestigious international retailers optimize stock turns, build customer loyalty, and increase sales. Raymark develops and markets the ultimate suite of flex-ible and interconnected applications deployed in a centralized environ-ment and offers professional turnkey solutions including implementa-tion, training and customer support. www.raymark.com

Raymark | Beyond MPOS: Diversifying Retail Mobile Solutions for Greater ROI

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Transcript of Raymark | Beyond MPOS: Diversifying Retail Mobile Solutions for Greater ROI