With eCommerce capturing a booming share of sales, physical retailers are challenged but not doomed because they provide irreplaceable touch-and-feel experience for brick-and-mortar consumers. To reinvent shopping experience and rebuild brand values, many physical retailers are building "responsive stores" to merge the advantages of online and offline shops.
Responsive stores cover all aspects of shopping experience from entrance to exit. They can be divided into digital shopping carts, digital shelf management system, in-store intelligent video system, virtual fitting room, and experience centers.
Responsive Stores: Win-wins for Retailers & Customers
Digital shopping carts are computerized shopping carts with tablets. They provide personal shopping services such as style advice, product search, and wine recommendations. "When customers have questions, these carts show detailed product information with augmented reality technologies or connect to customer service centers," said Steven Wu, GM of Multi-Media Solutions Business Unit, NEXCOM. Also, they automatically scan and check out items in carts, shortening customers' queue time.
Regarding digital shelf management system, Wu suggests that retailers can use electronic shelf labels to keep product and price information up to minute based on price comparison information. The system also connects to enterprise resource planning software (ERP) and replenish automatically. When shelves run low, products can be automatically restocked without interrupting customers, thus delivering a comfortable environment.
Informative and Thorough Shopping Experience
Integrated with cameras and sensors, the in-store intelligent video system performs various features and interactive scenarios. For instance, the system collects customers' eye movement, traffic flow, and shopping behaviors for further analysis. With the system, retailers can identify hot shelf zones and eye-gazed product features for improved shelf layout and product design. Also, the system can greet visitors, identify customer groups, and deliver advertisements relevant to customers.
Virtual fitting rooms enable customers to try on clothes virtually. With 3D scanning, depth-sensing, and virtual reality, latest virtual fitting rooms convert the 2D front view into unprecedented 3D experiences. Customers can even upload these fitting photos for peer feedback via social network. This 360-degree perspective can also be applied to furniture stores and car dealers for previewing interior design.
Last but not least, retailers can remodel store layout to boost customer satisfaction by establishing service and experience centers between checkout counters and the exit. The digital-signage-enabled space can bring premium interactions to reinforce brand image and perform customer satisfaction analysis.
Integrates Bricks with Clicks
Recently, eCommerce brands are establishing physical stores and experience centers to strengthen competitiveness. In addition to providing a wide selection of products, abundant product information, and fast checkout, online shops still need the final piece of the puzzle to create physical interactions between customers and products.
On the other hand, traditional retailers are also bringing eCommerce advantages into physical stores. Some retailers in Europe and North America are adopting emerging technologies to turn brinks into gold. This migration is accelerating in APAC. As responsive stores continue evolving with technological advancement and customer-behavior changes, the future of retail relies on retailers and system providers. With decades of experience in retail digital signage and responsive store solutions, NEXCOM certainly plays key roles for retail innovation and renovation.
For more information about NEXCOM, please visit http://www.nexcom.com/
Responsive stores cover all aspects of shopping experience from entrance to exit
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