EuroShop 2020: What’s Most Important to Retailers?

What are the most important digital developments and technologies that retailers can use to increase their competitiveness? Reflexis took a close look at the trends highlighted at EuroShop this year and how they can be implemented across store operations from head office through to the shop floor.

1. Improving customer experience by bringing staff back on to the shop floor through real-time communication

The online shopping industry is setting high expectations with 24/7 availability and ever-increasing convenience for consumers. Bricks and mortar retailers are therefore looking for innovative competitive advantages that can make their stores more attractive to shoppers. One great example of how to do this is turning the store into an experiential space by adding value with new in-store technologies such as mobile devices, service robots or digital signage.

The human touch still stands out as a core differentiator for stores, consumers are not willing to give up the pivotal product knowledge and personal advice that they receive from shop floor employees.

Well-trained store employees are giving bricks and mortar stores an enormous advantage over online competition. However, a lot of this advantage is being lost as employees are having to spend time in the back office working on administrative tasks rather than on the shop floor serving customers. Retailers around the world are therefore working on optimising their digital infrastructure so that they can deploy their workforce more intelligently and maximise the time spent with customers.  Real-time communication, intelligent workforce management and mobile solutions are key to these strategies.

2. Inconsistent communication platforms

The question of using platforms such as WhatsApp on mobile devices is being discussed very critically by retailers – especially in view of the GDPR.  Many retail companies have regulations that prohibit these types of messaging platforms on company devices because they allow access to personal contact data and are not meeting information security standards. The possibility of data leaks that may be discovered much too late and a lack of legal compliance means these are not suitable for a business environment. But what alternatives are there for quick and easy communication?

Q-Comm from Reflexis offers an intelligent alternative for retailers who are trying to manage various communications and information tools. Head office staff, area managers, branch managers and store employees can all communicate through a single platform. Q-Comm can replace other peer-to-peer communication solutions by providing one place to go for all communication and encouraging productive collaboration.

3. Employees and customers benefit from the Digital Workplace

The introduction of digital and mobile technology enables employees to work independently of time and place – they can access their task and communication tools at any time, from any location. Flexible collaboration leads to higher employee productivity, better teamwork, faster processes and greater attractiveness as an employer for digital natives.

The customer experience can also be improved with the use of technology within the store. Employees can instantly see stock availability and useful product information to improve their interactions with customers. With mobile solutions such as Reflexis Real-Time Task Manager, retailers can ensure that employees are always in the right place, at the right time and working on the right task.

Retailers have recognised that now they are providing the omnichannel services that customers want, they need to streamline and optimise the way that staff work.