Give customers an experience and they will be loyal to you

Early January Retail Customer Experience published what experts and managers forecast for 2018 in the field of retailers keeping shoppers. Katie Smith, retail analysis and insights director with EDITED is of the opinion that in order to increase sales, brands are going to experiment with new pricing models, e.g. shoppers will get a price discount if they don’t wish to use the opportunity of the store taking back products for free or if they buy more of the same products at the same time. Artificial intelligence (AI) is also going to be spreading fast in 2018.

Upen Varanasi, CEO and co-founder of Riversand believes that for getting to know consumers even better, retail will say goodbye to focus group surveys and start using more precise data acquiring and analysing methods. He added that there is great potential in using AI solutions and other technological innovations. According to Jennifer Johnson, head of retail marketing at Kronos, using AI technology will differentiate between retail chains based on what kind of personal relationships they can develop in various channels. She thinks that by improving the employee experience, employers also contribute to the positive customer experience. AI, machine learning and innovative technologies are the future of working in retail.

Robert Weideman, executive vice president and general manager of Nuance Communications believes that virtual assistants can be reliable workforce in the domain of customer service. The breakthrough of AI capable of engaging in dialogues started a new era in the development of virtual assistants. These will be even more efficient than before from 2018, thanks to the Human Assisted Virtual Assistant technology (HAVA): this uses a so-called ‘human in the loop’ solution to help virtual assistants if they are asked questions that they have never heard before.

Almaz Nanjappa, senior vice president of innovation labs at Softvision thinks that voice control technology will be used in communicating with disabled people, and it will also have a key role in improving the shopping experience. Tiago Paiva, the CEO of Talkdesk opines that voice control solutions will actively contribute to improving the consumer experience. According to a Deloitte survey from 2017, voice interaction made up for 64 percent of all customer relation communication, four times more than any other channel.

According to Joe Mach, president of Verifone North America, with the development of trading area technologies shoppers won’t have to queue at the checkout any more, and the store’s relationship with customers will become more direct. The president thinks that shoppers will keep going to physical stores until new and interesting experiences are waiting for them there. Ian Jarvis, head of corporate sales at The Smart Cube reckons that the showroom concept will become more important this year: some under-performing shops will be transformed into showrooms and will operate supporting the work of online shops. Mr Jarvis knows that already today many people are buying this way – selecting the product in the shop, but ordering it online.

Many experts forecast that mobile phone use will become more important in customer experience in 2018. Vicki Cantrell, retail transformation officer of Aptos is of the opinion that the smartphone is an extension of the shop. Retailers must make their products available on this platform too, and they have to develop special applications for customers. Joe Mach added that alternative payment solutions must be treated as a priority by retailers, in order to meet customer expectations. Cloud-based wallet solutions such as WeChat Pay and Alipay are revolutionising payment. //