Technology is impacting every sector of the consumer world – but retail has arguably seen the biggest changes, with buying habits very different from even five years ago. Constant connectivity and our somewhat guilty attachment to our mobile phones, has led to a whole new variety of ways to shop.
Never have we had such a vast range of technologies and applications available for both customers and retailers. This has brought with it, a huge opportunity for retailers to grow their business and reach far broader audiences. However, it is also keeping them on their toes – with the rise of social media, brands can very quickly come under scrutiny from their customers. The consumer is king, and businesses must adapt to their demands or risk going bust.
Providing high-quality service
Retailers, like many other businesses, are racing to understand what people want. The obvious answer in this era of demand is – service. Business strategies must be built around that. Amazon’s Founder and CEO, Jeff Bezos has said many people want to know what will change in his business in the next ten years, but he is rarely asked what will not change over the next decade. He sees the latter as the more important question, “because you can build a business strategy around the things that are stable in time[1]”. In the retail world, the need for high-quality customer service is a constant, and vital for a company’s reputation.
2018 saw a record high for online spending[2], however customers still want the experience and level of service found when shopping in a bricks-and-mortar store. Providing outstanding customer service consistently is, as retailers know, an immense and unrelenting task. But a critical one, and vital regardless of whether your consumer is shopping in your store or browsing online. A ‘customer-first’ approach is actually what we’re leading with at Equinix – you can’t run a successful business without keeping customers front-of-mind, particularly in the digital age of instant – demands, praise and complaint.
Although the online store experience can be difficult for retailers who have not entered this digital world before – the richness of technologies and tools available to them really does support the provision of top customer service. From data analytics, automation and artificial intelligence, to cloud-based systems, software-defined infrastructure, and the Internet of Things (IoT) – there’s a lot of opportunity to ensure retailers meet customer demand.
Starting from scratch
Some companies have only ever seen a digital world, and so can be lighter of foot without legacy issues suffered by older businesses. Travel comparison site trivago for instance, was founded in 2005 as an online business. Of course, there has still been great advancements in technologies in that time, and trivago has taken the opportunity to keep up with the pace of change, and therefore grow the business hugely. We have worked with them to make sure their data is as close to their customers as possible (we call this operating at the digital edge), so that wherever they are, visitors to trivago sites benefit from the same performance and reliability when researching hotels. Consistency is key to customer service (presuming it’s good!) and will mean customers keep coming back.
Modernising an established retailer
The shift to online is happening all over the world and can be seen in even the most traditional of retail businesses. The Wing On group of department stores is one of the oldest and best-known retailers in Hong Kong, established in 1907. In 2015, the company devised a three-year transformation plan to modernise and become a digitally-enabled and data-driven business.
Restructuring has allowed Wing On to integrate its loyalty programme and point of sale (POS), while maintaining reliable and high-performance connectivity between its systems, so customers can enjoy smooth transactions both in and outside the store. The new set-up also means companies like Wing On can scale their services up or down, on demand, when there are sales and promotions, to manage changes in buying behaviours. Nobody wants to be stuck looking at a whirring loading wheel when wanting to bag that Black Friday deal!
Taking the digital leap
This is just a small snapshot of how retailers are beginning to innovate and expand their offering. It’s an exciting time to be a consumer, as companies collaborate to bring us the best possible service. If retailers are willing to take the plunge and embrace new technologies, they will not only meet customer buying preferences but perhaps even exceed them. What company wouldn’t want to do that?
By Russell Poole
Russell Poole is Managing Director, UK and The Nordics, at global interconnection and data centre company Equinix
[1] Quoted on Inc. as an example of Bezos’ consistent thinking over 20 years or more, 2017.
[2] Office for National Statistics 2018: https://www.ons.gov.uk/