For specialty retailers, simple technology upgrades lead to improvements in employee productivity and, more importantly, the overall customer experience. Research has shown how this works to enhance their brand image and create more positive connections with customers. These improvements can help you keep up with today’s consumers, who want faster service and exclusive deals from the convenience of their smartphone.
Improve Customers’ Brand Perceptions
Your customers’ opinions about your brand are continually being evaluated. Through each interaction, whether in your store or online, they learn more about your business and develop closer relationships with your brand.
How your customers feel about your brand shapes their perceptions of:
- Quality
- Satisfaction
- Value
- Trust
- Loyalty
Each of the above can be enhanced by integrating the latest technology into your daily operations. This will improve the overall perception of your brand.
Technology Integration and Upgrades
Here’s a look at a few areas of your operations where simple technology changes can increase productivity and improve customers’ perceptions about your brand.
- Point of Sale (POS) – Customers feel that waiting more than two minutes is too long. Your POS needs to be fast and reliable because it does more than process transactions. Older computers, scanners, and credit card machines have slower processing times and higher rates of failure. They also struggle with resource-intensive software and faster internet connections.
A reliable POS is always connected to the cloud and has an interface designed to make your job easier. These systems have fewer service issues and less downtime, which is essential when processing returns, setting up deliveries, or handling repair orders.
- Marketing – Digital marketing has taken another leap by delivering mobile technologies directly to customers’ smartphones. A text message sent to your customers can lead them to a webpage with special offers, where they can tap a link to purchase or talk to customer service. If you’re not already, it’s time to take advantage of the best that mobile marketing has to offer.
With fewer in-store experiences, specialty retailers utilize mobile marketing to stay top-of-mind with their customers. Delivering content that meets your customers’ needs will continue engaging them long after their last purchase.
- Security – Surveillance is only one aspect of store security. Having the latest in payment processing technology protects you from fraud and data breaches by hackers.
EVM chip readers are a must, and so are mobile payment options. More than half of U.S. adults used their smartphone to make a purchase. Because this form of payment is less buggy and more secure than in years past, it is expected to grow quickly in the next few years. And, because of the pandemic, contactless payment solutions keep your customers and employees safe.
A Subtle “Wow-Factor!”
When you upgrade or integrate new technology, you provide a more frictionless experience, and that’s what today’s consumer expects. Small changes can be impressive and more cost-effective. For the overall customer experience, new technologies have the potential to make a big impression while running subtly behind the scenes.