To meet the demands of their customer, the retail winners in 2018 and beyond need to accelerate the transformation to cloud-based unified commerce. Victory belongs to the agile.
BOSTON (PRWEB) January 11, 2018
According to a new report from BRP, the customer journey and associated expectations continue to rapidly evolve – driving a major transformation in retail. Disruption and adaptation are changing the customer engagement model and blurring the lines among retailers, brands and wholesalers. Online pure-plays are opening brick-and-mortar stores and traditional retailers are experimenting with new store models: stores as showrooms, theatre, distribution centers or pop-ups. To enable the new customer experience and support its rapid evolution requires a different technology approach. According to the 2018 POS/Customer Engagement Benchmarking Survey, retailers recognize the urgency to transform their operations and 81% plan to have unified commerce within three years.
“Retail and customer engagement models must transform,” said Brian Brunk, principal at BRP. “However, the legacy retail applications and infrastructure still in place at many retail organizations are not properly equipped to support changing retail models and continuously evolving customer expectations. To meet the demands of their customer, the retail winners in 2018 and beyond need to accelerate the transformation to cloud-based unified commerce. Victory belongs to the agile.”
“As customer expectations have been reshaped by the digital retail experience, successful retailers have shifted their focus in the physical store environment,” added Perry Kramer, senior vice president and practice lead at BRP. “Customers appreciate personalized offers and recommendations when shopping online or via mobile, and now they expect the same personalization, or better, when they shop in a store. Understanding the importance of personalization, 62% of retailers indicate customer identification is their top customer engagement priority as they transform the in-store customer experience.”
Unified commerce is the key to this retail transformation. Critical to unified commerce are the four key pillars that we have identified to define the required customer experience: personal, mobile, seamless and secure.
BRP’s 2018 POS/Customer Engagement Survey of top North American retailers offers insights into retailers’ current priorities and initiatives as digital and physical retail environments converge to facilitate a seamless experience across channels.
The key customer experience trends driving today’s initiatives are:
PERSONAL – Engaging the customer through personalization and relevance is the key to attracting and keeping customers.
- 62% of retailers indicate customer identification is their top customer engagement priority
- 83% will suggestive sell based on previous purchases within three years
MOBILE – The pervasiveness and ease-of-use of mobile devices offers tremendous opportunities for retailers as the customer takes control of their own retail experience across channels.
- 62% plan to increase their use of mobile devices as the POS by the end of 2019
- 42% will use customer-owned mobile devices as a point of sale within three years
SEAMLESS – Customer expectations for a personalized and seamless experience require retailers to follow customers’ journeys across channels as they research, shop and purchase.
- 81% plan to offer unified commerce by the end of 2020
- 91% plan to offer order visibility across channels within three years
SECURE – Today’s retail environment requires security beyond retailers’ current focus on payments and networks.
- 91% will have end-to-end encryption (E2EE) by the end of 2020
- 61% will offer a single token solution across the enterprise within three years
To download the complete 2018 POS/Customer Engagement Benchmarking Survey, visit: https://brpconsulting.com/download/2018-pos-survey/.
The 2018 POS/Customer Engagement Survey platinum sponsors are Aptos and Cayan, and the gold sponsors are Diebold Nixdorf, ECRS, Fujitsu, Manhattan Associates, and PCMS.
About BRP
BRP is an innovative retail management consulting firm dedicated to providing superior service and enduring value to our clients. BRP combines its consultants' deep retail business knowledge and cross-functional capabilities to deliver superior design and implementation of strategy, technology, and process solutions. The firm's unique combination of industry focus, knowledge-based approach, and rapid, end-to-end solution deployment helps clients to achieve their business potential. BRP’s consulting services include:
Strategy | Business Intelligence | Business Process Optimization | Point of Sale (POS)
Mobile POS | Payment Security | E-Commerce | Store Systems and Operations | CRM
Unified Commerce | Customer Experience | Order Management | Networks
Merchandise Management | Supply Chain | Private Equity
For more information on BRP, visit http://www.brpconsulting.com.