The retail industry has witnessed tremendous growth in recent years owing to its ability to use technology to its advantage.
Following the e-commerce trends, for example, many retail store owners were not only able to meet their customer’s demands during the pandemic but also managed to take customers’ shopping experience to a whole new level.
By making the most of the digital space, retail store owners have given themselves the upper hand when it comes to attracting, retaining, and satisfying their customers.
If you are looking forward to take your retail store operations a notch further, then your best bet is to keep track of the latest innovations and introduce them to your store.
Here we have listed some of the latest tech trends that are being followed by the retail industry:
- Using E-commerce-friendly Point of Sale (POS) systems
E-commerce was literally the only thing that kept the retail industry going during the pandemic. By enabling the retailers to deliver customers’ orders right to their doorstep, the online sales process boomed.
That’s exactly why many retailers felt the need to optimise their e-commerce platforms in order to keep up with the competition.
But that isn’t enough.
According to industry professionals, it is important for retailers to bring in fully integrated POS and e-commerce solutions to stay ahead in the game. The system is actually a combination of both hardware and software that ends up facilitating your regular business operations.
All in all, it tracks and organises your store’s information and streamlines the entire process.
- Introducing Digital Shelf Labels
Gone are the days when retail store owners used to have product labels printed exclusively for each unique item in their store. With the help of electronic shelf labels, retailers can actually get rid of the hassle of attaching those traditional labels in their stores or inventory.
Now, what are electronic shelf labels?
ESL or electronic shelf label system is actually used by retailers to display the pricing of their products on shelves. The best part of using this system is that the pricing of the product updates automatically whenever it fluctuates.
In fact, according to the professionals at SES-imagotag.com, smart and electronic price tags are typically becoming the portal for cloud-based applications that are responsible for focusing on store automation and data analytics.
Not only does it track the customer behaviour, but it also makes things a lot easier for your employees.
- Upgrading to contact-less stores
Most customers still prefer contact-less transactions and self-checkout options in retail stores.
That’s why it would be a great idea to introduce technical vision systems, IoT devices, facial recognition technology, and machine learning into your retail stores.
This way, your systems can easily keep track of all the items your consumers place into their carts and then automatically charge their credit cards during the checkout process.
You can also use barcode scanners or QR codes in your retail stores so that your customers can pay their bills with their smartphones right away.
Concluding thoughts…
The retail industry has been evolving over time, and tools like machine learning, augmented reality, along with data science are definitely streamlining the process.
By embracing the tech trends mentioned retailers are witnessing significant growth in their businesses.
