Digital innovation continues to shape the world, empowering companies across all industries with the tools to fundamentally improve operations, planning, and experiences for all stakeholders. Regarding retail, merchants have never had access to so many different customer touchpoints and data to understand their customers better.
After the rapid shift to online and e-commerce, customers want more than just a simple transaction in this new business environment. Their expectations have risen to demand a more meaningful, valuable relationship with the brands they want to do business with.
With this shift in customer behavior and psychographics, improving the customer experience (CX) has become one of the most important considerations for merchants to remain competitive and relevant in the business sphere, not just today but in the future.
Digital innovations are the key to unlocking potential here. Merchants need to reassess how they interact with customers, what data they extract from these interactions, and how they can leverage the findings to deliver more value to customers.
Traders embracing new technology stay ahead of change.
Forward-looking traders are replacing outdated platforms with newer, more modern solutions to capture key customer metrics. Recent surveys confirm this, with 67 percent of Australian merchants citing e-commerce and online shopping platforms as their top investment areas. It also shows that old e-commerce solutions are becoming obsolete as customer expectations shift, with users demanding new capabilities and experiences that outgrow these systems.
By making informed updates, salespeople can improve the user experience and, thereby, the customer experience. The company can also see benefits in operations, processes, marketing insights, and profits.
One of the most important updates for merchants to consider is replacing the traditional card-carrying rewards program with a frictionless, card-connected system. This provides customers with a more streamlined option whether they shop in brick-and-mortar stores or virtually checkout. This solution means customers don’t have to worry about coupons or using extra cards or clicks as the loyalty program is tied to their daily Visa, Mastercard, or EFTPOS card.
In addition, the retailer also benefits from a software-as-a-service (SaaS) approach that eliminates the need for complex infrastructure provision. A card-connected solution means legacy systems can be updated, while merchants can access better data and provide more targeted rewards for their loyalty ecosystem. Merchants can ensure a future-proof and resilient loyalty platform by using a bank-independent and production-ready platform without investing in additional IT.
Merchants can strengthen their competitive advantage by leveraging new technologies and digital solutions targeting loyalty programs. They can provide customers with a streamlined program that ensures they reap their rewards every time, in-store or online. This means you no longer have to carry physical loyalty cards, and you don’t have to keep multiple apps to keep them on customers’ phones.
The data collected with this program can also be used for marketing activities and other planning and can improve the retailer’s understanding of its customer base. The more customer data the merchant has, the better offers and more valuable experiences they can provide to their customer base.
By leveraging digital innovations and new technology, retailers can get a more flexible omnichannel store; however, success will depend on how well customer expectations are exceeded to compete in today’s and tomorrow’s retail environment. The right loyalty platform can help retailers consistently exceed those expectations.
