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With the consumer's desire for speed and efficiency that is driving new payment technologies, here are the top trends retailers should be focusing on.
FREMONT, CA: 2018 was considered as a year of turbulence for retailers, especially for brick-and-mortar stores. They struggled, battling high rental costs, a shift in customer behavior to experience-led purchases, and competition from online stores. Efficiency and experience are the two main areas where retailers rely on to attract consumers and enhance spending.
Technology plays a vital role in this process, especially when considering the payment trends for the coming years.
Mobile payments
Mobile payments are fast attaining a tipping point, with the number of consumers shopping online using smartphones is accelerating. Smartphones have already started to replace many of the physical items like maps and cameras—it is only a matter of time before as there is no real need for separate payment cards either. Smartphones can also offer a higher possibility for connecting purchases with loyalty.
Free shopping
According to a survey by Worldpay, 40 percent of the customers found physical shopping experience very frustrating and annoying. Removing checkouts will be good as it offers the advantage of freeing staff up to engage with the customers. Implementing a mobile point of sale (MPOS) acts as an intermediate step between the customers standing in the line until a complete checkout-free experience, permitting for cross-selling and upselling opportunities. MPOS will also help to reduce the number of missed sales as out-of-stock items that can be ordered online with the customers and payment being done upfront. Utilizing MPOS for click-and-collect can later enable them to create additional purchases when customers visit the store to collect their pre-ordered items.
The artificial intelligence tools will be able to make personalized recommendations that are based on previous purchase history, answer any order questions using data, and offer a seamless customer experience by easily handling purchases.
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