retail environment
Make customer journey more enjoyable, says research
More than three quarters of UK consumers believe that retailers are not doing enough to make shopping in-store enjoyable, new research has shown.
Six out of 10 respondents surveyed by Vista Retail Support wanted retailers to deploy new technologies such as kiosks, interactive screens, augmented reality (AR) and smart mirrors – enabling shoppers to explore products and how they might look or work.
Two thirds of those surveyed said that pushy store assistants put them off purchasing items, while a further 63 per cent said they give up on buying something if they see long queues at the checkout.
Other irritations include going into a store with messy or disorganised stock (identified by 64 per cent of consumers) and overcrowding (62 per cent).
James Pepper, technical services director at Vista Retail Support, said: “Consumers have less and less patience with stores that don’t have the technology in place to make their shopping experience convenient and efficient, or those which have poorly trained staff.
“Shoppers know that the new interactive touchscreens and kiosks – which are powered by AR technologies – make visits more enjoyable, and also expect retailers to adopt advances such as mobile payments to eradicate areas of frustration. When retail is so competitive, exciting technology is increasingly essential to attracting shoppers through the door.”
