All I want for Christmas is…A seamless shopping experience

By Jarek Matschey, Retail Practice Lead, EMEA, Juniper Networks

Networks are underpinning the magic of the holiday shopping experience

The retail landscape is under increasing pressure thanks to runaway inflation, supply chain issues and warnings of recession and stagnant growth. As peak holiday shopping season arrives, these challenges will have significant impacts, both in-store and online. According to McKinsey & Company’s latest UK Consumer Pulse Survey, the majority (58 percent) of UK consumers surveyed plan to do less holiday shopping this year with eight percent planning on doing no shopping at all. The increased cost-of-living has meant that retailers are often battling on price and more emphasis is being placed on providing an exceptional customer experience, to gain a competitive advantage.

Further to this, consumer shopping behaviours rely on e-commerce more than ever before, much of which is underpinned by digital solutions and IT networking infrastructure, including automation. Retailers need to ensure that the technology and digital services they’re investing in have a two-fold benefit of driving revenue and delighting consumers on their shopping journeys, no matter where they are.

The Technologically Advanced Shopping Trip

Every aspect of the shopping experience requires connectivity, from in-store Wi-Fi through to device monitoring and security. Without good quality connectivity, a floor employee wouldn’t be able to check stock levels for a customer, queues at the tills would be lengthy and consumers wouldn’t feel confident to conduct transactions through a retailer’s website. This not only enhances a shopper’s experience, but also improves the job satisfaction of employees, giving them access to the right tools, data and insights required to be ambassadors to the brand.

Analysts from data.ai predict that 450 billion shopping app visits will be made this quarter, globally (excluding China), suggesting that mobile-led shopping experiences are preferred by consumers. Some of the ways that consumers are leveraging mobile technology in-store include checking product reviews online, accessing coupons or personalised offers and paying using digital wallets in the store. All of which wouldn’t be possible without a reliable and stable internet connection.

On top of in-store mobile enablement, retailers are trialling additional technology innovations to enhance the shopping experience. H&M offered shoppers a trial of 3D body scanners in two of its German stores as a way to virtually try on clothes without the hassle of the traditional changing room experience. GAP has also invested in virtual try-on technology. M&S recently experimented with augmented reality with the launch of its first virtual influencer, Mira. The use of AR and VR on the shop floor is becoming a common way for retailers to enhance a shopper’s experience and enable a level of personalisation that customers have come to expect.

Personalised Beyond Price

Consumers are becoming increasingly price-smart when it comes to the burgeoning cost of living, so delivering that personalised shopping experience requires a data sharing strategy between online and in-store capable of delivering timely promotions and offers. As a result, retailers are implementing more technology to support digital shopping via cameras, sensors and other IoT devices, all of which need connections to local networks to be able to collect data and transform it into actionable insights. These insights also drive automated operations that make personalisation possible. This materialises in the form of click-and-collect offerings, whereby retailers can provide automated delivery options upon customer arrival to a shop. No signing in or text messaging. The wireless network detects the individual onsite through their personalised account, further automating the checkout process.

Factoring in location-based services, customers can get personalised and differentiated experiences as they move throughout stores. Retailers can enrich the data pulled from location-based services in pursuit of a “single view of the customer”. They can add demographics or market data. Additionally, they can include first-party data, such as purchase history, loyalty status or communications with customer support. All of this to ensure that consumers experience the convenience they’ve come to expect, which has become one of the main customer experience benchmarks. Retailers must be able to combine customer experience (CX) and retail omnichannel engagement with mobile technology and retail application usage. This enables the seamless sharing of information throughout the customer journey.

Networks and Frictionless Shopping

The holiday shopping season is a high-stakes and busy time for retailers online and in-store. Retailers are not only competing for revenue, but also customer loyalty and attention. Therefore, the quality of experience that is provided, whether online during Cyber Monday or in the physical stores in the lead-up to Christmas, is paramount. As the proliferation of IoT devices in stores continues, automation should be implemented on a significant scale which will require smarter networking technology. Having the right Wi-Fi and AI-powered networks not only equates to revenue growth, but also employee productivity and a frictionless shopping experience for consumers across multiple shopping channels.