Take an omnimorphic look into the future of retail through the lens of the latest tech
Think of interaction points as stepping stones on the ultimate customer journey
Adaptive technology is essential for supporting an omnichannel shopping experience
Element can provide tech solutions to make the most of every opportunity
Some say opportunities are taken, not handed out. But in today’s market reality, where retailers need to be more adaptive than ever before, every interaction point with technology represents an opportunity to win the customer’s favour. This potential abundance of opportunities poses a weighty question: does your business have the technology it takes to deliver the ultimate customer experience?
Omnichannel retail is a well-established strategy that involves ensuring a “consistent, coordinated, and cohesive experience” across all physical and digital touchpoints, ranging from social media to online to instore.
Think about the points of interaction a customer has in a retail environment: they include the POS, a self-service kiosk, digital signage. In some settings, adaptive devices such as a tablet can be used for clienteling, giving sales staff greater freedom to apply their skills. At each of these points, a retailer can give the visitor worthy reasons to not just transact, but also return for another rich and personalised customer journey.
In a world where consumers expect a seamless omnichannel experience, retailers must be more focused than ever before on delivering such an experience. But working smarter does not have to mean working harder.
A customer-centred approach
In our previous post, we explored the concept of frictionless retail, asking a confronting question about the concept, right from the outset. Around the same time, Amazon announced that it would be removing Just Walk Out frictionless technology from its larger Fresh grocery stores. In a LinkedIn article on the subject, retail analyst Neil Saunders commented that the model was “a solution in search of a customer problem” rather than being an example of “consumer-centric technology”.
We’ve argued that adaptive retail is a more ‘consumer-centric’ pathway, and the omnichannel experience is an essential aspect of this ethos. So if this is the new status quo, what do we mean by ‘omnimorphic’? Ultimately we are talking about adaptive technology designed to support a personalised customer journey at every point of interaction.
Taking an omnimorphic approach is all about being nimble, it’s about recognising that you are the expert when it comes to your business. It also means harnessing that expertise and channelling it into enhancing your brand via every available platform, utilising technology touchpoints to remind the customer that you care about them. It’s a complete wraparound, invisible yet always tangible, that ensures a response to every desire and every enquiry is within the customer’s reach at all times.
To complement and support the positive outcomes of such a strategy, it’s imperative to work with a technology provider who understands the realities of the retail industry. An outcome-focused tech provider can offer services that are thoughtfully designed, high in quality, and impeccably purposeful. Such services allow a glimpse into the future while also meeting the here-and-now necessity for a retailer to be ‘everything, everywhere, all at once’.
Technology at the pointy end
Let’s take a closer look at the technology that supports an omnimorphic experience at various interaction points. For starters, a self-service kiosk such as the Element SSK-P4 can be the customer’s first or only point of interaction. There are plenty of situations where customers may prefer not to interact with staff, so they must have access to technology that makes them feel equally valued.
With a responsive, reliable touchscreen and option of either a built-in payment terminal or a multi-grip plate to hold a third-party payment device, this kiosk’s feature-packed interface makes it a pleasure for customers to interact with. Whether it is deployed as a self-checkout or as an ordering terminal in a QSR (quick-service restaurant), its optional 2D scanner supports scanning loyalty membership cards, further adding to its omnimorphic quality.
In other hospitality scenarios, the customer experience hinges on staff utilising robust and purpose-driven interaction points, connecting seamlessly with various operational needs. The Element K22W is a panel PC designed for use as a KVS (kitchen video system), although it is equally suitable for tasks ranging from digital signage to self-ordering. In a busy commercial kitchen, this type of touchscreen unit makes managing meal orders simple and efficient, allowing staff to focus on delivering a sumptuous dining experience.
Element’s flagship POS, the EV-770, is the quintessential omnimorphic product. As reconfigurable as the POS equivalent of Lego, it was designed from the ground up to suit a diverse range of use cases. It can change from an AIO (all-in-one) POS, to a distributed unit, a pole-mount POS, a panel PC, and other configurations -- all running the same software architecture. It’s a device that justifies Element’s commitment to help our customers ensure their technology is ready for every vital point of interaction that they want to have with their customer.
Contact us to learn more about how we can provide you with technology that will empower you to make an unforgettable impression on your customers at every opportunity. Wherever there is a point of interaction, Element can help that omnimorphic journey for retailers to be everything, everywhere, all at once.