Enhance your retail space with technology that makes people want to use it
It is imperative that retailers see consumers as more than just walking meal tickets
Creating a rich, rewarding customer experience is central to the success of your brand
The Element Duet is a great example of how design and inspiration can intersect
Have you noticed anything special about those individuals who have chosen to give you their time and attention by visiting your business environment in the real world? They care enough, or are curious enough, about what you offer, to bless you with a moment of their consciousness. Your customers aren’t just walking transactions -- while it’s true that their purchase decisions drive your livelihood, they have so much more to offer than simply being your meal ticket.
What are you going to give them in return? Sure, they have come to you for specific goods or services. But the way they feel when they interact with your staff and your technology is a delicate fourth dimension to their retail experience, and it’s imperative that you make the most of that opportunity to acknowledge how valuable they are to you.
Make those precious seconds count
Kayleigh Fazan is a top influencer in the field of future-proofing customer experiences, who creates incisive and valuable content advising businesses on how to thrive in a post-COVID world. Now the floodgates have been opened and physical stores are an option rather than a necessity, we need to rethink many of the time-worn practices traditionally associated with retail.
In a recent vlog reel she posted on LinkedIn, Kayleigh made the poignant observation that when a person comes into your retail space, they are giving you a “golden ticket” to “engage, inspire and educate” them. When someone visits a physical store, they are in effect voting with their feet, which provides you with an opportunity to enrich their lives through inspiring, engaging and educating them.
Option paralysis
That’s not to say you need to be all over every visitor like a skin condition. Innisfree -- a Korean beauty chain with outlets in Hong Kong, Singapore, and Taiwan -- offers customers the ingenious option of choosing colour-coded shopping baskets to indicate whether they want to be approached by staff, or they’re happy just browsing independently.
But whether you use a brilliantly expedient method like this or simply train your staff to read the people walking into your store, it is vital that you make the most of those precious seconds. Even if your product or service is the best thing since sliced bread, you may never get a second chance to make a lasting impression.
Attention scan
It can be frustrating for customers to pass an item over a wave-and-weigh surface and it doesn’t scan. With products such as the Element Duet, we’ve tried to overcome this annoyance by developing a product from the ground up that has a remarkably sensitive scan engine. It can be positioned on a countertop or easily fit in your hand, with a 2D scanner that can pick up and read the smallest of barcodes, such as those found on small pharmacy labels.
But the real kicker is the ability to digitally interact on single device with your customer through a second barcode scanner on the customer-facing side. Obviously this saves money, because you do not need to buy two scanning devices for individual tasks. More importantly, it creates a unique customer experience, and expedites the transaction -- and by doing so, it shows your customers that you care about their time and don’t want to hold them up.
This makes the Element Duet a quintessential example of how our ethos of design, quality and purpose intersects with Kayleigh’s vision of a 4D consumer experience that is ‘engaging, inspiring and educating’. We are always committed to moving forward, embracing the cutting edge of the cresting wave and mixing metaphors while we’re at it. And when all is said and done, a win for your customers is a win for your business.