3 Innovations That Will Change (or Are Already Changing) How We Shop
Francesca Nicasio
LinkedIn Top Voice | Writer & content strategist specializing in retail, ecommerce, and SMB.
The ability to provide shopping experiences that are unique, convenient, or fun (or all of the above) is essential to staying competitive in today’s modern retail environment. That’s why merchants should always be on the lookout for innovations, tools, and solutions that will enable them to stand out and serve customers better.
This post will discuss some of these innovations and their impact on retailers and their customers. Check them out below. Can you see yourself incorporating these tools and solutions in your shopping journey?
Social Buying
For the longest time, social media served solely as a platform for marketing and engagement. Brands used it to broadcast updates, generate buzz, and talk to customers. Lately, though, social has started to move toward becoming a platform for selling.
Case in point: Instagram and Like2Buy.
Curalate’s Like2Buy platform for Instagram makes the image-centric social network more “shoppable” by letting people buy the products they see on merchants’ Instagram feeds with just a few taps.
When a user sees a product she likes on Instagram, she no longer has to leave a comment to ask the merchant for more info, nor will she need to search for it manually on the company’s website. She can simply head to the store’s Like2Buy page and proceed to checkout from there.
Similarly, Twitter recently unveiled the “buy” button, a feature that allows people easily to purchase the products that brands are tweeting about. A small percentage of Twitter users will now see the button within the tweets of participating merchants.
Hitting “buy” will reveal additional product information and a prompt to enter payment and shipping details. Once users complete the necessary info and steps, orders are sent to the merchant for delivery.
The entire process can be completed within Twitter itself, so shoppers won’t have to leave the app or tweet back for more information.
Mobile Payments
Mobile payment technology has been on the radar of retailers for several years now because of its potential to revolutionize the checkout process. Aside from speeding up how merchants ring up customers, mobile payments can make shopping more convenient for users and eliminate the need to carry cash or physical cards.
Take, for instance, TopShelf Boutique in San Francisco, which accepts mobile payments via PayPal. Shoppers who have the PayPal app on their smartphones can complete transactions just by showing their faces to the cashier. All they need to do is “check in” using the app, and the customer’s photo will show up in TopShelf’s POS system, so they can ring up users without asking for their ID or credit card.
Or consider Starbucks’ mobile payment solution. Customers’ reloadable rewards cards can be stored in the Starbucks app, enabling users to pay for their coffee simply by scanning their phones at checkout. It’s fast, convenient, and a boon for customers who want to get in and out quickly.
And let’s not forget Apple’s foray into the mobile payment realm. In case you missed it, the company announced on Tuesday that it would be launching Apple Pay, its mobile wallet solution that will enable users to make contactless payments using the iPhone 6.
Evidently, there are a lot of players in the space, and it’s too early to tell who will “win” in mobile payments. One thing’s certain, though: more and more shoppers will start to use their phone at checkout, and it’s only a question of what solution they’ll be using.
Augmented Reality
Augmented Reality—AR, for short—is a technology that lets virtual objects coexist with the user’s physical environment. (Think Bugs Bunny with Michael Jordan in Space Jam.) In retail, AR can be used to engage customers or even assist them in finding the right products.
IKEA, for example, has an app that lets people preview how items would look in their physical environment. Users can simply select an item and point their device’s camera to the space where they want their furniture, and the app will display that item on the screen so users can get a better idea of how the merchandise would look in their room or office.
Sephora, on the other hand, has an augmented reality mirror in its Milan branch that enables shoppers to try on different eye shadow colors virtually so they can see how the products look on their skin. There’s no need to guess what the right shade might be, and they no longer have to apply cosmetics manually. With Sephora’s AR mirror, shopping for makeup is immensely easier.
What do you think?
Can you see these innovations transforming the face of retail? Leave a comment and let us know.
Image credit: Hampton Roads Partnership on Flickr
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Social Media Marketing, Research, and Product Development
10 年Thank you Philip Marx
Commercial Senior Brand Manager in the food sector, nurturing brands and colleagues. Also a Mental Health First Aider.
10 年The interesting paradox,at the moment, is that the supermarkets, who for many years now, have had internet shopping and recently have embraced new derivations of that (click & collect) are currently in the grocery wilderness. On the other hand, the discounters, none of whom offer internet shopping or other technological "frills" are winning handsomely. The discounters, therefore, have a lower cost base and don't need to as much margin as the mults., which increases prices which, in turn, is one of the factors driving people to discounters. Offering an engaging shopping experience is also not on the agenda of the discounters, it costs too much money. The technology helps the consumer but it plays against the mults., until they work out how to harness it for their benefit. However, there is something much more basic that the mults. need to get right first and that is their priorities. Tesco grew by having the same business model as Aldi, pile it high, sell it cheap. Tesco got greedy.
Co-Founder & Shareholder
10 年Amazing. We must take care of the situation that is dominant in each country. in Iran, there are some steps before reaching the mentioned state. The acceptance level of technology has an important role in each culture.
Uncrowd CEO & Founder | Expert in Experience Analytics
10 年Social buying is something that is going to have a gigantic impact on retailing over the next ten years (but starting now). One of the key tasks for retailers now is to both provide an online fulfilment solution but also to create store environments that provide in themselves a genuinely compelling social dynamic - places friends can shop together because the act of shopping itself becomes more fun/interesting/rewarding. Attempts to do the latter have, so far, been pretty pathetic at best, hilariously misguided at worst.
Practicing Lawyer at Villupuram,Tamil Nadu
10 年Really remarkable transformation in the retail industry.Thanks for updating.