Online Hypermarkets: What the future has in ‘Store’ for you?

Do you know what the 'Future of Hypermarket' would look like?

"You walk into a store…grab what you want…and just go!?

Literally, No Lines…No Checkouts!"

It was brilliant!

This is the Amazon Go concept store for you. They have shown us what the future of shopping could be 'Phygital'; at the intersection of 'Physical' and 'Digital.' Chris Weil, the then Chairman-CEO at Momentum Worldwide, coined the term 'Phygital,' where various technologies define the futuristic shopping experience.?

Recently, we have found that the 'Digital First' business model is taking the front seat and navigating the waters for the future of the retail industry and 'Customer Experience' or CX at the core. Hypermarkets are trying to open their wings on the digital horizon to turn into 'Online Hypermarkets' and leverage the digital edge.

Replicating the immersive 'brick and mortar' hypermarket shopping experience requires digitally-efficient techniques and capabilities to address online hypermarket challenges. All of these make it look fascinating, yet there is a long way to go for this transformation leap for hypermarkets, retailers, and the retail industry.

Online Hypermarket Challenges: What businesses are facing to step up for the future?

We can see that 'Online Hypermarkets' are the future of retail. However, from 'Shelves' to 'Online Cart,' the degree of digitalization and challenges will decide the time it takes. Herewith, we have those challenges for Hypermarkets that must be addressed in this futuristic transformation journey.

• Complex Modern-Day Tech Stack

Digitalization requires complex modern-day technologies, including AI, machine learning, and a flexible eCommerce infrastructure to improve Customer Experience (CX). The real challenge is to transform the legacy system into a digital environment.????

• ?System Integrations

Hypermarkets are beyond billing and checkouts, point-of-sale, inventory management, customer relationship management, logistics, transportation, delivery, vendor management, and more. Integrating these systems is complex yet essential for a seamless shopping experience.

• Wired Customer Journeys

Seamless & consistent customer experience across multiple touchpoints and channels are the key differentiators for hypermarkets. Online, in-store, and mobile experiences with 24X7 customer service availability can redefine the customer journey.

• ?Hyper-Personalization

In the B2C and D2C interactions, customer expectations have risen to a new high where 'personalization' is the key to an incredible shopping experience. Hyper-personalization at scale is one of the major challenges for hypermarkets. Hypermarkets have to check the 360-degree profiling of customers and craft offerings accordingly.

• Behavioral analytics

Online hypermarkets want to enrich the customer experiences in each interaction. Here, data analytics and insights are cornerstones for buying behavioral analysis. We don't profess, but extensive data analysis and buying behavior insights can only boost engagement and enhance the shopping experience.

• Centralized Inventory

Online Hypermarket targets customers across geographical boundaries. It is essential to maintain a large amount of inventory management to serve the customer's needs and stock availability. The challenge is introducing efficient inventory management processes, such as real-time inventory tracking, order fulfillment management, demand forecasting, and minimizing 'dead stock.'

• Order Fulfillments

Order fulfillment is essential for the new-age shopping experience for customers. Hypermarkets must meet customer expectations when instant delivery becomes a new norm. Online Hypermarkets must enhance their logistics, transportation, inventory management, shipping, and delivery with complex systems integrations and SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures).

• RTO (Return to Origin) Percentage

'Customer is the king,' be it offline or online. RTO is annoying, yet Online Hypermarkets have to face and manage the high rate of RTOs and maintain profitability and sustainability. Managing this high volume of RTOs is challenging as it needs seamless coordination and collaboration across multiple departments, locations, and delivery partners.

• ?Bridging the Online-Offline Gap

Hypermarkets have an impressive in-store experience, yet the omnichannel experience is a prerequisite for Online Hypermarket shopping experiences. Bridging the online-offline gap requires new-age technologies and infrastructure.

• Data Privacy and Compliances

Hypermarkets collect customer data, including personal information, payment details, and purchase history, for the 'hyper-personalization' shopping experience. Due to data privacy acts and compliances, hypermarkets must ensure customer data's safety, security, and compliance readiness.

Modern challenges, modern solutions: How hypermarkets can enable a winning customer experience?

Hypermarkets must see these challenges to transform and stay ahead in the 'Online Hypermarket' world. These modern-day hypermarket challenges required solutions from the technology partner to enable seamless transformation.

We at Krish have extensive in-house research in this guide, ' Decoding Online Hypermarkets,' that can help online hypermarkets propel their growth by overcoming the above-mentioned challenges.

Download here to expedite your transformation journey.