Wearables, Connected Stores and Social CRM will trend in coming year

Wearable devices

In 2017, consumers will inevitably begin to integrate wearable connective technology more into their daily lives. Beyond creating a new touch-point for executing transactions and accepting payment, wearable devices will also provide a new channel for targeted promotions, behavioral and location tracking, and customer service. The level of intimacy and personalization will be even greater than that provided by mobile devices, requiring retailers to show even more sensitivity to consumer privacy and comfort.

Connected Stores

Today digitally-driven shopping experience is forcing retailers to adopt the newest innovations to better engagement with the customers. Retailers have to transform physical store into “Connected Stores” using seamless fulfillment solutions by providing inventory detail across a retailer’s network of distribution centers, suppliers and stores, making product available to sell through any channel. It also provides a single view of inventory and customer transactions across the retail enterprise, enabling every channel to work together to create a seamless customer experience at backend and at stores by use of digital touch points that attract shoppers and engage them at stores. For this “All-channel retail experience have to be created by integrating all channels of business with Customer-facing engagement devices that span conventional point-of-sales (POS), payment gateways to web-based in-store kiosks, tablets, smartphones, PDA’s digital signage and mobile devices.

Social CRM

The amount of retail brands benefiting from the use of social media is ever-growing.

Social CRMs help retailers to expand their social media presence by interacting with customers in a single dashboard, and in the process gain larger insights on what campaigns work and what tactics to employ to gain a larger customer base. These make the information easy to understand and process which can give retailers a better basis on which to design social media strategies. Many retailers are seeing the benefits of upgrading from traditional CRMs to social CRMs to engage consumers and improve their experience. Social CRMs can determine how effective a social media influence can affect the consumer lifecycle and helps retailers turn inactive consumers into active ones once more.

by Kiran Komatla 

https://in.linkedin.com/in/kirankomatla