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With the holiday season coming around the corner, retailers should grasp the opportunity to attract shoppers with the upcoming retail trends.
Retail technology sits at the heart of the digital transformation of retail businesses, incorporating digital tools and innovations utilized by traditional brick-and-mortar retailers and combining e-commerce platforms in their in-store and supply chain operations.
E-commerce and Mobile commerce (m-commerce) are fast becoming consumers’ preferred shopping channels as seen from 2021’s retail m-commerce sales hitting a whopping USD 360 billion, a significant 15.2% increase since 2020.
With the release of 5G technology, mobile commerce has accelerated at an incredible pace and consumers have become highly dependent on retail technology to help them save their shopping preferences and provide personalized experiences.
Here are the top 5 retail trends businesses can look for in the coming year to keep up with customer expectations:
No industry can evolve without the help of artificial intelligence. Chatbots can substantially improve shopping experiences by automating replies to incoming customer inquiries. Put your business on autopilot with 24/7 active customer support that follows a human-chatbot hybrid model to build customer engagement and loyalty within each and every conversation. WhatsApp Business API features interactive Quick Replies for customers to quickly respond to your business using available buttons.
Machine learning can be used to gauge consumer shopping behaviors and preferences, it can also work alongside your CRM integrations (e.g. HubSpot or Salesforce) and store the insights gained into your databases to help deliver more accurately targeted marketing campaigns during promotional events.
Traditional personalization includes advertising a customer’s name, location or purchase history however with on-site hyper personalization, you can take it one step further to consider browsing, purchasing and other real-time behavioral data to hone in on customer wants and needs. These acute observations create individualized experiences for customers who are on the lookout for user-friendly, secure and personalized shopping experiences.
For VIP customers who would enjoy an elevated and tailor made shopping experience, a sales representative can pass along their business card with a personal QR code printed on. Customers often need time to mull over their options before completing the purchase. When they are ready to commit, they can scan the QR code to directly connect with the salesperson on WhatsApp and let them know of their final decision.
Give your customers more control and freedom in their mobile commerce transaction methods. For customers, imBee features in-app QR coded payment links that easily allows them to make credit card payments just by scanning a QR code in their WhatsApp conversation with a seller.
Shopify can send out email reminders to customers whenever a customer has abandoned their cart and help to recover checkouts, a simple pop-up like this can reinforce the sales process and recapture customer interests. For merchants, they can integrate the Shopify checkout service with imBee to accept orders and accelerate payments.
Subscriptions and captivating incentives keep customers coming back. Sellers can entice intrigued customers with coupons in the form of QR codes or mini games, all within a WhatsApp conversation. This way, customers can look forward to any future promotional events and build brand loyalty.
Omnichannel retail strategies must exist both online and offline which is why retailers must ensure easy accessibility to their stores via social media channels. Your customers must be able to see your brand on the biggest social media platforms then direct themselves from Facebook or Instagram ads to a WhatsApp conversation. imBee acts as a bridge between retailers and consumers, it facilitates brand engagement for any inquisitive buyer and optimizes e-commerce sales.
imBee offers a feature called Team Hierarchy which can manage accessibility and permission controls according to branches, geolocations or rankings of the employee. With a holistic bird’s-eye view of information routes, confidential internal information can be safeguarded and restricted from the wrong viewers. Team Hierarchy can also provide better customer services by matching the right support agents to customers in the same region or previously visited branch, this prevents any lag in customer support and brings up customer satisfaction.
By 2025, a projected 44.2% of all digital sales will come from mobile devices (Shopify), showing that consumers’ quest for convenience isn’t stopping anytime soon. It’s time to look into diversifying and integrating imBee into your omnichannel retail strategy to better prepare for 2023.
imBee excels in providing cost-effective O2O retail solutions using instant messengers. Our exclusive payment link and QR code coupon features gave rise to a two-fold increase in store traffic and completed over 70% of shopping cart checkouts. If you’d like to learn more about how imBee can skyrocket your social commerce revenue growth.
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