With the decline in in-store shopping during the COVID-19 pandemic and the exponential rise in online sales, many questioned whether the more 'traditional' retail experience had finally lost steam and flipped in favor of online sales.
However, data from Frontiers in Psychology shows that 84% of sales occur in physical stores and 46% of consumers still prefer to shop and interact physically with sellers (Frontiers in Psychology, Central, Wang).
Even though the statistics are favorable for in-store shopping, the changing digital landscape should be enough to entice retail enterprises to focus on leveraging technology to transform the in-store experience.
Retail mobility solutions not only transform shopping experiences for customers but also empower associates with tools that streamline workflows and enhance efficiency, future-proofing operations.
The expectations of in-store shoppers
Consumers' expectations are changing, and there’s a growing demand for ease, speed, and efficiency when shopping in stores. Consumers want the online shopping experience but in-store with the ability to talk to a human, touch, smell, or try on a product.
Quick service, targeted discounts, and the ability to see product stock in other locations are just some of the expectations, and more retailers are relying on mobile devices to exceed them.
Retail mobility solutions: The digitization of the modern store
Mobile devices for employees
Mobile devices and apps help retail employees communicate and coordinate in real-time. This helps to improve in-store collaboration, assuring that customer needs, stock updates, or service requests are answered quickly for an enhanced overall customer and retail associate experience.
Mobile POS systems
With mobile POS systems, sales associates can use mobile devices to ring up customers anywhere in the store, eliminating wait times and improving the checkout process.
Real-time inventory management
With real-time inventory management, retailers can manage and see inventories in real-time from their mobile devices. Automated stock tracking ensures the shelves are always stocked with the right products and helps avoid stockouts or overstocking. This assures better availability for customers, and less ‘on the spot’ hassle for associates.
Learn more: How one global retailer improved inventory management by using Samsung Knox solutions.
Line management systems
Line management systems ensure retailers can monitor and manage customer wait times at checkouts or customer service counters right from their devices. With a mobile solution, customers can be given digital wait times and staffing levels can be improved to avoid long lines.
Mobile customer relationship management (CRM)
Mobile CRM systems track customer preferences, past purchases, and behaviors. This enables retail associates to send personalized offers or improve in-store interactions to provide a more tailored shopping experience like the ones customer receive online.
Supply chain management
Mobile technologies help supply chain management by tracking shipments, deliveries, and order fulfillment in real-time so that products are available for customers when needed.
The future of brick-and-mortar is digitizing physical store locations, and these mobile technologies are at the forefront when looking to build a more engaging and responsive shopping experience.
Retail device management plays a crucial role in ensuring these technologies operate seamlessly, enabling businesses to deploy, secure, and maintain devices with ease, even across multiple locations. That’s where Samsung Knox comes in.
Learn more: How to enhance productivity in retail, using Samsung Knox Suite.
Enhance operational efficiency with Samsung Knox mobility solutions
As more and more brick-and-mortar stores adopt mobile devices into their tech stack, the need for robust mobility solutions that empower employees to enhance the customer experience is paramount.
Retail teams need mobile devices that organize operations and help establish better customer experiences. And IT teams need the tools to ensure retail device management is seamless.
Samsung Knox for retail provides your employees with the devices and technology solutions they need to drive customer relationships and manage in-store logistics. Employees can use their devices to communicate swiftly and securely among themselves or back to head office, making the coordination across the store seamless. They can even view the company's customer relationship management (CRM) system to see previous purchases and contact details for holds or special orders when reviewing customer profiles.
Additionally, employees can manage inventory on the go– ensuring shelves are properly stocked, and assist customers with inventory-related questions on the spot. Tools like line management systems and mobile POS allow employees to help customers check out anywhere, minimizing wait times. Just ask Harley-Davidson.
Regardless of your industry, all of these digital efficiencies are possible thanks to easy device setup, security, and management using Samsung Knox solutions.
- Schedule firmware updates outside of working hours.
- Data is secured from the chip up, with up to seven years of security updates.*
- Quickly resolve device issues in real time from anywhere with powerful remote support tools.
By transforming mobile devices into powerful retail tools, Samsung Knox enables businesses to improve productivity with retail-optimized devices.
Driving digital transformation in retail with Samsung Knox
In-store shopping is changing, and to keep up, businesses will need to get ahead with retail mobility solutions that merge digital convenience with physical engagement.
Samsung Knox provides secure, scalable, innovative retail solutions to:
- Empower frontline staff
- Streamline operations for IT admins
- Heighten customer satisfaction
References:
Wang S, Ye Y, Ning B, Cheah J-H and Lim X-J (2022) Why Do Some Consumers Still Prefer In-Store Shopping? An Exploration of Online Shopping Cart Abandonment Behavior. Front. Psychol. 12:829696. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.829696
Copyright © 2022 Wang, Ye, Ning, Cheah and Lim. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms. Frontiers is a gold open access publisher. At the point of publication, all articles from our portfolio of journals are immediately and permanently accessible online free of charge. Frontiers articles are published under the CC-BY license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original authors and the source are credited.
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