RSR Research: Stores Say They Need More Knowledgeable, Tech-Enabled Employees
Through a special arrangement, presented here for discussion is a summary of an article from Retail Paradox, Retail Systems Research's weekly analysis on emerging issues facing retailers.
In our just-released annual report on in-store technologies, The Customer-Centric Store 2010: How Retailers Engage Tech-enabled Customers, we wanted to know how stores plan to contend with a smart phone-armed customer who has more power in her hand than does any employee in the store. What we found was actually quite surprising.
First, retailers clearly recognize the in-store customer experience is in dire need of refinement -- and soon. Seventy three percent of respondents tell us this is the most important opportunity they face this year. However, while 73 percent of respondents tell us this is the most important opportunity they face this year, it is their united view of the means to that end that is so fascinating: the most widely selected subsequent opportunities all point to an employee base with more time, more knowledge, and more of the tools required to make both a reality someday.
Fifty-four percent of retailers say that more personalized attention from store employees is an absolutely vital component to differentiate the store experience from an online retail transaction. This flies directly in the face of the increasingly pervasive notion that customers enter stores already armed with everything they need to make their decision, whether attained through online research at home, or via a quick-and-dirty mobile scan either en route to or once in the store. However, it is heartening to see that retailers have not "thrown in the towel" in apathy: only nine percent cite personalized attention from employees as not important. Instead they recognize a viable chance to build an associate base that drives significant value -- and perhaps even preference -- for the in-store shopping experience.
Further, even when thinking about technology opportunities, this year's retail respondents are considering the practical use of technologies in the hands of their store associates.
Retailers tell us the biggest upside lives with technologies that empower in-store employees: 49 percent cite these as "very important." Forty-two percent highly value the ability to locate and sell merchandise from anywhere in the company, helping store associates save the sale even when a product may be out of stock, And 50 percent say that the opportunity to make their employees more productive -- no doubt a function of both task management technologies and revamped internal review processes -- is of primary importance.
Discussion questions: How should stores plan to contend with the legions of customers with smart phones? What do you think should be the highest priority focus of in-store technologies?