Rethinking the shopping experience in brick-and-mortar retail has become a shared goal for every brand with a physical presence. There are many reasons for this, but one of the main ones is the growth of online shopping habits. In other words, a trip to your store has to be worth it for the consumer. That’s why self-service has become a common approach.
From fully autonomous stores to POS locations that offer greater autonomy at various stages of the experience, thinking about this concept is essential. There are many benefits involved, including faster shopping, greater convenience and personalization. In other words, customers shop the way they prefer and save time in the process.
Within this idea of self-service, five technologies stand out and are set to take off in retail over the next few years. We’ll show you what they are, how they work and point out some success stories worth knowing about. Read on!
1. Smart Shelves
Smart shelves are one of the key features that help turn a POS into the perfect environment for autonomous shopping experiences. This tool can be useful both for tracking consumer habits and for customer engagement. That makes smart shelves highly versatile and useful.
Smart shelves rely on three main features:
- pusher – A mechanism that pushes the product forward on the shelf so it reaches the front, which saves the consumer from having to reach for items at the back. The pusher is much more of a feature for winning over consumers, but it also simplifies POS management;
- LED screens – LED screens are also better at capturing the consumer’s attention and improving visual communication. These screens are placed where product prices are usually displayed. In addition to showing prices, they can also display the nutritional value of food items and show videos and GIFs from marketing campaigns;
- facial recognition – Facial recognition is used to identify who is buying a given product. This makes it easier to study the target audience, knowing exactly who prefers that item;
- data collection – Smart shelves also generate a variety of data related to the consumption of these products. POS locations can measure sales volume, but also understand on which days of the week, times of day and occasions sales rise or fall.
2. Self-checkout
Within the self-service category, self-checkout options are a constant. And among the main features available is self-checkout. This service works in stores that let consumers scan and pay for their products without having to go to a cashier. This makes the shopping experience much faster and more convenient.
The big success story when it comes to self-checkout is Amazon Go, a kind of concept store built for self-service. The entire process is done by the customer, who doesn’t even need to pay with a card. Just take the item off the shelf and the amount is automatically deducted from the consumer’s digital wallet.
Although Brazil doesn’t yet have store models as automated as Amazon Go, self-checkout is already a reality in many places, such as the POS locations of the Pão de Açúcar supermarket chain in its new store format, called Minuto Pão de Açúcar.
3. Smart carts
Smart carts combine practicality and convenience, resulting in a much faster shopping experience. Here’s how it works: these carts have a barcode scanner and a credit card payment system built into their structure. In other words, every item can be tallied the moment it goes into the cart.
The idea is for the customer to scan each product as soon as they take it off the shelf. At the end of the trip, the total has already been added up, so checkout is completed more easily by the customers themselves. All they have to do is pay at the terminal attached to the cart.
The consumer doesn’t have to wait in line and can also check their running total in real time. It’s a huge convenience because, beyond the running total, they can wrap up their shopping as soon as they’ve reached their budget.
4. Smart Fitting Rooms
Another great trend is smart fitting rooms. The concept is to make trying on clothes less complicated and more dynamic. That way, consumers spend less time trying on lots of different pieces, and they also don’t risk taking home something that simply won’t look good on them.
Among the features of these fitting rooms is augmented reality projection. With this feature, the fitting rooms read the RFID tags on the garments and, by pointing their phone at the mirror, customers can see a rendering of how the clothing would look on their body.
In addition to this projection, reading the tags also provides information about fit, material and other details of the clothes. In some stores, consumers can use a dedicated app provided by the brand and, without leaving the fitting room, request other sizes of a given item, which a sales associate will bring to them.
5. Vending Machines
Vending machines, or vending machines, are classic devices that have been part of brick-and-mortar retail for years, but they have been undergoing modernization to better engage consumers. The strategy behind this type of self-service is to offer autonomy and speed in the process of choosing and paying for a product at a given location.
These machines range from traditional soda dispensers to cutting-edge models with digital panels and holographic displays. Recently, Alice Wonders partnered with Zaitt, a leader in the vending machine sector, to deliver a highly satisfying shopping experience.
It’s worth noting that today’s vending machines also have strong aesthetic appeal, thanks to their modern, innovative look. Beyond great products and convenience, these machines convey the idea of a much “cooler” way to shop, something extremely appealing to consumers.
Without a doubt, the growth of self-service needs to be on the radar of retailers investing in innovation and in optimizing the shopping experience. In physical spaces, taking things to the next level means giving customers autonomy.
Want to learn more about brick-and-mortar retail trends beyond self-service? Check out more in this article!
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