Overview
Despite the hubbub over digital commerce, 94% of total retail sales are still generated at brick-and-mortar stores, according to data from market research firm eMarketer.
One of the most eye-opening findings: “Ninety percent of shoppers surveyed would prefer to buy in a brick-and-mortar store across demographic and age groups,” Mike Moriarty, a partner in the retail practice of A.T. Kearney, and co-author of the study, told Forbes.
Source: http://www.forbes.com/sites/barbarathau/2014/07/25/report-amazons-got-nothing-on-brick-and-mortar-stores/#6ad235b572aa
There is a dearth of in-store feedback systems in the shopping industry. Shopkeepers currently rely heavily on sales data to make their business decisions and stock their products accordingly. What is lacking is the actual reason as to why customers are not buying the products that do not sell. There is high scope for shopkeepers to gain knowledge as to why a particular product is not selling in the market.
Very often, customers may look at a product for a while but may end up not buying it and just leave. The customer very rarely tells the shopkeeper what was the concern that prevented the purchase of the product. This proves that there is room for improvement from the shopkeeper's end to sell that particular product if there was useful information available on why the customer didn't purchase it. This exactly what a simple customer-feedback device corresponding to each product can achieve. The shopkeeper can also get real-time feedback for fast-changing markets - a possible situation where this can especially be useful is during Black Friday sales.
State of the Art
Currently, there is tremendous amount of customer reviews for online products in e-commerce websites. These work really well for online retailers as they conveniently get information on the pros and cons of the products that they sell. Moreover, there are shops now that are incorporating smart sensors into the shopping experience. Sensors at entry and exit locations help determine the number of people in a shop and how this relates to the sales during a period of time during a day. There are also smart rugs that are laid out in shops which sense locations in the shop where customers more likely tend to go. This eventually correlates to where the popular products are in the shop and which products need more looking into.
Technology is eventually creeping into the retail industry for the better. Shopkeepers have also started showing an interest in getting the tech industry involved in their business and are looking at other ways to obtain valuable information which can improve their sales. Sales data for long has been a common standard for analyzing product sales but there is a lot of scope to acquire additional information to allow for even better analysis and thus better business judgement.
Despite the hubbub over digital commerce, 94% of total retail sales are still generated at brick-and-mortar stores, according to data from market research firm eMarketer.
One of the most eye-opening findings: “Ninety percent of shoppers surveyed would prefer to buy in a brick-and-mortar store across demographic and age groups,” Mike Moriarty, a partner in the retail practice of A.T. Kearney, and co-author of the study, told Forbes.
Source: http://www.forbes.com/sites/barbarathau/2014/07/25/report-amazons-got-nothing-on-brick-and-mortar-stores/#6ad235b572aa
There is a dearth of in-store feedback systems in the shopping industry. Shopkeepers currently rely heavily on sales data to make their business decisions and stock their products accordingly. What is lacking is the actual reason as to why customers are not buying the products that do not sell. There is high scope for shopkeepers to gain knowledge as to why a particular product is not selling in the market.
Very often, customers may look at a product for a while but may end up not buying it and just leave. The customer very rarely tells the shopkeeper what was the concern that prevented the purchase of the product. This proves that there is room for improvement from the shopkeeper's end to sell that particular product if there was useful information available on why the customer didn't purchase it. This exactly what a simple customer-feedback device corresponding to each product can achieve. The shopkeeper can also get real-time feedback for fast-changing markets - a possible situation where this can especially be useful is during Black Friday sales.
State of the Art
Currently, there is tremendous amount of customer reviews for online products in e-commerce websites. These work really well for online retailers as they conveniently get information on the pros and cons of the products that they sell. Moreover, there are shops now that are incorporating smart sensors into the shopping experience. Sensors at entry and exit locations help determine the number of people in a shop and how this relates to the sales during a period of time during a day. There are also smart rugs that are laid out in shops which sense locations in the shop where customers more likely tend to go. This eventually correlates to where the popular products are in the shop and which products need more looking into.
Technology is eventually creeping into the retail industry for the better. Shopkeepers have also started showing an interest in getting the tech industry involved in their business and are looking at other ways to obtain valuable information which can improve their sales. Sales data for long has been a common standard for analyzing product sales but there is a lot of scope to acquire additional information to allow for even better analysis and thus better business judgement.