Hot on the heels of Stockholm and New York, Gothenburg was the latest city to play host to our Retail Breakfast Club.
These events help us share insight and inspiration from some of the amazing people we’re lucky enough to work with. RBC Gothenburg was no different with talks from Jens Levin (Sitoo CEO and co-founder), Johan Nyrelli (CXM/CRM Strategist at Voyado) and Bård Kvamme (Retail Director at Norrøna).
The trio took a dive into CX, adding value and how tech can help retailers change the game.
Here’s our top takeaways and three things we learnt from the event:
1. Adding value for customers is a no brainer
Customers are demanding and what they want and expect from retailers is only going to keep increasing. Brands that add value - and the right kind of value - are the brands who build lasting customer loyalty and lifetime value.
As Voyado’s Johan Nyrell explained, customer data is the key to delivering the best CX and building loyalty. However, if a customer is going to part with their data, then the value of this transaction has to be reciprocated.
For example, if Lisa buys a yoga mat on Sunday, she doesn’t want to immediately receive an email asking her if she wants to buy a pair of dumbbells - which is typically how automed cross-sell or upsell emails work. Instead, why not send her an email full of yoga tips and tricks alongside a guide on how to get the best from her new mat? This immediately gives added value to Lisa and goes way beyond simply trying to sell more to her.
Evolving the role of physical stores is another sure-fire way to give customers more value. Look at what Norrøna does. They held over 200 events in their stores last year. These events never focus on sales. Instead, they focus on the things Norrøna knows their customers are interested in and will enjoy.
By adding value across all customer interactions and touchpoints, you can lay the perfect groundwork for lifetime loyalty and separate yourself from your competitors.
2. Invest in the right tech
Tech can be your best friend when it comes to adding value but investing in tech should always tie back to improve customer or employee experience.
As Bård Kvamme says: ““The key thing at Norrøna is we’re really curious about technology but this curiosity is underpinned by the ethos that any tech we use must be of benefit for our staff or our customers. There needs to be a clear purpose for technology.
“Far too often I go into stores and see blank screens or systems that aren’t working correctly. Technology simply for the sake of it is the worst thing but technology that brings value to your customers, staff and your operations is a true game-changer.”
3. Don’t be limited by legacy systems
If, as a retailer, you want to optimize performance, deliver more to your customers, more to your store associates and have a more successful business, then the argument for investing in boundary-pushing, game-changing, innovative, modern technology is a no brainer. This means adopting a best-of-breed approach, waving goodbye to legacy systems and embracing cloud-native tech that lets you do more with less.
Yet, as seen in Impact’s Omnichannel Index, only 18% of retailers surveyed for the report have a mobile POS, only 13% have self-service screens in stores and only half are offering ways for customers to sign up to a newsletter or loyalty programme in-store.
One big monolithic service that tries to do everything (and more often than not fails) isn’t the answer. Legacy software solutions are rigid, tough to integrate, often based on a local server and built for a model of retail that’s been consigned to the past.
If you want to win, then leveling-up your retail tech is one of the best ways to go about doing it.
Retail is now a constant transformation game. This means that to stand still is to fall behind. And it’s why it’s more important than ever before to invest in tech that evolves with you, with changing customer behavior, and with the wider demands of society.
Cloud-native SaaS tech does exactly this. Updates come as standard and means the systems you choose to invest in will keep on getting better over time. Tech is how you empower your employees, give your customers what they want when they want it, and build increased loyalty and customer lifetime value.
And if Retail Breakfast Club taught us one thing, it’s that modern tech gives positive shopping experiences - every time and everywhere.
If you’d like to learn more about how a Unified Commerce Platform anchored by POS can help you change the game, then we’d love to speak to you.
