Shopping experience, what do consumers expect?
“When I buy a product, I want to be able to start my purchase online and finish it in store with the help of an advisor if needed.” Julie, 33 years old, Client manager in a web agency.
This is known as the RoPo (Research Online, Purchase Offline).
In one year the paradigm has changed, the consumer no longer fits categories of the world before (those of the housewife under 50).
Teleworking has become more democratic. As such, the Parisian worker, with its urban needs, can also be the provincial teleworker with its more rural needs.
Today, a consumer is ready to pay more for getting fresh local food delivered, even if it means waiting a few days for his basket. The same one will collect his purchases bought online in the morning, directly at the point of sale, in the evening when he gets back home.
The buyer of 2021 is more and more mature on environmental issues, he is looking to consume in a better way. The transparency of manufacturing methods and product traceability are increasingly important criteria in his eyes. The recent case of the pure player, manufacturer of falsely made in France jewelry, is indicative of this trend.
Second-hand products no longer only serve people whose budgets cannot afford new products. The success of Vinted proves that the craze for second-hand clothing goes far beyond the financial subject. Not wasting is now a strong motivation for consumers. Moreover, brands and distributors have understood this very well. Jacadi and La Redoute, for example, have each launched a site dedicated to second hand.
More than ever, the customer wants to have the choice to buy differently depending on the circumstances (at the office vs teleworking) and according to his organizational constraints (pick-up of in-store groceries after the working day or home delivery to a selected time slot).
Without taking any risks, we can say these new consumer trends will accelerate and new services will emerge.
How are retailers positioned?
Julie's comment, our witness consumer, about her expectation of point-of-sale advice reveals the need to humanize the shopping experience.
The personalization of the relationship is also a part of the customer relationship. The salesperson / advisor that Julie finds in store must find on his screen the basket that her customer has prepared at home. He continues the experience begun at home.
The new services are intended to increase the value of human relationships, whether they are in point of sale or online, in pre-sales or after-sales. This is called clienteling.
On the retail side, the implementation of services aligned with the needs of their consumers requires coordinated actions on logistics and cah-in aspects.
Click and collect, Drive, express delivery or mobile POS services at the point of sale require real-time communication between information systems and databases.
At Wynd, this is what we have always done. Our SaaS solution offers OMS, Picking, Omnistock, Capacity Planning, Wallet Payment, PIM, POS or Self Checkout solutions. They are deployed at Carrefour, Orange, Mr Bricolage or Chanel and Dior.
Today's commerce is an omnichannel commerce based on a humanized customer relationship. This is called unified commerce.
Find out more about our offers here.
Give us your feedback