The retail industry is going through a major evolution. From e-commerce giants like Amazon to neighborhood mom and pop shops, retail is changing rapidly to fit the needs of today’s consumers. While the landscape may seem bleak for retailers competing against the fast-paced, increasingly digital environment, modernizing payment systems may hold the key to how businesses not only survive, but thrive in this new era.
To do this, retailers must look at three key trends propelling the payments and retail industries into the future: the digitisation of payment solutions, omnichannel payment acceptance, and the integration of data and analytics to enhance the customer experience.
The digitisation of payments is driving the future of retail. Technological innovations and a hyper-connected world have significantly influenced consumer behaviours. Eight out of ten consumers globally use a computer, smartphone, tablet or digital in-store technology while shopping, and 82% of people say they consult their phones on purchases they’re about to make in a store. Technologies that didn’t exist a decade ago have now become the new norm.
If retailers want to thrive in this digital age, they must align with their customer’s expectations both in-store and online – not the other way around. Retailers must ensure their POS (Point of Sale) systems are modern enough to meet today’s needs and scale to the future. It is important to adopt a mobile-first approach, moving away from traditional manual offerings and toward intelligent self-service options that are both intuitive and higher-margin. Today’s consumers also expect to be able to buy anything, anywhere, at any time. Whether they are looking to purchase consumer goods, such as laundry detergent, or food items such as Indian takeout, they do not differentiate between a physical store and a virtual environment. They make purchases based on their needs, further blurring the lines between brick-and-mortar and eCommerce.
