Digital Acceleration
As consumers rely on, and increasingly prefer digital channels, many retail executives still believe that their firms lack mature digital capabilities. Digital investment today goes beyond meeting standard consumer expectations or slightly differentiating from competition.
Digital tools must elevate the consumers' human experience. For an interaction to lead to loyalty and drive future business, it must create a positive and rich memory. Providing convenience, connection, and a sense of trust can create those memorable experiences.
3/10
retail executives rate themselves as having mature digital capabilities
(Source: Deloitte 2021 Retail Industry Outlook)
50%
of consumers prefer to start their shopping journey online
(Source: Deloitte Holiday Retail Survey 2020)
62%
of holiday spending happens online
(Reported Intent, Source: Deloitte Holiday Retail Survey 2020)
Share of spend: Online vs. in-store
(Source: Deloitte Holiday Retail Survey 2021)
How to leverage an increasingly digital landscape to improve your customer offerings and business processes?
Convenience
One reason that preference for digital channels has grown is that they can be more convenient to consumers. At the same time, there are challenges to making the online shopping experience easy and seamless. As products and services become commoditized convenience is one way to stand out and address consumer needs.
First, it is necessary to present the right product, at the right time, in the right context. This is where Discovery Platforms, and Recommendation & Personalization engines come in. Second, we see a lot of tech trying to dismantle the specific hurdles to specific product categories online. For example, AR, VR & 3D visualization tools can help shoppers understand how furniture will look in their home while sizing tools for fashion can make customers more confident in the apparel purchases.
First, it is necessary to present the right product, at the right time, in the right context. This is where Discovery Platforms, and Recommendation & Personalization engines come in. Second, we see a lot of tech trying to dismantle the specific hurdles to specific product categories online. For example, AR, VR & 3D visualization tools can help shoppers understand how furniture will look in their home while sizing tools for fashion can make customers more confident in the apparel purchases.
73%
of consumers value convenience even more now than before COVID-19
(Salesforce State of the Connected Customer, 2020)
41%
of consumers are willing to pay for convenience
(Deloitte: Consumer Convenience Rules, but Financial Concerns Dampen Spending Habits in the US, Nov 16, 2020)
83%
of customers say they want their shopping experience to be personalized
(“How do I become more customer centric and data driven?”, Deloitte 2020)
Discovery Platform
Recommendations & Personalization
Sizing
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AR, VR & 3D
Buy Now, Pay Later
Connection
Shopping online means a lack of personal connection, which can create a lack of confidence. Without in-person support of sales associates or encouragement of friend by their side, consumers may be unsure of their trust in the brand and of their online shopping choices.
Embedding confidence-driving tools into the online journey can increase transaction completions and boost brand connection and loyalty.
Embedding confidence-driving tools into the online journey can increase transaction completions and boost brand connection and loyalty.
88%
of customers who highly trust a brand will buy from that brand again
(Source: A new measure of trust for consumer industries 2020, Deloitte)
62%
of customers who highly trust a brand will buy almost exclusively from that brand over competitors in the same category
(Source: A new measure of trust for consumer industries 2020, Deloitte)
5-9%
Increase in revenue for every one star increase that a business gets on Yelp - consumers trust each other's opinion
(Harvard Business Review)
Virtual Assistants, live and AI
Loyalty, UGC & Reviews
Influencers/Live Commerce
Video Technologies &
Online Engagement
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Privacy
The first thing consumers and sellers want to know is that their money is safe, and their transactions are secure. Transactional infrastructure is a basic offer required to give customers the confidence to make a transaction.
Beyond the basics, personal data privacy is a growing customer priority. While highly beneficial to the customer’s experience, the way that personalization tools work can be perceived as intrusive.
New regulations including GDPR, and those regarding third party cookies highlight this trend. People want to know that their data is protected and used properly.
Beyond the basics, personal data privacy is a growing customer priority. While highly beneficial to the customer’s experience, the way that personalization tools work can be perceived as intrusive.
New regulations including GDPR, and those regarding third party cookies highlight this trend. People want to know that their data is protected and used properly.
5%
Only 5% of consumers rank retail as one of the top 3 industries for data privacy
