High street stores need to embrace new technology

The gulf between online and in-store shopping experiences (MW last week) could be narrowed if bricks-and-mortar retailers adapt to changing customer behaviours and make better use of technological advances such as mobile apps and proximity marketing.

Through a combination of mobile technology, including Bluetooth, wi-fi, QR codes and now near-field communication (NFC), it is straightforward to create a much more interactive in-store shopping experience where customers are rewarded for being there.

For example, money-off vouchers can be distributed to shoppers through posters, point-of-sale displays, product packaging and from promotional teams with wearable terminals. This sort of hyper-local marketing can target the right shopper, at the right location, with the right offer in the right frame of mind to increase sales. In fact, this sort of initiative might well help to paper over the cracks of poor human service provision.

NFC is going to have a major impact on retail performance, particularly when NFC mobile contactless payments become more mainstream and are then integrated with NFC promotions.

Graham Tricker, Hypertag