New year 2021, a year of transformation to adapt the retail industry to new consumption habits.
The year 2020 has changed the retail industry due to an unprecedented health crisis. It has not only changed the habits of people, but also their lifestyles. New ways to consume, interact with others, organize their time and work… This new normal gives retailers essential opportunities to reinvent themselves, in line with 4 key trends that will mark the year 2021.
In fact, as we enter a new year, many retailers continue to seek innovative solutions to better prepare for the disruptions the industry has faced over the past decade and are evolving as 2021 progresses. Here is what JRTech Solutions suggest:
- Automate their store operations management
Even before the pandemic, many retailers struggled with staff recruitment, but the past year showed how vulnerable store operations are when both customers and staff have to be quarantined due to health restrictions. Knowing that a present and productive staff, it is a customer service highly qualified since the staff can provide sales arguments that stimulate customer purchases.
So how can you make your operations profitable with staff shortages?
While more than 90% of retailers faced problems with reduced staff, the year 2020 demonstrated the importance of automating with electronic labels the time-consuming and repetitive tasks of operations such as shelves replenishment and inventory management, allowing staff to focus on customer engagement, to effectively accelerate their in-store and online sales process such as Click-N-Collect, to improve customer service.
- Follow your sales operations in real time
At the news of the pandemic during the first half of last year, people stormed stores to hoard basic necessities products such as toilet paper rolls, flour, pasta leaving the shelves of supermarkets unpredictably out of stock.
While the situation was unprecedented, it has highlighted the outdated method that many retailers still use to collect information about their store activity based on daily or weekly information gathering. As a result, it took a long time for most to figure out which products were in stock and which needed to be replenished at the time the information was available.
So, one of the best resolutions of 2021 for retailers would be to adjust their in-store reports to work in real time, which will enable them to act on information as it happens. In fact, 92% of retailers who faced aisle out-of-stock issues found it more than essential to have electronic shelf labels in their operations to manage their inventory in real time.
- Invest in omnichannel retail
Social distancing and health restrictions have forced people to adopt new alternatives to consume: more online shopping, home delivery, curbside or in-store pickup. This new normal seems to last as the current year goes, despite a possible easing of government restrictions, which can promote the return of in-store shopping.
Why retailers should invest in omnichannel retail?
Investing in omnichannel retail is critical to the success of retailers to better respond to challenges of the new normal in retail. The best way to guarantee efficient omnichannel distribution is to equip stores with PRICER electronic shelf labels.
In fact, in addition to providing prices changes in less than a minute, which enable price accuracy and the launch of last-minute promotions, retailers can also quickly process Click and Collect orders and save up to 10 seconds per item collected.
Moreover, they allow retailers to adjust their stock in less than half the time it typically takes and to follow up on the items sold. So, the remaining quantities can be displayed on the website and on electronic labels. When customers shop online, they can see the remaining quantities in real time, enabling them to quickly decide whether to buy online or in-store.
Finally, retailers and consumers can instantly locate a product in store through our dynamic and real-time Geolocation application, synchronized to our electronic labels. This type of process significantly reduces order management time, increases order accuracy, facilitates in-store pickup, improves customer experience and retention, resulting in repeat purchases.
- Be sustainable and profitable
The social distancing measures exercised since last year have raised a significant issue: environmental protection and waste management. Retailers are one of the biggest contributors to waste and waste. It is no surprise that they need innovative and productive solutions to be able to reduce this phenomenon.
With our PRICER electronic labels, merchants have a green solution. Instead of changing then destroying adhesive paper labels every time an update is needed, our electronic labels allow stores to change prices easily and in real time for 10 years. Once the battery is consumed, the old labels are recycled, reducing the ecological footprint of retailers.
Moreover, by integrating an AI-based dynamic pricing solution such as Wasteless or Whywaste with our PRICER electronic labels, retailers enable a simple and sustainable shopping experience for customers, as well as dramatically decrease the time spent at check product expiration dates while increasing their stores’ revenue. As a result, food waste is reduced there.
