Providing a seamless omni-channel experience to consumers also means that merchants will need to give the consumer options to stay competitive. ![]() In order to do this, everything from selecting merchandise, to checking out, returns and asking questions must be coordinated to reflect the same experience for customers across each channel, through every portion of the transaction. They need the in-store, online and mobile experiences to reflect the same quality of service and personality of their brand across all these channels. Just as entertainment companies have had to adapt to offer a cohesive experience that can translate from home televisions, to computers and to mobile devices, retailers are facing a similar change. Today’s consumer doesn’t live just online, or shop just in brick and mortar stores, they want to be able to live across these experiences and seamlessly integrate them. Traditionally, retailers have run operations separately, with different siloes for their sales channels, returns departments and customer service centers. Merchants looking to deploy mobile POS solutions should keep in mind that this should be fully integrated into their entire POS suite so that customers can return merchandise in store if purchased online, via mobile device, or on an mPOS solution at a satellite location. Whether purchasing in-store via a mobile device or out and about on their personal devices, smartphones are now a key tool when it comes to engaging customers. As more and more people use their smartphones to research purchases on the go, merchants need a seamless mobile site and integrated mobile retail environment. Mobile is Keyįor merchants looking to deliver an omni-channel experience, investing in mobile is essential. As more and more customers seek engagement through other channels, retailers now risk losing out on customers if they don’t keep up and get a fully integrated, multi-channel solution. Additionally, total retail spending grew 4% year-on-year over Christmas 2015 and was driven entirely by online shopping which jumped 17.9%, with in-store spending growth almost static at 0.2%. Today, 75-80 percent of consumers buy across mediums this means they could be trying out products in-store, researching online, and purchasing on their mobile devices – all in the process of one single purchase. ![]() A recent survey from eMarketer predicts that mobile payments will triple in 2016, but mobile payments are only a portion of the equation for consumers. Today’s market data offers a lot of information about this trend and what we need to do to keep up. From research to purchase and even returns, every step of consumer interaction (and eventually purchase) is crucial for gaining and retaining new customers. The most critical aspect of this is providing a cohesive consumer experience operating across all channels – focusing more on customer engagement and experience than on how many channels merchants can offer. What does this mean? It means that no matter which channel is the touch point of the moment to the consumer (payment terminal in a store, online storefront, retailer’s app, kiosk) their experience should be seamless, streamlined, secure and optimised for the needs of each channel. ![]() These interactions through various mediums have brought up a topic and a new buzz word in many debates: omni-channel payments. As payments evolve, they’re including more forms of interactions with consumers. The payments landscape continues to change at a rapid pace. This blog originally appeared on Payment Eye.
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