The world is rapidly advancing the Dubai and in fact the entire UAE is full with highly advanced technological systems that are helping both businesses and consumers. For any retail business the primary objective is to increase average spent and at the same time maintain the ultimate level of customer happiness and customer satisfaction. For that the retail businesses invest in their team, their training, IT solutions, advertisements, interior and much more. These days most of the consumers are happy to utilize self-service, if available.
A modern day’s customer wants more control, freedom and authority over the interaction they have with their favorite brands. Not only in retail industry but all across the market the customer behavior is changing, people now a days want to get everything done more quickly and they want the business to be available for all the time. The studies have revealed that almost 70% of the customers try to find a solution to a problem in online before contacting the customer support.
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This is showing how the general trend has been changed. Same is applicable for the retail too. The modern day shopper wants to checkout immediately, they don’t like waiting in the long lines. A self-service system that allow the customers to do the scanning and checkout at their own could not only please your customers but it is a very cost-efficient solution it boost the overall productivity and profitability of the business. It also reduce the employee workload and help improving their performance. Studies have shown that people have a general perception that the self-checkout counters are faster and more efficient, and in deed they are.
This is why more than 85% of consumers from all around the world when asked said they will prefer a self-service rather waiting in lines at the retail store. But we know in Dubai and all around the UAE there are thousands of retails businesses, some are small, some are large and some are very large scale chains and internal businesses too. However, there are only a few who have implemented any self-service solution. That is why most of the retail industry in UAE is not as that familiar with the retail self-service systems.
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In this blog we will explain how a retail businesses can leverage the self-service technology to increase customer satisfaction, sales & profitability, performance and productivity of their business.
What is a Retail Self-service Kiosk System?
A retail self-service kiosk system is an interactive system that allow the customers to scan their purchases by themselves and then allow them to make payment and checkout without any help or support from the customer service agent or any other staff. The customers go to the store, they pick the items they want to purchase, approach a self-service interactive kiosk which is equipped with specialized software and hardware features that allow the customer to scan the items and then checkout by paying through their Credit/Debit cards, Apple Pay, Samsung Pay or by any other digital payment method and even by cash utilizing an in-built bill acceptor.
The self-service retail kiosk also have an intuitive user interface and a medium or large sized touch screen display. On the other side the self-service retail kiosk system is linked with the central information system or POS system and can get real-time updates and data synchronization. This enables businesses to add more valuable features and improve user experience.
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The retail market in Dubai and all across the UAE is very competitive and the customers are also very demanding. In such scenarios a retail business can leverage the self-service retail kiosk and checkout system to get a competitive advantage which will help them improve customer service, employee performance and the overall productivity of the business.
Self-service Retail Kiosk Reduce Waiting Time at the Counters
Customers don’t like waiting at the checkout counters, a self-service retail kiosk allow them to self-checkout without requiring any help or assistance from the customer service agent. When a retail business install self-service retail kiosks, some of the load diverted to them and the agents will remain with less customers, which not only improves their performance but also significantly reduce the overall waiting time. For the retail businesses the problem is that when customers see long waiting lines, they just move on to the next business. That is why it is important to reduce that. With the self-service checkout counters the customers can assure they will immediately get served.
The balanced workload for the sales agents also help minimizing the waiting lines at the counters even during the busy hours. Wait time management is crucial for customer experience. A reasonable wait time will never irritate them and if they know they don’t have to wait much at a particular super store or retail shop, they will prefer to visit it more often. This also increase customer loyalty and customer retention which both are vital for long term growth, profitability and brand reputation.
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Intuitive User Interface and Multi-lingual Support Improve Customer Experience
The user interface of the self-service retail kiosk is very important. It must have to be very simple and easy to understand. As in Dubai and all around the UAE there are millions of expats living, who are from all around the world. Some of them understand Arabic and some don’t some prefer English instead, so it is better to offer multiple languages and let the customer chose their language of preference. This will make them more comfortable and it will also help the business to communicate their message, promotion and information more effectively.
Such features are very helpful in gaining customer trust and loyalty. Moreover the user interface should be simpler and should be able to offer maximum freedom. Let customers edit or modify their cart at any time with simple and easy features to include/exclude items and to choose the payment method. If the user interface (UI), brand message and promotional content is communicated in the language which is easy to understand by your customers, their experience will be improved and you will get more business.
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Smart Self-service Retail Software Makes Up Selling Easier and Automated
Every retail business tries to increase the average cart size which help them generate more revenue and profits. With the help of a self-service retail kiosk this task becomes easier than it could ever get. Businesses don’t have to invest any resources to up sell, in fact the software itself do the work. The interactive self-service retail kiosk comes with a very powerful software which can be controlled by the administrative dashboard and the businesses can program it according to their needs.
The kiosk can automatically suggest more products, push promotions and offer add-on while the customer is going through the checkout steps. Such features can easily attract customer’s attention and help increasing the cart size. The system allow the customers to add any such product with a single tap on the screen without disturbing their on-going checkout process. The up selling is a very important factor and businesses always seek methods to increase their up selling to maximize their profits and revenue.
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The manager can automate the upselling process by configuring the up sell setting from the administrative dashboard of the system. The retail kiosk software can also pick items automatically from the relevant categories and push them on the screen. Another great advantage of the retail kiosk software is that it has ability to keep record of the previous transactions of the customers as well as it also have ability to track purchase trends which help the system to push the products which are most likely to be purchased. This can increase the up selling by multiple folds and generate great revenue for the business.
Use Self-service Kiosk for Marketing Purposes
The bright flashy screens and whatever media is playing on them always attract attentions. For retail businesses the interactive self-service retail kiosk can be used to run marketing content and promotions on the screen. The software enables digital signage features and allow the businesses to push content on the screens from the admin dashboard. Businesses can use the admin dashboard configurations to automate multiple campaigns and run different content on different interactive self-service retail kiosks as well. The admin dashboard can push content remotely on the screens.
That is not all, in fact the interactive self-service retail kiosk software also allow businesses to push promotional content and marketing material during the customer journey. This can also be very helpful for up selling. Businesses can also use the user data from the interactive self-service retail kiosk to execute email marketing campaigns and much more. This data base collected from the system would be highly refined and can produce excellent results.
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Reduce Employee Work and Boost their Performance
Every retail business knows that they have limited number of checkout counters and most of the time they can’t add more. However, the interactive self-service retail kiosk doesn’t occupy much space and it doesn’t require businesses to hire more staff. In fact it help boosting the performance of the existing employees. When interactive self-service retail kiosks are added they can divert some customers from the counters which reduce the workload of the employees and the service agents.
The balanced workload always lead to positive improvements and help improving employee efficiency. It could be a great relief during the busy hours. Reduced work results in less stress which is usually a major cause of poor quality service. However, when the customer load is divided between the interactive self-service retail kiosks and the service counters, the employee receive much less traffic. This allow them to focus more on their work and delivery good quality service which improves employee efficiency.
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Self-service Retail Kiosk Increase Profitability and Generate Revenue
The self-service retail kiosks are not very expensive and in the long term the ROI is excellent. In addition to that the operational and maintenance cost is also very low. The self-service retail kiosk doesn’t require an employee attendant, the customers can perform the checkout by themselves and they can get help from on-screen instructions and on-board FAQs or information center. The self-service retail kiosks also boost employee performance and enable them to serve more customers in a single shift. This makes your team more productive and cost-efficient.
Furthermore the marketing advantages are also great. Retail businesses can utilize the digital self-service kiosks to push promotional and marketing content. The interactive self-service retail kiosk are a great tool to increase up selling. The customers can instantly get served and the multi-lingual support and intuitive user interfaces offer excellent customer experience which add value to the brand image and help business gain customer’s trust. The customer loyalty pays off very well in long term and increase the profitability and generates more revenue for the business.
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Interactive Self-service Retail Kiosks are Future Ready
Obviously the market trends keep changing all the time. This require a very dynamic and flexible design approach which allow retail businesses to keep up with the ongoing trends and offer innovative features to meet their customers’ expectations. The interactive self-service retail kiosks are built on a widely available hardware technology and very flexible software platform. The hardware technology used for the interactive self-service retail kiosk is either on Windows or Android based platform.
These two are widely used platforms and there are thousands of manufacturers and vendors who made supported devices. It means that if in future any upgrade or change in the system is required there would be plenty of compatible devices. Furthermore the software of the interactive self-service retail kiosk is also built on widely used platforms, hence the upgrades and changes can be made to the system without any problem for many years in future.
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In addition to that the scalability is also not a problem, the business can add more kiosk and even branches at any time in future with just paying for the additional kiosks. This made the system very cost-efficient and improve the overall ROI of the system a lot. Businesses can rely on the system for many coming years without even investing a single penny in it.
Digital Self-service Retail Kiosks can Collect Valuable Business Intelligence Data
Today’s modern world heavily relies on data and information technology. In Dubai and all around the UAE businesses are investing huge amount of resources and efforts in their digital assets to improve customer journey, customer experience and customer satisfaction. These digital systems and solutions also help businesses in reducing expense and boosting productivity at the same time which results in high profitability. A digital interactive self-service retail kiosk is a very powerful data collection tool. It not just collect user data but it also collect capture various other information that can be automatically streamlined to the main information center database.
The interactive self-service kiosk software is a very powerful tool equipped with AI (artificial intelligence) and algorithms which provide a variety of data processing tools. A retail business can utilize these analytical tools to process business intelligence data and produce actionable reports for various stakeholders and different hierarchal levels of the management.
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These reports let the management understand the purchase patterns, customer behavior, products popularity and much more. It provide them a deeper insight to the customer’s behavior and their preferences, in addition to that the artificial intelligence based system algorithms can be pre-programmed to optimize the customer experience. Customers love personalized experience and they really appreciate if a brand consider their preferences, liking and disliking and treat them the way they want. This build trust and increase their loyalty.
The digital interactive self-service kiosks is also a great tool to collect customer feedback data. Which can further refine the business intelligence data and let the management make informed decisions. This way the management can easily meet the customer’s expectations and enhance their experience. Which help getting more business and building brand reputation. Which is essential for a long term sustainable growth and profitability.
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Conclusion
The Dubai and the entire UAE is considered to be the most modernized and technologically advanced in the entire region. Businesses here have big challenges, competitive markets, and very diverse audience. Customers expect from a retail business to provide them the best service and the quality of the products. Several studies have been made globally and concluded that now a day’s customer put experience equal to the quality of products. No one likes to wait in the long queues at retail counters. People want to check out as quickly as possible. During peak hours, long queues at POS is a common sighting in Dubai and elsewhere in UAE. That is why the retail industry warmheartedly welcomed the self-service interactive technology.
Now a day’s retail businesses are implementing highly advanced interactive self-service kiosks which are serving as an alternate to the traditional cashiers. The self-service retail kiosk can provide several advantages such as significant improvements in customer experience, improved employee performance, increase in average cart, improved results of upselling and promotional campaigns, etc. The interactive self-service retail kiosks are also very cost-efficient and can remain relevant for many years in future with ability to get upgrades and modifications with very little efforts and at a very low expense.
This is what made them the ultimate tool for the modern retailers. RSI Concepts is a leading customer satisfaction and interactive kiosk solution provider in Dubai, UAE. If you want to learn more about the subject or need our help to implement your new interactive self-service retail kiosk, please feel free to contact us through our Contact Us page or leave a comment in the comment box and we will get in touch with you soon.
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