The retail sector is rapidly growing and becoming more competitive, it is extremely important for businesses to deliver a satisfactory shopping experience. The UAE retail sector is growing on a rapid pace, by 2022 the retail sector of UAE was valued around AED 300 Billion and is expected to witness a steady growth of 5% per annum. The UAE population is also growing with a large number of expat relocating to Dubai, Sharjah, Abu Dhabi and various parts of the country along with steadily increasing number of tourists every year. All this is boosting the retail sector, with such an exponential growth, the competition in the market also rises and businesses have to be more innovative and efficient in order to stay ahead of the competition. Furthermore with the rise of e-Commerce and digital interaction the customer behavior is also changing rapidly, now a days customers prefer to go to the stores who offer a better shopping experience. When it comes to shopping experience the customer wait time plays a crucial role in customer satisfaction. In order to reduce customer wait time at cash counter and to enhance customer experience, several retail businesses are offering digital experience through interactive self-service checkout kiosks. In this blog we will discuss how retail business can leverage the self-service retail kiosks to enhance customers’ shopping experience.
Self-Service Kiosks in Retail: Revolutionizing the Shopping Experience
What is a Retail Self-Service Kiosk?
A retail self-service kiosk is also similar to an ordinary self-service kiosk, it is a computer terminal that allow users to perform certain tasks without requiring any help from the service staff. The retail self-service kiosk is like any other self-service payment kiosk but it has some additional features. Usually retail self-service kiosk comes with an interactive touch screen, an in-built computer, specialized components to facilitate checkout process such as canning devices (QR Code, Barcode Scanners, RFID Scanners, etc.) and payment accepting devices such as integrated POS for credit/debit cards, a cash acceptor, coin acceptor, change returner and in some cases digital weighing scale too. All such features enable a seamless self-service experience for retail checkouts. The self-service kiosk for retail or the retail checkout kiosks are designed exclusively for the checkout process, hence they can offer a variety of additional features as per business needs. For example, most of the retail businesses offer a reward program and discount vouchers or promotional vouchers. The retail self-service kiosk also offer features to integrate such programs without complicating customer journey. Furthermore the intuitive multi-lingual UIs are also very helpful in enhancing customer journey and experience.
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What is a Retail Self-Service Kiosk?
How Self-Service Kiosks Revolutionizing the Shopping Experience in Retail Sector?
The self-service kiosks are revolutionizing the shopping experience in retail sector in UAE. All around the UAE the retail sector is booming, all different types and sizes of retail businesses ranging from a humble shopping mall kiosk to a global retail chain, all are present in the country. However, the biggest challenge every business face is managing the shopping experience. The shopping experience is crucial for any retail business, most of the time a customer could have 3 to 5 different retail outlets in their easy reach, which greatly increase competition. Therefore the shopping experience is the most crucial aspect of a retail business’s success. The retail businesses all around the UAE realized the fact that the major cause of customer churn is the busy cash counters. Even if customers notice long queues at counters, they might completely avoid entering the store, and move on to the next store. Therefore the checkout is one of the most important and impactful aspect of shopping experience. Here is how retail self-service kiosk can help retailers revolutionize the shopping experience:
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Retail Self-Service Kiosk: Reduce Customer Wait Time
One of the biggest advantage of the retail self-service kiosk is that it can greatly reduce the customer wait time. The customer wait time plays a crucial part in shopping experience. The retail self-service kiosks comes with intuitive user-friendly user interfaces, along with specialized components to facilitate the checkout which reduce the average service time. Hence the retail self-service kiosk can serve customers more quickly, furthermore these kiosks operate on a same pace, and they are not impacted by any external factor which usually hinder human staff’s performance. Hence the service is quicker and better. The customers doesn’t have to wait in the long queues, they can quickly reach to a retail self-service kiosk and checkout. Furthermore the quicker checkout via a retail self-service checkout kiosk also help reducing the workload of the regular cash counters and result in improved staff performance. Hence businesses can also improve their branch performance by deploying the retail self-service kiosks.
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Retail Self-Service Kiosk: Reduce Customer Wait Time
Retail Self-Service Kiosk: Intuitive User Interface
The customer satisfaction can be improved significantly by making their interaction more user-friendly. This is achieved by offering interactive touch screens, with intuitive UIs. The typical retail self-service kiosks comes with a multi-lingual user interface. The UAE is a country where a large population of expats is residing permanently, hence offering user interface in multiple languages which are understandable by your majority of customer base could greatly enhance the overall shopping experience. Furthermore the UIs (user interfaces) are optimized for the touchscreens which enables easy use. The interactive retail self-service kiosks are also connected with a smart information management system, which provides on-screen instructions, additional information, products details, and a variety of textual and multi-media content which enhance user interaction. The customers are also given more control over their cart with ability to edit it any time during the checkout. All such features enhance customer experience.
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Retail Self-Service Kiosk: Intuitive User Interface
Retail Self-Service Kiosk: Personalized Customer Experience
The retail self-service kiosks comes with a powerful backend software equipped with smart algorithms and AI (artificial intelligence). The backend software offers a great level of control over customer experience, and allow businesses to personalize each customer experience based on their behavior, selection of products, past purchases and even demographics. As the retail kiosks can be integrated with the reward and loyalty programs, the customers can be asked to sign-in or scan their reward card/QR code, etc. Once the customers are identified on the bases of their historical data, purchase patterns, demographics and many other details their journey can be customized. For example, certain add-ons and special offers can be offered as per customers’ past preference or selection of choice and other available demographic data. Moreover the in-built smart algorithms and AI (artificial intelligence) can also help personalizing the customer experience such as the choice of language, the promotional items, add-ons, discounts, reward and loyalty programs, preferred payment process, etc. All these tools help aligning the processes with customer needs and expectations which can greatly improve shopping experience.
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Retail Self-Service Kiosk: Personalized Customer Experience
Retail Self-Service Kiosk: Freedom and Control
The retail self-service kiosks are a great tool to simplify customer journey and offer them more control and freedom over their transaction. The retail self-service kiosk provide a user-friendly navigation and allow customers to scan their products during the checkout, change the quantity, include more or drop some and also allow them to apply vouchers and reward points for discounts. Furthermore sometimes customers end up having products in their cart which they might not want to take to keep the bill under the cap. While interacting with a service agent or cashier the customers are often reluctant in returning such items, however, while checking out through a retail self-service kiosk the customers can easily leave any item or even after scanning them, they can review their cart on a large screen before making payment. Which not only provide them the list of the items but also all available details, enabling customers to make more informed decisions. All such features offer great control and freedom. Moreover when it comes to payments, the customers can utilize any medium of their choice or they can also split payment between two payment modes, such as they can pay 300 in cash and 700 via their credit card of a 1000 total bill. Such features lift up customers’ shopping experience and raise their satisfaction.
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Retail Self-Service Kiosk: Freedom and Control
Retail Self-Service Kiosk: System Integration
The retail self-service kiosk software is a very capable tool, and its capabilities can be further enhanced by enabling third-party system integration. The retail self-service kiosk software offers flexible integration with other systems, tools, databases, POS, customer reward program, inventory management system, and central information system of the business. This enable businesses to incorporate innovative features to enhance customers’ shopping experience. The QR Code and barcode scanners are used to scan the items, however, these can also be used to scan customer reward cards, discount vouchers, promotional coupons and much more. The integration also enable the retail self-service kiosk to instantly update inventory management system, accounts and POS system and customer related information. Hence the customers can get all the updated information. The system integration also allow businesses to provide personalized information and marketing material for customers and it also enables a centralized management system. The administration can monitor and control the retail self-service kiosks remotely from administrative tools and dashboards enabling them to take timely actions and provide latest information at the kiosk, adding value to customers’ shopping experience.
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Retail Self-Service Kiosk: System Integration
Retail Self-Service Kiosk: Business Intelligence Data
A retail self-service kiosk runs on a very powerful smart software solution. The retail kiosk management software is equipped with smart algorithms, AI (artificial intelligence) and advanced data collection tools. Thus the retail self-service kiosk can be a source of a valuable business intelligence data. This data consists of customer behavior, system usage stats, purchase patterns, and comprehensive analytical data. Businesses can analyze this data using in-built analytical tools and they can generate customized reports which are very helpful in taking strategic decisions. Businesses can easily acquire deeper insight to customer patterns and preferences. Such information are very helpful in decision making process. Furthermore the retail self-service kiosks also help improving upselling strategies. Businesses can also collect product reviews or rating through retail self-service kiosks and these kiosks can also be used to collect any type of customer feedback data such as NPS Score, CSAT Score or even a quick survey can be done. The business intelligence data is crucial in modern world where most of the decision are purely data-driven and could make huge impact on customers’ shopping experience.
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Retail Self-Service Kiosk: Business Intelligence Data
Conclusion
The success of a retail business very much depends on the customer experience it delivers. If the customers are not happy they will most likely move to a competitor. In UAE where the retail sector is booming, the competition is rising and the customer demands are also increasing. Businesses operating in Dubai, Sharjah, Abu Dhabi and all around the UAE are realizing the importance and impact of the digital tools and solutions. The interactive self-service kiosk is one of the top emerging technology. The retail self-service kiosks are widely used by small, medium and large scale businesses to enhance customers’ shopping experience. The retail self-service kiosks are great at reducing customer wait time while offering them a seamless self-service experience. The intuitive user interfaces and user-friendly design gives shopper more control and freedom over their interaction and help enhancing shopping experience. Furthermore these kiosks comes with a smart software solution which aid management in administrative tasks and help them collect valuable business intelligence data. The deep and accurate insights, analytical and statistical data help management making informed decisions.
These kiosks can operate 24/7 without requiring much maintenance, making retail self-service kiosks one of the most cost-effective solution for retailers. As the UAE is witnessing a rapid increase in population and is expected to have a steady rise in tourism, the importance of a top-notch shopping experience is paramount. Businesses need to find creative and innovative ways to stay ahead of their competition in such competitive markets. A retail self-service kiosk not only enhance customers’ shopping experience but also provide a great competitive advantage which help retail businesses to scale and grow. In this blog we have discussed how a retail self-service kiosk is not just streamlining retail checkout process but it is capable of completely revolutionizing the customers’ shopping experience. If you want to learn more about the subject or if you want our help to build a customized retail self-service kiosk for your business, please feel free to contact us through our Contact Us page or leave a comment in the comment box below and we will get in touch with you soon.
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