Technology Trends in Retail: Future Commerce Guide

Retail businesses face mounting pressure to adapt their technology strategies in an increasingly digital marketplace. Today's society, has accelerated this shift dramatically, creating urgent challenges around e-commerce, contactless experiences, and supply chain digitization. How do you stay competitive when consumer expectations are evolving faster than ever?

In this blog post, we'll explore the key technology trends pushing retail into the future and how you can leverage them for your business. Between the need for more expansive e-commerce functions, low-contact or no-contact shopping experiences, virtual communication between businesses and consumers, and the digitization of functions like inventory and customer service, these are the essential technology trends you need to understand.

Digital Order Management and Fulfillment

If you're weathering the storms caused by the increased shift to e-commerce that began the so-called "retail apocalypse" long ago, you've likely focused on the need for speed and flexibility regarding order fulfillment.

In order to compete with major online retailers offering rapid fulfillment, shorter windows of time between ordering and having the product in the consumer's hands are critical. Services like same or next day delivery, BOPIS, or curbside pickup allow for rapid deployment of product, and the key to making this happen is through an integrated platform that allows for accurate and effective management across all sales channels. With multiple sales channels in play, having a single source of digital order management and tracking fulfillment steps is vital.

Integrated POS Solutions

With shoppers less inclined to make casual shopping trips in person, the increase in consumers doing "pre-shopping research" is significant.

This means if you integrate your POS systems with online search engines like Google that allow shoppers to view your inventory and pricing before coming in-store, you'll have a significant advantage over retailers that don't make that information easily available to prospective buyers. Google search and Google Maps have solutions available that allow for the integration of POS systems, a trend that can particularly benefit your local retail operations. Google recently acquired a solution that allows for easy POS integration with search results.

Inventory and Management Tech

As you focus on digital systems, inventory and management tech has also taken leaps forward. Inventory and management tech grows increasingly sophisticated with tools that offer:

• Automatic supply chain management
• AI order management
• Real-time inventory analytics
• And more

Data plays a huge role in this area as well, with some systems offering sales forecasting and predictive analytics built into the tech.

The Omnichannel Experience

One theme that has been made clear for some time is the advent of the omnichannel retail experience.

Rather than creating conflict between your brick-and-mortar versus e-commerce channels, you can create systems that capitalize on the ability to reach consumers from a variety of touchpoints, streamlining your brand's message and making it consistent across potential points of sale. With more than a website versus in-store approach, you can extend your tech to desktop and mobile apps, shoppable social media feeds, and more.

Autonomous Delivery

Continuing improvements in driverless tech means self-driving trucks may be making the move from futuristic fiction to reality faster than we thought.

Major industry players have launched fleets inside warehouses and ports, and delivery drones are being invested in as well for last-mile deliveries—technologies you may soon be able to leverage. The benefits of this future-forward tech include less reliance on business hours, and the ability to weather driver shortages.

A.I. and Chatbots

Your competitors are increasing their AI spending, and you should consider doing the same. The majority of the AI and machine learning solutions in retail have been primarily focused on customer relationships, with almost ¾ of all AI being directly related to customer service experiences. Smart chatbots have become routine on business sites in a variety of sales-based industries, and you've likely encountered them in retail in particular. AI has been used to:

• Allow for size sorting on clothing retailers' sites
• Measure consumer preferences
• Streamline store navigation
• And more

AI serves additional purposes within retail as well, allowing for improved logistics and inventory management as mentioned above, and accruing data for better business decisions.

"A-commerce" or Automation Tech

Automated commerce, or a-commerce, is one of the hottest technology trends in retail currently. Referring to the automation of a variety of steps within the purchasing process, a-commerce can be seen in forms such as:

• Automatic purchases (subscriptions/auto-sending of commonly used items like beauty products, personal grooming, pantry items, pet needs, etc.)
• Marketing automation
• Process automation in the back end

Contactless Payment

Contactless payment has been around for years now, with phone-based payment systems beginning to be implemented in some retail locations quite some time ago. However, if you're a smaller retailer, you may have been slower to adapt, relying on older payment systems that were not compatible with tap and go. Thanks to the pandemic and the increased desire for minimal touch, contactless payment has surged in popularity.

Geolocation

Utilizing smartphone technology to capitalize on location-based advertising, push notifications, and partnering with navigation and ride-sharing apps to reach consumers in spur-of-the-moment scenarios is a growing way to engage with customers.

Virtual Customer Engagement

With the shift of focus to e-commerce along with the increased amount of isolation many consumers are experiencing thanks to pandemic restrictions, you need to make changes to stay engaged with consumers who are craving human interactions. Engaging with consumers where they are is vital. Consider these approaches:

• Online consultations
• Classes and events
• Social media brand ambassador programs
• Reviews and social media shopping

While virtual interaction remains the norm, your customer service and community engagement strategies should follow suit.

Final Thoughts

Moving forward, you can expect some permanent changes to current supply chains and e-commerce volumes, but the extent to which remains to be seen. By staying ahead of these technology trends, you'll be better positioned to meet evolving consumer expectations and maintain your competitive edge in an increasingly digital retail landscape.