Four Ways to Improve the Customer Experience in Retail
Today’s consumers expect retailers to provide great personalized services whether they’re buying in store or online. According to the Harvard Business Review, winning in retail depends on making “your customers want to keep coming back.”
Discover four simple but effective ways to give your customers a seamless, omnichannel shopping experience so they choose you every time.
Keep Up with Changing Customer Demands
As retailers struggle to keep staff and deal with inflation, shoppers still expect them to deliver more orders, faster and provide an easy way to shop in-store, online or a mix of both.
In fact, 7 out of 10 shoppers* prefer online retailers who also have brick-and-mortar stores. They see in-store and online shopping as two sides of one experience and expect the same inventory and convenience from both.
We Understand Your Challenges
Support for Omnichannel Fulfillment
75% of consumers want home delivery for orders
34% of shoppers have used alternative pickup and delivery, like buy online pick up in store (BOPIS) or buy in store and ship to home, and 90% of them plan to continue using these services
Unified In-Store and Online Shopping
82% of consumers use mobile ordering
80% of shoppers value easy returns
Labor Shortages and Outdated Systems
63% of retailers don't have enough front-line employees to serve shoppers
80% said they plan to leverage new technology to improve the front-of-store experience for both customers and employees
Four Ways to Elevate Customer Experience
So how do you use the customer-first mindset to set your store apart? It’s simple: create a store where people want to shop. A store that blends online and offline options to meet shoppers' three essential priorities: product availability, price and convenience.
1. Make Checkout Fast and Easy
Give customers the freedom to browse and pay on their terms with:
- Self-service options for price checks, scanning as they shop
- Self-checkout using Point-of-sale (POS) scanners
- Personal shopping solutions
- Mobile payments and receipts printed by mobile printers
With mobile workstations and full-featured POS stations, teams can serve customers anywhere in the store. They can even check them out from the aisle where they are shopping.
2. Give In-Store Staff Intelligent Tools
Store associates add a valuable human touch to the shopping experience, and with the latest technology, they can:
- Work smarter, faster and more accurately
- Answer customer questions quickly
- Access real-time inventory counts using RFID
- Consult coworkers instantly through their device
When you use technology designed for retail, you set your staff up for success and satisfy your customers.
3. Connect Digital and Physical Shopping
Use retail technology to better serve customers through blended shopping experiences like:
- Automatic order alerts for curbside pickup
- Fun and easy personal shopping solutions
- In-store kiosks with accurate inventory, product details and shortcuts for coupons and gift lists
- Mobile payments and receipts printed by mobile printers
Make the store a flexible place to shop—anywhere, anytime, however the customer desires.
4. Make Returns Easy
Over 60%* of associates agree that managing the returns of online orders poses a big challenge. Streamline the returns process, saving time and potential lost sales, with technology that:
- Provides easy returns with in-store kiosks
- Uses AI for more accurate forecasts and inventory counts
- Keeps your front-line employees connected with advanced communication tools
With the right tools, your team can handle the 20–30%** of online purchases that get returned in-store.
*Source: 15th Annual Zebra Global Shopper Study
**Source: 25 Surprising Ecommerce Return Statistics (2023) - Soocial
Let's Elevate the Customer Experience, Together
The Modern Store by Zebra
The Modern Store framework helps retailers build an outstanding customer experience. It’s built on three pillars for success: engaged associates, optimized inventory, of course, elevated customer experience. And it delivers proven results.
Solutions to Improve the Customer Experience
Get everything you need, from leading hardware to intelligent software, to give customers the seamless shopping experience they expect.
Retail Technology from Our Partners
Our partners also offer complementary solutions and applications to support a great shopper experience, including personal shopping, POS, payments, customer engagement and returns management.
Lowe’s Transforms the Store for Customers
Lowe’s, one of the biggest U.S. retailers, made digital transformation a top priority to address new challenges and increasing demand. According to Vincent Scalese, senior vice president of store operations, “technology impacts everything within our store operations and our customer experience, and it’s woven into every fabric of what we do.”
Using The Modern Store framework, Lowe’s revamped their operations. They streamlined processes and strengthened their omnichannel shopping systems. By putting the customer first with a vision to simplify stores, they increased their Net Promoter Score.
Explore Zebra's Retail Solutions for Customer Experience
Make the shopping experience easier and more enjoyable, from browsing to checkout and purchase.
