‘With emergence of new customers, retail landscape to change for better’
A new breed of customers – more demanding, more educated and more connected – are emerging and shaping retail sector’s future, believes Maimunah al Shebani, Oman's representative at the International Council of Shopping Centres.
Maimunah who is a board member of the Middle East Council of Shopping Centres, is also the managing director of The Retail Agency, Oman.
She anticipates a shift in the industry which will eventually benefit the consumer.
“Many retailers in Oman believe delivering customer satisfaction through meeting customer expectations and delivering good service is enough to win the loyalty of their customers. In this equation, the retailer is in control of the process and the customer is passive. However, we are in an era where just meeting customer expectation is no longer cutting it,” she said.
“A new breed of customers is emerging and shaping the sector’s future. A more demanding, more educated and more connected customer. This drastic shift in customer behaviour is due to the advances in digital and mobile technologies and the hypoconnective age we live in. The power dynamic is shifting; the retailer is losing power, while the customer is gaining control.
“Many retailers are struggling with this shift as they are not ready to let go of the control they once had. Forward-looking and open-minded retailers understand that they must adapt to new challenges and capitalise on key trends.”
She added, “Retail is one of the most competitive sectors and needs to be incredibly responsive to the customers, moving quickly and adapting to their needs. So, what does customer empowerment mean? Empowerment is providing customers with options, choice, tools and resources to facilitate decisionmaking as opposed to making educated guesses on their behalf.”
Maimunah explained that empowering customers is an extraordinary opportunity for retailers to understand their customer better and provide them with a much greater choice of products and services to respond to individual preference. This approach gives customers a greater sense of ownership and a feeling that the retailer understands their needs and knows what they want.
The empowered customer is redefining value, and the future of retail will be centred around developing a profound understanding and strong relationship with the new customer.
She believes new strategies are needed. Empowered customers will have access to more information and more choices. Their loyalty will be fragile and the way they make purchasing decisions will be different.
She added, “This leaves retailers with no option but to constantly innovate in their business models and in technologies to meet the standards and demands of the empowered customer and future customers, and they will require a new approach to the way they used to interact with their customers.”