Shopping in hi-tech future
IMAGINE buying a cappuccino to go, and instead of pulling out cash to pay, the cashier asks to scan your eye. Science fiction? Experts predict that it won’t be long before using plastic cards or PIN numbers to pay for goods both online or in-store could be a thing of the past, as technology advances to such an extent that voice, pupil or thumb-print recognition are the next hi-tech online banking developments.
In fact, some stores worldwide are already using voice recognition in their call centres to make sure clients are who they say they are when they make telephone queries.
Peter Hoijtink, an associate director of Pricewaterhouse Coopers Advisory Services, told retailers in Durban last week that the findings in the group’s eighth Global Retail Consumer Survey entitled, “Retailers and the Age of Disruption”, showed that e-commerce was not only changing the role of store space, but the relationship between retailers and consumers.
The future of online shopping was not only complex, but beyond the imagination, he said.
He warned that brands could no longer dictate as technology was allowing consumers the power to develop their own way of building relationships with brands, that retailers had to think beyond using technology for marketing purposes alone and that customers wanted a shopping environment that eliminated uncertaintity, was flexible and maximised efficiency.
Hoijtink said South African consumers were still cautious as the security of online shopping was a “huge concern”.
“The success of the digital future is the level of trust that online stores can create with consumers. We have SnapScan and Zapper – there are just so many mobile payment systems at the moment, but they are not consolidated. I think within the next five years, we will see this consolidation and it won’t be unusual to pay for goods by scanning your eye or thumb-print,” he said.
In South Africa, Hoijtink said, the progress of in-store hi-tech innovations was slow owing to the cost of data, but again, this was about to change. “Every store should have free wifi, for example, to remain competitive. In the research, we find South Africa has a very young population. One of the reasons they go online to look at products – and they do this when they are in your stores – is to compare prices with other stores and similar products.”
Further, he said, retailers had to see their stores as shopping “theatres”, places of entertainment and interaction with customers.
“This year’s report expands on the total retail discussion and delves into four retail disrupters. Our first disrupter, the evolution of the store, can be thought of more as a business model evolution. Our second and third disrupters – mobile technology and social networks – are technological. A fourth – demographic shifts – is more socioeconomic,” he said.
While the physical store remained the touch point, 36% of the 19 000 people researched worldwide said they went to a physical store weekly, 41% shopped online weekly. Hoijtink said as online shopping continued to grow, the premium in the future was to create unique and brand-defining – for sheer convenience or experiences that excited or engaged – that would keep customers coming back.
In South Africa, 1 000 people of different ages and demographics were researched. In total people from 19 countries, six continents participated in the survey.
The respondents listed being able to see, touch and try merchandise as a main reason for visiting a store, but Hoijtink said while he believed the physical would still be around regardless, if start-ups like Russia’s fashion retailer, Lamoda – which delivers to customers’ homes, then allows them 15 minutes to try on choices and pay for only what they wanted to keep – could impact on those trends.
While just 29% of the respondents said they would consider shopping online exclusively using their smartphone as the main shopping tool, in South Africa most used online retail sites – mainly on Facebook – to research items.
Hoijtink said 48.4 million people in South Africa used a smartphone. “Consumers are using their smartphones as part of their buying cycles,” he said.
Stephen Scheeler, the head of retail and automotive at Facebook Australia, urged retailers to prepare their mobile strategy knowing there was a natural confluence between mobile and video. He said Facebook in Australia was expecting the short-form video to explode in the next five years – which meant the optimisation of mobile platforms to support the hundreds of thousands of views that a popular video could garner.
However, retailers at the Durban presentation said there remained key issues which were holding back the development of e-commerce in the country. Firstly, the inefficiencies and the high costs linked to transport and supply chains, and the return on investment versus the cost of online development.
The full report is available online at www.pwc.com/totalretail