A New Mission for VARs: Time to Save the Sales

You’ve heard of environmental campaigns to “Save The Whale”, now it’s time for technology companies operating in retail to Save The Sale.

Our recent global research clearly shows consumers around the world display many different behaviours, but one thing all nations’ shoppers do tend to have in common is the notion that a good in-store shopping depends on convenience and quick service. If they get that as part of their experience, they’re much more likely to buy.

2018 SHOPPER REPORT

Let’s look at the evidence from iVend Retail’s 2018 Global Path to Purchase Survey, which raises some pertinent consumer pain points for value added resellers (VARs) to consider when selling their solutions into retailers. It also shows how retail technology can improve chances of a transaction.

Quash the Queues

Any retailer worth its salt will always do its utmost to stop shoppers from leaving their stores empty handed, but rather than aggressive selling our study shows that there are better ways of increasing the chances of a purchase.

It’s clear from the study, consumers see queues as a real headache. It was ever thus, but with 51% of survey respondents saying they have left a store empty-handed because the lines were too long, it tells me it’s time for all retailers to avoid them at all costs – and tech firms must supply the right tools.

So as the save the sale mission gets under way in earnest, what retail technology is required?

Kiosks and Tablets

A significant 62% of global consumers of shoppers told us they use self-serve kiosks in the store because they want to avoid lines and they want to save time. Shoppers are in a rush when they visit stores, so retailers need an array of equipment to facilitate this process – the alternative thy face is empty-handed customer syndrome.

Additionally, 53% of global consumers will look for a sales associate with a mobile point of sale or tablet device in the store – and the need for speed once again comes to the fore. 24% of shoppers want this type of service because it’s faster than queuing, while similar numbers of consumers want staff to use them to help with product information and inventory availability.

Get On Top of Stock

Fundamental retail practices such as merchandising and forecasting need to be spot on too in order to help save that sale. The main two reasons for consumers leaving a store empty-handed are because they couldn’t find what they were looking for, or their required item wasn’t there.

Sophisticated omnichannel retail management suites, such as the package iVend Retail supplies to the industry, enable retailers to keep on top of stock levels. It means they’ll alleviate these major consumer bugbears in the first instance, or serve the customer from a central inventory even if the item isn’t physically in front of them.

It’s here where VARs from all territories around the world have the chance to step in and be retail super heroes. As I mentioned before, convenience and quick service are prerequisites for consumers across the globe, and this type of technology helps meet these demands.

My team and I are certainly campaigning to save the sale – we think it’s a just cause retailers the world over will thank us for. I urge resellers to get in touch to join us on our mission.

Selling into retail? Check out our global research for expert advice on how to shape your technology in the most suitable way for consumers.