MEMBER LOGIN ERMS PORTAL
Pride-logo
ARA Australian Retailers Association
  • ABOUT
    ABOUT
    • About Us
    • Our History
    • Advisory Committees
    • Council
    • Leadership Team
    • Strategic Partners
    • Registered Training Organisation
  • JOIN THE ARA
  • SERVICES
    SERVICES
    • Advocacy & Policy
    • Employment Relations Advice
    • Human Resources (ERMS) Portal 
    • Legal Assistance
    • Tenancy Advice
    • Training & Education
    • Member Benefits Program
    • ARA Insurance
    • ARA Talent Registry
  • TRAINING
    TRAINING
    • Retail Ready Training
    • Career Upskilling
    • Leadership Training
    • Business Solutions
    • Industry Projects
    • Hire Talented Staff
    • Financial Literacy Education Program
  • RESOURCES
    RESOURCES
    • ARA Retail Review Report 2022
    • Business support
    • Covid-19 Resource Hub
    • Gender Equality
    • Media
    • News & Insights
    • Reconciliation
    • Podcasts
    • Research Hub
    • Sustainability
  • EVENTS
    EVENTS
    • Upcoming Events
    • OnDemand Recordings
    • First Responders Day 2022
    • ARA Gala No.1
    • ARA Leaders Forum 2023
  • Contact Us
    Access our Covid-19 resource hub for up-to-date state and territory restrictions
    back to Retail News & Insights
    Australian Retailers Association
    Australian Retailers Association

    Is tech enough to improve the customer experience?

    • Thursday 24 January 2019
    Technology

    By harnessing the right technology, retailers can enhance the overall experience for their customers

    You could argue that customer experience in the online landscape has not fundamentally changed in recent years, despite the rise of new and recycled offerings, such as artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR) and a whole lot of other ‘virtual’ buzzwords.

    Is this what customers want? And if so, how are these tools improving the overall experience?

    Retailers need to strip down these virtual technologies into the components that make an actual, positive difference to their customers and their experience.

    By using technology to gain a better, more unified view of the customer, along with advanced customer behaviour analysis, retailers can vastly improve the overall customer experience.

    The buzzword technologies themselves are not the differentiators. It’s the application and combination of these technologies that will drive the next major changes in our in-store and online experiences.

    Step 1: Convergence

    What used to be called omni-channel is changing, as it becomes relevant in real-world scenarios and refined in practise.

    Transactional channels (in-store and online) are becoming unified, providing a single view of customers, full-breadth of product range and improvements around returns, extended ranges, aisle functions and Click &- Collect capabilities.

    As things continue to progress, there will be an emergence of ‘commerce systems’ to replace the current separate point of sale (POS) and e-commerce systems. Once these channels are unified, the buying history of online customers will be available for analysis, again influencing the future experience that shoppers will have.

    Step 2: Artificial intelligence, pattern recognition and machine learning

    Going a step further, there will finally be some progress in the use of AI, which has been promoted as the next big thing for decades.

    In addition to the more traditional applications of AI, such as trend identification, insight generation and reporting, more exciting applications are becoming possible, including facial recognition, visual search and customer behaviour analysis.

    Applied to retail, these features create opportunities to improve the customer experience. Visual search, for instance, makes it easier for customers to find what they are looking for, since they no longer need to try to describe it, or understand how a retailer might have tagged a product.

    Retailers like THE ICONIC and ASOS have already embraced visual search. They allow customers to upload an image of something they want to purchase and display products that look similar to that image, irrespective of any text descriptions or classifications in their back end systems.

    Focus on the ‘actual’ within the ‘virtual’

    Retailers will need to strip down ‘virtual’ technologies into the components that make an ‘actual’, positive difference to their customers and their experience. By using technology to gain a better, more unified view of the customer, along with advanced customer behaviour analysis, you can vastly improve the customer experience.

    It’s not the buzzword technologies that are the differentiator, it’s the application and combination of them that drives the next major changes to our in-store and online experiences.

    eStar is Australasia's leading specialist e-commerce solutions provider, delivering outstanding experiences with some of the region's best brands, through a combination of thought leadership, user experience, development, design and partners. Learn more at estaronline.com

    SHARE THIS ARTICLE
    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • Linkedin
    back to Retail News & Insights

    FURTHER READING

    Retail Voice CEO Message: 22 June 2022
    Paul Zahra

    Retail Voice CEO Message: 22 June 2022

    The NSW and Queensland Governments handed down their state budgets yesterday, which included billions of dollars’ worth of cost of living relief for...

    READ MORE
    Retail Voice CEO Message: 15 June 2022
    Paul Zahra

    Retail Voice CEO Message: 15 June 2022

    The resilience of our sector continues to be tested with rising cost-of-living and business cost pressures – from acute supply chain issues, and staff...

    READ MORE
    Supply Chains: How to stay ahead in the era of unpredictability
    Retail Directions

    Supply Chains: How to stay ahead in the era of unpredictability

    The last couple of years have seen the supply chain hit hard, with challenge on challenge faced.  

    READ MORE
    LOAD MORE

    Sign up for ARA newsletters

    Strategic Partners

    • Afterpay white logo-1
    • Amex-logo-2
    • Deloitte-1
    • Fabric-logo-2
    • Hitch Advisory - Logo - white-2
    • mastercard-logo-white-2
    • QUT_SQUARE_MONO_REV-2
    • Rest-logo
    • Salesforce-1

    Partners

    • 1200px-Amazon_Web_Services_Logo_edited_edited
    • good360 logo
    • Meta_lockup_mono_white_RGB-1
    • mst marguee_edited_edited_edited
    • Officeworks_Logo_White_RGB
    • RM

    Supporters

    • NRF-logp
    • Australian-CCI-logo
    • Associations-forum-logo
    • FIRA-logo-1280x500 (1)_edited
    • GS1_Australia_Full-Transparency_White_827x436

    About

    • About
    • Member Benefits
    • Membership Application
    • Membership Terms & Conditions
    • Privacy Policy
    • Code of Ethics
    • ARA COVIDSafe Retail Plan

    Training

    • RTO Policies & Procedures
    • Compliance
    • Nationally Recognised Training Officer

    Contact us

    phone-icon.png

    1300 368 041

    envelope-icon.png

    info@retail.org.au

    place-icon.png

    Level 1,  112 Wellington Pde

    East Melbourne 3002

    Join our community

    The ARA acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the land on which we work, learn and live. We pay our respects to their elders past and present, and also recognise Australia’s First Nations’ peoples as Australia’s first traders with a sophisticated network of trading paths that have facilitated the exchange of goods, knowledge and culture for millennia

    Copyright Australian Retailers Association 2021

    ALREADY AN ARA MEMBER?

    Login to view member-only content:

    Login

    NOT AN ARA MEMBER YET?

    Join us today to access ARA member-only content and events.

    Register Now