Palo Alto, CA—In today’s competitive retail environment, 70% of retailers are empowering their employees with technology-enabled touch points to help their businesses to differentiate and evolve, according to a recent RSR Research report cosponsored by HP.
By arming their staff with a range of technologies that provide relevant and timely information—such as self-service kiosks, mobile devices, digital signage and advanced point-of-sale (POS) systems—the study found that retailers can increase productivity and selling opportunities.
Key findings in the June 2011 survey of nearly 100 retail executives from around the world include:
• Retailers see valuable support in self-service kiosks (43%) and cross-channel customer and inventory synchronization technologies through real-time updates (70%).
• Seventy-eight percent of retailers listed their modern POS systems as an important factor in the customer experience. Offering in-store rewards or coupons is also critical (75%).
• Fifty-seven percent of retailers believe delivering information to store-owned phones, tablets and PDAs has potential value, an increase from 21% in 2010.
“Customers have raised the bar, and successful retailers realize that the traditional means of educating employees and interacting with customers is no longer enough,” said Ray Carlin, vice president, Retail Solutions Global Business Unit, HP. “We provide a flexible store platform to help retailers deliver multichannel selling opportunities and a more engaging shopping experience.”
Using such in-store solutions as widescreen LCD interactive digital signage displays and self-service kiosks, HP believes retailers will have the ability to run real-time promotions, share information more efficiently and locate and ship merchandise from other parts of the company to replenish out-of-stock merchandise. hp.com
