Advances of technology have changed how customers interact with the retail business. This is not news to anyone, but how exactly have the customers changed? This is a very important question to ask ourselves, the answer will guide the strategy of a retail business. Below we present some examples of how they have changed!
They play a new role in a company’s processes
With the increase of data we have a more thorough understanding of how the consumer behaves, from the minute they get on the channel that connects them to the retail business to the end of their experience, for this reason companies are better able to adapt to the consumer’s needs, changing their processes.
Expectations are different and higher!
With all the information available on the Internet, consumers are making way more educated purchases, including going through a process of comparison with other brands. As society becomes more digitized they also expect good experiences in online channels. Nevertheless, that is not to say they don’t need a good in-person experience, they value those experiences even more.
Collaboration and co-creation are becoming more common
Customers want to form part of the ecosystem, and they also value the opinion of their peers online! They value the brand more if they are taking business decisions with them.
Customers have a criteria for user experience (even if they don’t know what it is)
Through studying their decision-making process we can see that users spend less time in apps for companies they have contractual relationships with (think gas, or electricity services), in fact they might even delete the app if they are not convinced. In other words, they know which apps are worth their time, and which are not. It actually mirrors their behavior in physical stores.