Envisioning The Smart Retail Store in Malaysia

Although the pandemic has stricken the economic landscape, the demand for e-commerce and digital services has skyrocketed. It has shoved brick-and-mortar businesses into an unfavourable position. If they are unable to fulfil the changing demands of consumers, they may face closure.

Malaysia has the fastest adoption of e-wallet in Southeast Asia, according to the MasterCard Impact Study. The study reflects the e-commerce boom that is currently ongoing while consumers are transitioning into a seamless, frictionless, retail experience. Over time, the lines between digital stores and physical shops are blurring. However, technology is rewriting the operating models of businesses across every sector of the economy. It has given brick-and-mortar businesses a second chance to re-examine the potential of smart retail by adapting to the changing behaviour of consumers. Therefore, this has also urged conventional retailers to move forward and embrace digital transformation for a customised and personalised retail experience:

Retailers have always understood the importance of product placement and store layout to encourage sales conversions, but many lack access to the data needed to make effective decisions. With store space at a premium and pressure mounting from other operating costs, today’s retailers need to ask whether physical store space keeps shoppers coming back.

With solutions like the Hitachi Automated Shop a combination of video cameras, 3D lidar (light detection and ranging), IoT sensors and analytics, retailers can gain valuable insights to support better decisions around stock placement and facilities use, to improve customer shopping experience.

Better yet, this Automated Shop can provide customers with a seamless and convenient shopping experience that helps them avoid lines, maintain their privacy for sensitive purchases, and shop any hour of the day. Customers simply: Scan a QR code at the entrance Pick up what they want Walk out. The shop automatically connects the items picked up to a virtual basket and charges the customer’s payment account. For uncertain customers, there is a kiosk showing the items being charged for. Due to the flexibility, one section of a store can be converted to an automated experience, while other sections can retain traditional cashier checkouts. A mobile version of the store allows retailers to offer groceries and goods to temporary events like festivals and events.

Optimise staffing to drive revenue and enhance customer experience Retailers can enable store staff to react quickly and better serve customers. These can be achieved via analysing video images in real-time and triggering alerts as needed, and designing roster schedules based on footfall and peak traffic times, and even target specific areas with staff who have expertise in a particular area.

Take an omnichannel approach:

Personalise customer communications to encourage visits to the store at targeted times, to match staffing or sales offers. If high-end products have long purchasing times at certain times of the day, or days of the week, increasing staffing at these times can give staff the bandwidth to help these high-value customers.

One retailer combined in-store customer activity data with their point-of-sale (POS) data to optimise scheduling for staff, which resulted in a 15% boost in revenues. Proactively detect delays and checkout and take action Endless queues for payment or customer service can make the shopping experience unpleasant for customers. The negative effects of long lines can quickly manifest in queue abandonment, as well as lost sales and customers. Even the brand can sustain damage as disgruntled shoppers air their grievances online and by word of mouth.

Retailers need a more proactive approach to manage in-store customer experience (CX) and take action to improve that experience and ultimately, maximise sales. Minimise loss and prevent repeat offences Minimising loss and shrinkage are top of mind for any store that wants to protect its bottom line. Digital solutions are making significant advances in this area as well.

Federating facial recognition across stores can help them proactively deny entry to known or repeat offenders to prevent future thefts at sister locations. One big-box retailer leveraged this solution and discovered an organised theft ring. Evidence from thefts, assaults, or slip and falls can be digitally managed and responded to with incident management, workflow automation, and unified analytics and alerts dashboards. This can assist retailers in applying coordinated approaches to combatting theft or fraud in their stores.

Meanwhile, all sectors have exposed vulnerabilities virtually and retail is no exception. Malaysian retailers should relook at the potential of smart stores and review consumer habits by adapting a seamless and customised experience and empowering a cohesive customer journey with the right technology.

By Michael Donahue, Global Practice Leader – Smart Spaces & Lumada Video Insights, Hitachi Vantara

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