How Retailers Create the Connected Experiences of the Future

0:00 welcome to news on the feed

0:02 recent surveys show that 95

0:05 of retail customers people like you and

0:08 me

0:09 value shopping experiences that are

0:11 seamless

0:12 personalized and fast whether they're

0:15 shopping online or in person what they

0:17 might not know is that a stronger

0:19 reliable infrastructure is critical to

0:21 delivering these experiences

0:23 and it teams are making this a top

0:26 priority in investment

0:28 todd nicholson a retail expert at

0:30 juniper networks

0:32 recently walked through trends in a blog

0:34 todd let's start with what a connected

0:37 experience looks like for a consumer do

0:40 you have an example that you could share

0:43 you know sarah it's it's all about

0:45 connected retail experience and what i

0:47 mean by that is um a true connected

0:50 experience is all about meeting the

0:52 needs and expectations of your customer

0:55 without any limitations in terms of

0:58 channels or touch points so

1:00 in other words customers want any number

1:03 of flexible options to

1:05 make a purchase

1:06 and retailers need to leverage

1:08 technology to help enable a seamless and

1:11 delightful experience for their

1:13 customers

1:14 shoppers want options when it comes to

1:17 their buying decisions with things like

1:19 making a purchase so customers want

1:22 flexibility in how they

1:23 acquire products or services whether it

1:26 be online

1:28 through the web or a retail application

1:31 on a mobile device or offline

1:34 making the purchase within a

1:36 brick-and-mortar store

1:38 or even a combination of

1:40 all of those channels combined

1:42 the second thing uh that shoppers are

1:45 interested in are flexible payment

1:47 options so

1:48 having the ability to

1:50 make a choice

1:52 when uh making a payment so

1:54 you know pre-paying online paying in the

1:57 store

1:58 or completing an application

2:00 um transaction uh through a mobile app

2:04 or even having the option to pay over a

2:06 period of time customers want

2:08 flexibility when it comes to

2:10 payment options

2:11 the last one is really taking

2:14 acquisition of that product or service

2:16 so

2:16 customers are very busy today and they

2:18 want flexibility when

2:20 making a purchase and acquiring that

2:22 product which could mean taking receipt

2:25 of the product in the store uh a

2:27 contactless curbside pickup or my

2:30 favorite which is taking delivery of the

2:32 product either at a home or office

2:37 well all of those options sound

2:39 brilliant todd do you have a sense for

2:42 how this type of investment could drive

2:44 more business for retailers

2:47 absolutely you know sarah it's it's

2:50 very simple so

2:52 drive more frequent higher quality

2:54 engagement with your customer to create

2:56 a fantastic experience regardless of the

2:59 channel

3:00 and you will put your retail operation

3:02 in the best position to increase basket

3:05 size

3:06 revenue as well as customer satisfaction

3:09 the challenge the retailers think about

3:11 every day

3:12 is that it's going to take reliable

3:14 scalable and secure

3:16 technology and network to provide that

3:19 best-in-class experience and you know

3:21 the network is the heartbeat of that

3:23 solution

3:26 well given that it is the heartbeat

3:28 where would you recommend that retail it

3:30 teams put their focus

3:33 and and the for that flexibility

3:37 when we talk about retail store of the

3:39 future

3:40 here's where i would place my bets um

3:42 first is location-based services so

3:45 location-based services have been proven

3:47 to drive enhancements to

3:50 a customer's shopping experience with

3:52 the ability of in-store visitors to

3:55 quickly and efficiently find their way

3:56 around a store

3:58 especially given that many stores

4:00 frequently re-merchandize their store

4:02 shelves to keep things fresh and ensure

4:05 that customers are seeing more of the

4:07 store each time they visit

4:09 the second would be leveraging

4:11 technology to capture customer insights

4:13 to help drive associate engagement

4:16 and that's really key to creating that

4:18 great in-store experience

4:20 improving in-store and warehouse it

4:23 operations on the back end

4:25 with things like automated software

4:26 deployments and inventory tracking to

4:29 help drive both top and bottom line

4:31 revenue

4:32 and then keeping stores safe with things

4:35 like contact tracing

4:36 congestion alerting and adjusting staff

4:39 levels for

4:40 in-store peak traffic times

4:43 and finally enabling contactless

4:45 shopping experiences with the ability

4:48 for customers to buy online

4:50 and have curbside pickup available on

4:52 demand

4:53 these are all great examples of

4:55 leveraging technology to

4:57 drive operational efficiency

4:59 and

5:00 great customer experience

5:03 well todd i have certainly benefited

5:05 from these technologies and and the

5:07 experiences that they drive thank you

5:10 for sharing your insights

5:12 and tips on why retailers and their it

5:15 teams should continue to prioritize

5:18 the customer experience through

5:20 technologies like wi-fi and location

5:23 services

5:24 to learn more we have included a link to

5:27 todd's blog below

5:29 and while you're on the feed take some

5:31 time to soak up more industry news and

5:33 knowledge from experts like todd

5:36 thanks sarah and thanks everyone