The 2019 pandemic brought good opportunities for retail businesses. We can say it became the grace for retail businesses. The disruption brings greater opportunities and innovation in the field of retail industry. The latest technology trends in the retail industry transform companies to prove their existence to the world. It brings pleasant experiences for customers to generate more revenues and raise brand awareness.
World-around retailers are seeking new ways to reach a broader customer base, build a unique brand value and drive more sales. The top trends in the retail industry initiate advanced technologies in 2024. It brings a strong digitalization advancement in the retail world. The technologies are store automation, artificial intelligence, omnichannel distribution, and many others.
In the retail industry, we are seeing tremendous changes through retail technologies. Starting from consumer shopping experiences to retail industries’ operating systems, everything is revolutionizing. Let’s delve into this blog about cutting-edge technologies and how they are benefiting not only retailers but also consumers in this age.
What is Retail Technology?
Retail technology is the hub of a wide array of digital tools, platforms, and solutions. These are specifically designed to enhance various aspects of the retail industry. Retail technology has expanded its limits starting from inventory management systems to point-of-sale software. And from customer relationship management platforms and e-commerce websites.
The retail industry is leveraging advancements in data analytics, artificial intelligence, mobile technology, augmented reality, and many more. The advancement is for improving customer experience, driving business growth, and streamlining many operations. Digital information in the retail industry makes retailers optimize processes, and stay competitive. Help in gaining deeper insights into consumer behavior in this evolving marketplace.
Explore six key retail technology trends projected to shape the industry in 2024, along with relevant statistics to underscore their significance.
Personalized Shopping Experiences
Statistics:
According to a Salesforce study, 63% of consumers expect personalized experiences as a common service standard.
Trend:
AI and machine learning algorithms in retail technology analyze customer data and deliver tailored recommendations, experiences, and promotions based on individual behaviors and preferences.
Day-by-day more brands are turning to AI-driven individualization to deliver tailored messages, pricing structures, product recommendations, and promotions. Because this personalized approach boosts customer satisfaction and engagement. Retailers even offer rewards and incentives that align with each customer’s preferences and shopping habits. Because the loyalty programs help to boost personalized shopping experience.
Augmented Reality Integration
Statistics:
As per resources, the global AR market is projected to reach $70.01 billion by 2024, with the retail industry as one of the key industries driving its growth.
Trend:
Retail Technology is incorporating AR technology to make customers visualize products in real-world environments. It will help boost the shopping experience by reducing returns.
After the pandemic, AR technology became more important for shoppers as it is filling the gap between online and physical shopping. Fashion and makeup retailers are the best users of AR technology. According to a TCS survey millennials are ready to spend more money with a retailer offering virtual staging capabilities or virtual fitting rooms.
Augmented reality is incorporated into the retail industry through various features like:
Product Visualisation
- Interactive in-store experiences
- In-store navigation
- Marketing campaigns
After incorporating these services 56% of shoppers find it usable and they are very much confident about the quality of a product with an AR experience. Because AR experiences a reduction in likelihood returns a lot.
Seamless Payments and Checkouts
Statistics:
As per the PYMNTS survey, 41% of consumers prefer using contactless payments for in-store purchases.
Trends:
Digital transformation in retail adopts contactless payment solutions like mobile payment, QR codes, and self-checkout options to make a seamless checkout process and improve efficiency.
More than 70% of GenZ and millennials love to shop from those retailers, that offer contactless checkouts.
Many retailers want to give a 360-degree view of their business, therefore they are considering using cameras and sensors to understand their customers.
This shows a complete picture of the retail space, like how people move in the store over time, what section is explored more and what is not, and which section needs more staffing.
Smart retail stores are considering the use of technologies like smart cameras as it is going to help them with automatic billing and smart shelves to track inventory.
Omnichannel Retailing
Statistics:
Harvard Business Review research discloses that companies that have strong omnichannel strategies can manage 89% retain in average of their customers.
Trend:
Both online and offline channels in the retail industry help in providing a seamless shopping experience to customers. It allows them to browse, purchase, and return products without any hassle across multiple touchpoints.
Retailers are emphasizing now on creating an interconnected platform that breaks all blocks between individual and data channels. So that customers interact with multiple touchpoints seamlessly.
Starting from online shopping to in-store interactions, the unified commerce approach ensures that customer data seamlessly shares a comprehensive understanding of individual preferences.
Mobile Technologies
Statistics:
According to resources, m-commerce shopping is set to exceed 10% of all retail transactions in the US by 2025.
Trend:
Mobile technologies have the potential to optimize store operations and boost customer experiences. For instance, location-based promotions on mobile apps and push notifications help retailers for better promotion of their products and services.
Warehouse workers also depend on smartphones to execute their inventory management services. Front-end workers can easily connect with customers through inventory management in smartphones.
It becomes easy through devices to monitor product availability, locate in-store products, check best deals for customers, and find upselling opportunities in real time.
AI, ML and Generative AI
Statistics:
As per the Grand View Research report, the global AI in the retail market size was valued at over $2 billion in 2019 and is expected to grow over 35% from 2020 to 2027.
Trend:
AI is bringing a great revolution in next-generation retail technologies. Computer vision, facial recognition, visual search, and driverless delivery vehicles, large language models, conversational AI chatbots, and voice assistance are a few examples of AI.
AI enables predictive inventory planning and stock allocation in Algorithmic merchandising optimization. This technology enhances supply chain efficiency to make cost and pricing optimization in storefronts by sourcing goods for suppliers.
Retailers get help through these applications to improve margins and devise optimal marketing strategies. AI-powered consumer behavior and sentiment analysis help hyper-personalization in various promotions and product offerings. Artificial intelligence gives better solutions for product design customization, personalized recommendations, and facilitating seamless customer journeys.
Kodehash Role in Advanced Retail Technologies
Kodehash Technologies stands at the forefront of enabling retailers to enhance the growth of technology and thrive in the evolving retail landscape. Here are some innovative software solutions Kodehash wants to practice for the betterment of retail industries:
Personalization Implementation: AI-driven platforms at Kodehash enable retailers to analyze customer data and deliver personalized shopping experiences, boosting customer loyalty and satisfaction.
Integrate AR Technology: Kodehash facilitates the AR integration technology into retail platforms that allow customers to visualize products and make informed purchase decisions.
Streamline Checkout Processes: At Kodehash we offer seamless checkout solutions that include contactless payments, self-checkout options, and mobile payment options to increase satisfaction in the shopping experience and optimize efficiency.
Omnichannel Retailing: The omnichannel solutions at Kodehash assist retailers in bridging the gap between online and offline channels to bring forefront the cohesive shopping experience across multiple touchpoints.
Sustainable Initiatives: We help retailers in implementing sustainability initiatives. Kodehah supports better communication and ethical practices of retailers with their customers to develop consumer trust and loyalty.
Hyper-Personalized Marketing: The data analytics tools at Kodehash help in empowering retailers to create targeted marketing campaigns, deliver personalized messages, and offer better promotions to engage customers.
Final Thought
The retail industry has been entering into digital transformation since the pandemic. But digitization also brings a wide range of risks and opportunities. Startups are facing cybersecurity issues and challenges in customer data protection and privacy maintenance.
However, sustainability grows with the core of advanced technologies like blockchain, AI, IoT, and data analytics, which are aiming for net-zero retail in the near future. Identifying new opportunities and emerging technologies to implement in businesses helps in gaining a competitive advantage.
In conclusion, by embracing these retail technology trends and leveraging the expertise of Kodehash software solutions, retailers can stay ahead of the curve, meet evolving consumer demands, and drive growth in 2024 and beyond.