Covid-19 has accelerated the transition to online shopping, but businesses need to evolve to meet new customers' expectations
WITH brick-and-mortar stores, shoppers have the opportunity to feel and touch, and try on products and services before making a purchase. However, this is limited when it comes to an online store.
So to offer shoppers the best of both worlds, a concept called "new retail" has been introduced.
The term was coined by Jack Ma, founder of Alibaba, in 2016, who stated that new retail is a business model that converges digital and offline experiences.
This revolution is already big in China, but still to catch up in Malaysia.
Locally, one technology company, Exabyte, is pushing this new retail technology to businesses.
Its founder and chief executive officer, Chan Kee Siak, said when it comes to shopping online, customers have developed the "want it now" mentality.
"They expect brands to react quickly when they have concerns about a product or service. That is when automated customer service comes to the fore. Apart from that, customers want a user-friendly and a convenient shopping experience," he said.
ENTER "NEW RETAIL"
As consumers become more sophisticated and have high expectations, businesses need to evolve to cater to the new needs.
"This is where the new retail concept comes in," said Chan.
He cited a few examples, such as intelligent mirrors for virtual clothing try-on, virtual visits of stores and pop-up stores, or simply the ability to watch a 3D advertisement of driving a luxury car with a QR code and purchase it immediately.
"The future of retail is not a question of channels, but of experience. In short, you do not need to completely close down your brick-and-mortar stores, but rather understand the way digital can merge with your business to offer a unique shopping experience," he explained.
EasyStore, a subsidiary of Exabytes Group, has officially acquired 91APP Malaysia, a leading omni-channel commerce solutions provider in Asia that provides a seamless multi-channel experience.
Some of the online and offline integration offered includes location-based push notifications (to send coupons before customers walk into the store) and store navigator (find nearby stores and lead them to the closest one).
ADVANTAGES
Chan said the new retail's main purpose is to offer a seamless shopping experience to customers across channels as well as personalised recommendations and offers.
"As the society dives more into the new routines post-pandemic, most companies have come out with strategies and approaches to meet and adapt to the changing behaviours and demands of wanting to stay at home and shop," he said.
Exabytes knew that this change will give a huge turn to businesses, hence the partnership with 91APP as a solution to grow its retail and e-commerce business.
"This platform allows retailers to take action, such as increasing sales, protecting margins and regaining control of the consumer journey," said Chan.
For instance, Watson has introduced a virtual hair colour mobile application to help consumers find the right hair dye products to make it easier to purchase.
"Now with major health precautions to avoid the spread of Covid-19, the company also came out with a barcode for lipstick brands, where customers can scan the code to match the colour of the lipstick on their lips as a way to remove the use of testers," explained Chan.
Besides that, adopting the New Retail concept also offers businesses and retailers a new way to business growth.
"With the increased use of technology and going digital, businesses and retailers are able to make sales easier because this concept offers convenience and seamless shopping experiences for customers by integrating the experience at physical retail shops with mobile and online official e-commerce stores," he said.
For example, a customer is trying on a pair of Model A shoes, but there is no stock in store. The customer can still place an order and have the shoes shipped to his or her home.
For retailers, meanwhile, they can identify and map the customers who shop online or in their physical retail shop.
"Retailers now would have the full journey or footprints of customers both online and offline, and be able to serve customers better," said Chan.
EXABYTES' OFFERINGS
Exabytes provides end-to-end support for a wide range of businesses, particularly small- and medium-scale enterprises (SMEs), to grow their digital presence.
"With that said, we want to provide easy access to this exquisite method to let people know how huge the benefit it can offer.
"We also want to educate the SMEs more on this method to familiarise them with the use of technology so that they can operate better and effectively on the Internet, especially in marketing, as that's what businesses and retailers can achieve most in business growth," said Chan.