COVID-19 crisis has made ‘contactless’- an important part of everyday retail practice. During lockdown period, visionaries anticipated the changes that retail sector will undergo in the coming time. Contactless shopping was foreseen to be the new buzz with consumers avoiding crowded stores and preferring low exposure.
The novel coronavirus pandemic has drastically altered consumer behavior, and retailers are restrategizing their business models to plan the next move. Consumers are looking for safe and contactless buying options including contactless product discovery, flexible payment and delivery.
Retailers need to gear up for the transformations to make shoppers feel safe. They need to adopt a new trend that’s here to stay — Contactless CX to meet evolving customer expectations.
“Easyrewardz’s latest consumer report- Future Consumer Index: How COVID-19 has affected Retail Consumer Sentiments uncovers the key trends emerging in the new world — Health and safety first, Contactless sales.”
Let’s dive deeper to better understand how these trends impact the customer experience going forward:
Ensuring ‘Safety-first’ Shopping Experiences
Consumers are exhibiting hesitation to visit stores, try and buy products due to fear of being infected. They are expected to do less shopping trips and more planned purchases.
As per a survey by Easyrewardz, “80% consumers said that proper sanitization of store; trial rooms and products will strengthen their confidence to visit the store”.
Getting the customers visit stores will require brands to show that they are making efforts to provide consumers with a safe shopping experience.
The Future is Contactless
As the pandemic continues to cause havoc and raise concerns about safety while shopping in-store, it’s apparent that consumer behavior will shift. They will avoid cash transactions and swiping cards for a long time to come and are likely to use digital payment modes.
Easyrewardz’s recent survey discovered that 73% respondents said that they would like brands to adopt innovative payment mechanisms in order to make the process contactless.
In order to bring more consumers in store, brands are redesigning the strategies as per consumer’s convenience. New contactless features need to be enabled to address this concern and provide seamless customer experience. Self-payment mechanism has garnered utmost attention considering its aspect of paying digitally.
While a timeline to post coronavirus is still unclear, retail players need to adapt to the new normal and adjust to cater to the changing customer behaviour.
Switch to Safe and Smart Retailing with Shopster
Easyrewardz has launched Shopster — a new retail toolkit to empower the retailers in driving their business continuity. The innovative offering will enable store sales from home. Considering contactless, a need of the hour, the customized toolkit allows retailers to receive digital payments and share e-receipts.
Shopster Pay: Improve in-store sales experiences through contactless payment
Looking for safer ways to receive payments? Enable secure transactions by receiving payments digitally via Shopster Pay.
Key features:
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Hassle-free integration
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Share payment link via Email/SMS/ WhatsApp
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Points payment supported i.e credit card points, merchant points etc.
Digital Receipts for your In-store Sales
Switch to e-receipts. Share digital receipt with order details and personalized offers and recommendations.
Key features:
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Design custom e-Receipts
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Share e-Receipts via SMS/WhatsApp
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Add offers on e-Receipts
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Share bill details on e-Receipts
