Impact on Channels

Seven consumer trends were identified under sub-question one. The most dominant trends were Experience Shopping, Personalization, Omni-Channel Shopping and Social Shopping. Further, experts discussed the trends Showrooming & Webrooming, Now-Economy as well as Sustainability and CSR.

Figure 7: Overview consumer trends (own illustration)

The empirical study has shown that the trends Experience Shopping, Personalization and Omni-Channel Shopping directly impact all five distinct channels phases. Social Shopping was categorized in the phases awareness, evaluation and aftersales, but does

Overview Consumer Trends

1. Awareness 2. Evaluation 3. Purchase 4. Delivery 5. Aftersales

Experience Shopping Personalization Omni-Channel Shopping

Social Shopping Social Shopping

Now-Economy Web- & Showrooming

Sustainability &

CSR Sustainability &

CSR

not play a role in the delivery phase and only a minor in the purchase phase. Web- &

Showrooming begins in the awareness phase, further is being carried on to the evaluation phase where it has the highest impact and dragged onto the purchase phase.

The trend Now-Economy is closely related to the phases purchase and delivery, as the trend describes the necessity of immediate satisfaction of consumers’ needs and desires. Lastly, the trend Sustainability and CSR was mainly discussed in context with the delivery phase, but implications also show that customers inform themselves about companies behind the to be purchased product in the awareness and evaluation phase.

Under sub-question two, the interviewees discussed a total of twelve different digital technologies. Each digital technology has the characteristics and features to support a different set of consumer trends from sub-question one in different channel phases.

Figure 8: Overview digital technologies (own illustration)

To derive, which digital technologies best fit to which consumer trend the empirical data will be interpreted with the help of Harvey Balls. This is a very common technique to visualize qualitative information and aligns with the applied research methodology.

Fit in this context is understood as how much added value can a digital technology provide for a certain consumer trend. The evaluation is interpretative based on the data that was collected in the qualitative study. For those combinations that do not show a Harvey Ball, it means that sufficient data was not collected to allow serious interpretation and leaves room for further research.

VR & VR Interactive Digital Signage

Robotics Drones Self-Service Technology

Mobile Payment

Data Analytics & CRM (Predictive) AI Behavioural Analytics

iBeacons

Transparent Inventory Systems Social Commerce

Digital Technologies in Retail

Figure 9: Matching of consumer trends with digital technologies (own illustration)

Throughout the empirical study Experience Shopping was the consumer trend which was discussed with the most depth. Experts argue that the shopping experience can be key when developing a USP on a saturated market. Both literature and study have proven that a great shopping experience is crucial to any sort of customer journey. The importance for this trend also can be seen by the amount of technologies that were matched to this consumer trend. Ten out of twelve digital technologies can leverage the customer experience in both physical and online channels. Virtual and Augmented Reality as well as robotics have received the highest score as these technologies have to potential to create the biggest wow-effect. Despite the fact that the usefulness of such technologies is debatable, it can still be concluded that both add an extremely innovative touch to the customer experience. Furthermore, Interactive Digital Signage, Self-Service-Technology and Mobile Payment can be added to the pool of digital technologies that can be applied in the physical store. They help improve processes especially during the two phases evaluation and purchase. As the experts mention, customer service plays a major role in the shopping experience. Digital technologies that enhance personal service, such as Data Analytics & CRM as well as AI, also should be utilized to sustainably improve the customer experience.

When speaking about customer service, an important trend is Personalization.

Customers are expecting retailers to act predictively, knowing their needs and interests and delivering tailored and personalized communication strategies. Only information which are relevant and informative in the eyes of the customer should be communicated. To be able to deliver personalized services, each retailer is forced to collect and analyse as much data about customers as possible. Digital technologies such as Data Analytics and CRM further do the trick and are indispensable in context of personalization. To automatically identify deep patterns in large sets of data, Artificial Intelligence can be utilized to adopt the expected advisory role and help people find what they are looking for, by predictively recommending products and services at the right time. In form of chat bots, AI will also further impact the aftersales phase by helping retailers to automatically answer questions across all channels.

A great personalized shopping experience has to be delivered throughout all channels, as customers expect to be able to switch seamlessly from channel to channel and conduct Omni-Channel Shopping. As a result, retailers are forced to be present in each and every channel, allowing customers to interact through various touch points. To be

able to deliver orchestrated and consistent communication, experts see Data Analytics and CRM as a crucial factor as they often contain campaign management features as well as A/B-testing. This enables retailers to unify their communication strategies and adapt it to the needs of the customers. Transparent Inventory Systems in the context of Omni-Channel Shopping also play a major role. Both employee and customer should be empowered to check the availability of products on the shelves through the online channel. Click&Collect further should be enabled to reduce the chance of a negative experience due to the unavailability of a desired product. Furthermore, customers should be enabled to order products online through Interactive Digital Signage at the physical point of sale. Experts also discuss iBeacons as a possible technology to link the mobile channel with the physical PoS, although it is questionable whether the technology is actually necessary to enable personalized targeting.

The fourth most widely discussed consumer trend is the trend Social Shopping. As customers are increasingly using Social Media platforms to evaluate products based on recommendations and reviews of others, retailers should make use of Social Commerce features and embed third party opinions into their sales channels to allow customers to benchmark products throughout their shopping activities. With the help of Interactive Digital Signage, Social Commerce not only can be delivered in the online channel but also in the physical channel which can help engage the customer.

As communities aspects are gaining more and more momentum, retail stores should develop to more than just sales-space, rather they should become a community space for like-minded people to gather and discuss common topics. This is a great way for retailers to draw people into the store and increase sales along the way.

A far less discussed trend is the trend Web- & Showrooming. With the help of VR and AR, customers should be encouraged to browse through the product portfolio of retailers and gain a better insight of which products to buy. Similar to Omni-Channel Shopping, it is beneficial if retailers allow web-roomers to check the availability of products in the physical store through the online channel, as it may reduce the bounce rate and avoid a purchase at another retailer’s store. Hence, transparent inventory systems are not too unimportant in context with this trend. For showroomers, similar opportunities should be given with the help of Interactive Digital Signage inside the store.

The Now-Economy is a trend heavily impacting the two phases of purchase and delivery. Customers want immediate satisfaction; long waiting times cause them to abandon the purchase, in both physical and online channel. For many retailers this is still a big issue due to long waiting queues at the checkout especially at busy times.

SST and Mobile Payment systems may help eliminate long queues and if applied correctly, they can significantly speed up the checkout process and reduce customer dissatisfaction. In the context of this trend, experts also discussed drones as an alternative to traditional delivery methods for the online channel. They are convinced, however, that drones will not take over the delivery phase in the future, as traditional shipping methods, especially in urban areas, already achieve same-day delivery.

The last trend, Sustainability and CSR, has not been directly matched with any digital technology by the experts, thus will not be taken into account.