By: Inquirer.net
The growth of retail lies in how brands create unique store experiences, which can be enriched using data collected through their online counterparts.
That is the advice shared by Aptos’ Nikki Baird, vice president of retail innovation, and Zaki Hassan, regional vice president, to retail companies in the Philippines that are still working out their digital strategies.
Hassan says that thanks to such technologies, retailers in the country are about to enter “a period of hyper growth” in the next decade, despite the still relatively low penetration of e-commerce in today’s market.
“To prepare for this growth, retailers need to increasingly merge their brick-and-mortar and digital touch points, ensuring the most seamless experience for the consumer and the most productive and profitable use of inventory across their network,” he says.
Aptos is a retail technology provider that focuses on omnichannel and planning solutions that help companies optimize their business processes and inventory productivity, while creating an improved experience for shoppers.
That improved experience, Hassan says, means making smart use of all the rich information brands can gather from their online stores to better engage customers once they walk into the physical shops.
“One mistake [retailers make] is thinking that you need to make the store more like the online experience. When you take that approach, it leaves a lot of the advantages of the store itself behind. You have store associates who are very knowledgeable and friendly, and can be that face to the brand—and that part of it is very hard to kind of express online,” Hassan says.
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