Who doesn\u2019t love shopping? Everybody does. No matter what season it is in the UK, you will never find Oxford Street on its own. However, the impact of Ecommerce has led the high street shopping centres to think about the innovation they required to implement to enhance customer engagement and experience at the best levels. When today\u2019s consumers visit malls, they are looking for experiences that go well beyond traditional shopping. <\/p>\n
Let us have a look at the digital innovations shopping centres have implemented to save the high streets.<\/p>\n
The first shopping centre to use the Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) beacon technology was on the south coast in England. This enabled the shop retailer to get notified about the customer\u2019s physical presence and deliver their targeted ads. Then it continued with other shopping centres where customers could get the discount offers straight to their mobile phones without having to open an app or browsing the website. <\/p>\n
The first rollout of this technology was in The Swan Centre in Eastleigh where shoppers inside the centre receive discount offers from retailers straight to their phones, without having to open an app or browse a website. The service has been developed by UK based tech startup TagPoints. Using Beacon technology, the company has incorporated its unique \u2018TagBeacons\u2019 platform into The Swan Centre\u2019s popular white-labelled \u2018SmartRewards\u2019 app. <\/p>\n
Along with a welcome message, customers entering the centre receive 10 points to their loyalty account (which can be used in conjunction with merchant discount offers). TagPoints co-founder Dave Mitchell said that Location-based technology allows them to use digital marketing strategies to improve the shopping experience.\u201d \u201cWe\u2019ve already seen that when shoppers receive targeted offers \u2013 based on where they are within the shopping centre \u2013 they\u2019re more motivated and hence likely to use them and connect with the brand behind the offer.<\/p>\n
The concept of- How Ecommerce can save the high street- should be adopted by the shopping centres. The shopping outlets must use the Brand on the web to drive the footfall to the stores and help their tenants enhance the in-house experience online as well. It is all about using both the mediums effectively for one common purpose- An increase in footfalls to the store. To create a marketplace where the space in the shopping centres work as a place to find entertainment and showcasing of the products will provide a good experience to the customers. After it is all about promoting the brand along with trading.<\/p>\n
Shopping malls are using technology to transform mall usability as an important area for enhancing customer satisfaction. There are numerous opportunities for shopping centres to convert customer pain points to new delight points. IoT Technology, for instance, can be used to address one of the biggest challenges shoppers face at the mall \u2013 finding parking. Sensors located in the parking area detect how many parking spots are available on each level and give visual indicators to drivers.<\/p>\n
After registering its brand name in the UK in December using the trademark Amazon Go, Amazon is set to bring its high tech free stores to the UK. The test has been done in Seattle, at Amazon headquarters, where a mobile app tracks customers as they walk in or out, record the items they pick up and take away. The store is currently only available to company staff but will open to shoppers from next year. The cost of purchases will be automatically billed to their account. It is regarded as \u201cThe world\u2019s most advanced shopping technology\u201d.<\/p>\n
Following the footsteps, other businesses are also trying to implement the assistant free concepts to shop.<\/p>\n
In the fight of the retailers with a physical store to online retailers is to cope up with the deliveries. Making deliveries is one of the biggest problems. In cosmopolitan or metropolitan cities, traffic congestion is one of the biggest problems. To overcome this, would you believe, a solution for the delivery is being tested using Drones. To test the feasibility and viability as per the regulations, Amazon has already started working with the UK Government for delivering small parcels.<\/p>\n
Customers are entertaining and embracing such technological innovations rapidly and their expectations from the retailers are changing, but shopping centres are somehow resistant to keep up the pace. Customers have instant opportunities to comment on what they demand and what they don\u2019t like about the products they want to purchase. <\/p>\n
There\u2019s nothing the shopping centres can do about it if they aren\u2019t listening and responding by having a social presence. It is all about getting it right by engaging with consumers through various digital channels. Adapting and implementing technologies to enhance the shopping experience and engaging to customers is going to be beneficial for the retailers in the long run.<\/p>\n