Retail Reboot: How Tech Innovations Are Future-Proofing Australian Retailers
Written by Michael Dyson, Vice President, Sales & Marketing – APAC, SOTI
Amid cost-of-living pressures, Australians are tightening their belts, leading to a significant shift in retail spending habits. Data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics revealed that retail sales have remained stagnant since the beginning of the year, and even declined 0.4% in March. This trend stresses the growing reluctance of consumers to make non-essential purchases as household budgets tighten. In response, Australian retailers are turning to advanced technologies to improve customer experiences via enhanced inventory visibility, customer buying history and accurate delivery information.
As a result of this push within the retail sector to implement new technologies that enhance buyer experiences, the number of devices in global organisations has increased globally by 37% in the past year. Retailers today rely upon new apps, handheld point of sale (POS) devices, mobile printers, and barcode scanners to complete customer facing and supply chain and delivery tasks. However, not all Australian retailers have full visibility into how their devices are performing and what data they are collecting, nor can they manage these devices remotely to ensure effective usage.
How can retailers better manage their devices to ensure that they are helping to optimise work processes and support a positive customer experience?
Meeting the Demands of Tech-Savvy Shoppers
The reality for Australian retailers is that consumers are accustomed to leveraging technology to improve their daily lives and expect the same experience when shopping. In fact, according to a new industry research report from SOTI, Techspectations: Consumer Demand for Digital Transformation in Retail, 30% of Australian shoppers have considered shopping with a different retailer to receive a better in-store tech experience.
Deploying mobile devices throughout a retail environment in isolation won’t necessarily improve the customer experience. Rather, retailers must ensure they are supporting technology with the right software, management and processes.
While it is evident that retailers have increased their investments in technology, the research shows that they do not have the visibility of where the technology is falling short. The key to successfully deploying technology lies not just in its implementation but in its effective management.
To better understand what steps retailers must take to meet the in-store expectations of consumers in 2024, it is important to start by identifying the gaps.
Maximising Efficiency with Enhanced Visibility and Support
Whether they are located in the warehouse or on the shop floor, self-serve kiosks, scanners, smart shopping carts and mPOS devices only benefit customers when they work. When they go down – and no one on site can fix the issue – it can lead to complete operational disruption and a poor customer experience. One of the top challenges for retailers is gaining and maintaining visibility of their fleet of devices.
Trek Bicycle Corporation (Trek) is a leading global bicycle product manufacturer and distributor brand with operations in over 80 countries. Trek is one of many retailers that experienced challenges with in-store device management and its ability to support these devices globally. Struggling with device security, device performance insights and troubleshooting device issues, Trek experienced hours of unnecessary downtime impacting productivity and revenue.
“We have more than 300 devices spread across our eight facilities and at some of these facilities they don’t speak English. So, troubleshooting technology issues internally for our manufacturing warehouses was a huge challenge for us,” said Tom Spoke, Director of Global IT at Trek Bicycle Corporation. “Simply knowing where all our devices are, their status, health, things like that and being able to perform troubleshooting remotely was never something we had before.”
Trek has seen major improvements in its operational and worker productivity after leveraging SOTI MobiControl and SOTI XSight, all part of the SOTI ONE Platform. Trek now has improved visibility into its device fleet, enabling the organization to monitor how, when and where they are being used. With SOTI XSight, the IT team can quickly diagnose, support and troubleshoot issues remotely. This ensures its distribution facilities can ship same-day orders, so stores have available stock for consumers.
Bridging the Supply-Demand Divide
The retail supply chain stretches from the warehouse to the customer’s front door – and all points in between, including: the delivery truck, the distribution centre and the store shelf. The technology required to manage these different systems needs to “talk” to each other to ensure access to the latest data regarding inventory availability or delivery times. Total real-time visibility of business mobility is essential for retailers, with 45% of global consumers wanting same-day in-store pickup for online orders and a further 74% expect to always know where their order is within the delivery process. However, with sophisticated personalisation and seamless processes, online setting high expectations for shoppers, in-store technologies are struggling to level up. To address this, retailers must invest in AI-driven solutions and device management to provide consistent and convenient shopping experiences in both physical stores and online.
One retailer that has successfully navigated modern inventory challenges is Cheap as Chips. The discount variety store chain, with 51 locations across regional and suburban Australia, modernised its retail operations by leveraging SOTI MobiControl to manage its fleet of mobile devices. This decision came as a solution to the logistical hurdles posed by its dispersed workforce and the need for efficient inventory management and customer service activities.
“Our store associates rely on mobile devices to scan barcodes, manage inventory across different locations and process transactions from anywhere in the store, without the need for a fixed point-of-sale (POS) system. However, due to the remote locations of our retail stores, managing and maintaining devices is not straightforward,” explained Daniel Whittle, Head of Technology at Cheap as Chips.
Through the implementation of SOTI MobiControl, Cheap as Chips addressed the challenge of ensuring all employees have real-time access to the same information, no matter their location, thus significantly reducing the risk of costly device downtime and optimising customer service and inventory management tasks.
The Retail Technology Imperative
To meet the needs and expectations of modern consumers in 2024 and beyond, retailers must focus on prioritising the management of their critical devices. They must invest in solutions that best manage and maintain their technologies to a point where they operate at full, seamless potential.
In today's environment, retailers should optimise their existing technology investments by assessing the devices already present in their supply chain, such as printers, scanners and tablets. It is a good idea to collaborate with partners who can seamlessly integrate and manage these assets to avoid fragmented solutions and enhance remote operational efficiency. This proactive approach is crucial for developing a future-ready supply chain that ensures streamlined operations across both online and physical channels.
For more information on SOTI’s report, Techspectations: Consumer Demand for Digital Transformation in Retail, please click here.
