For retailers, integrating the latest technology is not a choice, it is a necessity. While technology has presented many challenges for brands, it has also created many opportunities. From the guardian, here are five ways brands can keep up:
Channel Consistency – A brand’s message can get lost by consumers as they move across touch points; walking into the store, using their smart phone on the bus and then using their PC or tablet at home. Brands must be structured to ensure consistent delivery. This requires that brands not only know what their values are, but they also filter them across the organization, so the brand message can be expressed confidently across consumer platforms.
Offer Best-In-Class – With access to so many brands, across so many channels, consumers will quickly disregard anything that doesn’t live up to their expectations. Brands must create a friction free world for consumer, while adapting internal technologies that will keep up.
Decentralize – Retailers must make consumer’s experience across channels easy and enjoyable, this might require small adjustments outside of high-level brand strategies. There are so many small interactions outside of a brand’s control that all employees touching customers, from store managers to customer service agents at call centers, need to feel empowered to create the best experience for the consumer.
Co-create – Social media is a two-way conversation that allows consumers to take part in brand activity. Brands can use this unstructured consumer driven data to drive ad campaign creation or fuel marketing content. Brands can use social media platforms to show humility and open up to consumers, finding a new path towards brand relevance.
Proximity Mobile Messaging –Brands can use this technology to provide valuable information and offers relevant to consumer’s purchase path. Consumers will adopt technology that provides information that helps them move seamlessly to their decision point.
