Store to web, try and pay later, queue boosting, omnichannel refund: zoom on the customer journeys that enrich and smooth in-store experience.
We have already had the opportunity to talk about the favourite journeys of the upturn to bring consumers back to the store, or to take orders remotely and develop shipping or local pick-up. Now, how can we optimize the in-store experience to make customers want to come back, and provide them with additional services, while securing their in-store experience? Let's take a closer look at the journeys likely to optimize the in-store experience, based on our deep expertise of payment transactions.
"Store to web" enables to extend the inventory of products or services offered in the store by adding products from the website at the checkout. This journey has many benefits: as a merchant, it allows you to deal with unavailability (product, size, colour, customisation) in your stock and making the sale anyway with immediate order and delivery at the point of sale or at home. In order to make the experience more fluid, the must-have is to be able to offer a single basket in case of mixed purchases of products from the store and products from elsewhere (from either the web stock or other shops). The consumer pays only once for all his purchases. Dalenys payment platform allows an automatic adjustment for the dispatch of the flows after this type of transactions, with fully customizable commission rules (by point of sale, product...) that encourage every local point of sale to participate in these additional sales.
"Try and pay later" (or “take and pay later”) is a trend that has serious assets in this period when consumers want to spend as little time as possible in the store, and fitting rooms are still often closed. Whereas on a classic journey, the consumer buys his items, tries them on at home and then comes to the store for a refund if needed, here the consumer is not debited directly: the amount of his order is only "captured". The debit will only be made a few days later, when the customer has confirmed whether or not he keeps the items. In the fashion industry, the advantages are obvious: this journey enables to overcome some customers’ barriers, as it allows to spend less time in-store; it also removes the uncertainty when paying for items you are not sure about. Apart from the fashion industry, many merchants have adopted this journey and see the advantages in allowing their customers to try their new purchase before deciding whether or not to keep it. We are therefore seeing this path emerge in DIY, furniture and decoration, toys...
"Self checkout" (or "scan and pay") is appreciated by consumers who are keen on contactless shopping. This method of payment, at specific cashless terminals where consumers scan their products themselves before paying, avoids physical contacts and very often reduces waiting time at the checkout, as these are dedicated payment terminals which are set up in addition to traditional checkouts. The queues are therefore shorter.
"Queue boosting" with smart POS or mobile POS is another way to reduce waiting time at the checkout in stores. For this customer journey, the sales team is equipped with tablets to collect credit cards transactions anywhere in the store, without having to use an equipped cash register. The salesperson has more time to fulfil his customer advice mission, since he is not required to be present behind the checkout at all times. This equipment also allows a smooth transition towards the purchase, offering the customer a personal service that goes right up to the purchase, in the manner of a dedicated personal shopper or advisor.
Queue boosting with smart POS or mobile POS is another way to reduce waiting time at the checkout in stores.
"Omnichannel refund" is a sophisticated version of the standard refund (I buy from one place and bring the product back to the same place), which opens up possibilities for the consumer to deal with his own constraints as best as possible. The merchant allows him to bring back all or part of his order and be reimbursed at any point of sale (whether it is the same shop or a franchisee), or even directly online, by sending back his products by mail. A way to give maximum flexibility to a step that could be considered tedious by the customer. On the merchant's side, this mechanism is only possible with a complete view of all payment flows (both online and in-store transactions, throughout the shops network), that must be accessible in the same place. With Dalenys and its unified payment platform, you can easily find all the transactions and view them on the same dashboard, so that you can make the best decisions linkedin to the buyer purchases, whatever the channel or store being concerned.
Do you want to set up journeys that build customer trust and loyalty? Contact us to discuss your projects: hello@dalenys.com. Our teams will be in charge of providing the most successful payment features to optimise your customer experiences.
