Mobile technology is taking the retail industry by storm, changing it daily. As technological advances occur daily, companies often need to adapt and incorporate the changes brought about by the technological revolution. The truth is a change regarding technology is more often good than not.
Mobile technology has empowered brands and retailers in many ways, and one of them is utilizing the power of the Crowd to introduce maximum efficiency in optimizing retail execution.
With "on-demand" and "immediacy" ruling the retail landscape, businesses must continuously adapt and be equipped to keep up with consumers by providing immediate availability and quality service.
Efficiency and immediacy can go hand in hand
There are two things that any retailer who has embraced digital disruption and transformed their businesses knows: 1) consumer expectations somehow rise quicker each day, and 2) no seller is safe.
One of the many effects of the digital revolution on the industry is the "Amazon Effect". The Amazon effect refers to the impact created by the digital marketplace on traditional brick-and-mortar business models, creating a general belief among consumers that expedited, on-demand deliveries are the baseline for any retailer. Thus, this effect has changed shopping patterns, customer expectations and the competitive landscape. Consumers now want more product choices delivered faster and at a lower cost. And, if anything goes wrong along the process, they expect the issue to be solved as quickly and smoothly as possible.
That said, the industry's immediacy culture has forced brands and niche retailers to evaluate their internal processes to be competitive in this ever-changing retail landscape. However, efficiency and immediacy can and should go together if any brand wishes to remain relevant.
Lucky for you, that does not have to pose a problem.
Sales are the highest priority for any retailer. And driving sales means ensuring constant product availability and winning consumers directly on the shop floor by guaranteeing better visibility of promotions and second placements.
Brands traditionally have conducted in-store audits to control what happens in every store with sales operations. However, these visits, in the traditional way, mainly occur during office hours, need a lot of resources, and require field agents who cannot make several visits in a single day and can only provide limited information as they are not able to report on the in-store situation as perceived by regular consumers. Overall, this traditional merchandising approach could be more efficient, as it involves complex planning and a lot of resources. Furthermore, the gathered data is not delivered in real-time, so retailers cannot make decisions and quickly provide solutions.
That is why mobile technology plays such an essential role in undertaking more efficient processes in retail; this is where the power of the Crowd comes into play in merchandising. The culture of immediacy requires on-demand activities and real-time decision-making, and Crowdsourcing is the perfect means to achieve that.
The benefits of crowdsourcing in retail
Today, Crowdsourcing is widely used by retailers and has become a pillar in terms of efficiency and gathering of data for analysis. It involves connecting to a professional and trained network of field reporters and merchandisers who are always available on-demand to perform any required merchandising or store auditing activities.
SmartSpotter provides a unique retail-specialized solution that connects flexible, experienced workforces and/or your personnel with modern digital applications to optimize in-store execution. Together, they gather information from far and wide, enabling our data-driven auditing and ensuring every in-store initiative is precisely as it should be.
The result is an improved experience for shoppers and product suppliers, keeping your retail sales and ambitions on track!
You are connecting retailers and suppliers to an unrivalled network of field reporters and merchandisers who provide the eyes, insights and hands that keep your retail execution perfect. Faster, more affordably and more efficiently.
This way, stores are visited sooner, more often, and in different and crucial time slots, such as peak times, weekends and holidays. In addition, brands are provided with real-time, so they instantly get to see what the Crowd founds and analytics that reveal what it means, guaranteeing on-demand decision-making. Thus, brands remain in charge of their products in the market!
But that's not the only solution. You can also choose to get your staff involved. After that, you only need to decide what you want to know!
If you want to know more about crowdsourced merchandising, simply contact us.
