Retail under pressure, self-service to the rescue?

John Anderson says the cost to implement self-service here is unreasonably high.

Speaking yesterday, 5 May 2010, at the 2010 JusTTouchIT conference and expo in Midrand, Johannesburg, Yeahpoint founder and CEO, John Anderson, said it is highly likely that these trends will make more cash available and put retail under tremendous pressure.

“It also means that retailing will become more expensive and customers become smarter and more demanding,” he said, adding that retail investing will continue and other industries will capitalise on this investment growth.

This might culminate in the trend whereby consumers will begin to demand self-service, wanting information and services immediately, demanding relevancy and transparency and access to experts and inventory.

“As the process of universal retailer acceptance and new business models maturation takes place, we will begin to see a huge proliferation of self-service,” he said.

“So it you want to be on the bus, this is the time to get on board.”

But Anderson insisted that there should be consistency across all platforms when using technology whether it is retail, interactive, web, phone and mobile.

Creating buzz outside and inside the stores

Interactive windows and walls attract attention, deliver information and differentiate, while inside the store one can use a projection or LCD for a brighter response, Anderson explained.

“Use natural movement gesture and visual signage to create interactivity with customers. Multi-touch screens, which are a new technology and no longer a myth, are more prevalent and more market-related despite being expensive to develop.”

Furthermore, he said retailers can also deploy holograms inside their stores, which he said require no glasses, are fully interactive, short and impactful and work with 2D and 3D combo.

“Capitalise on natural consumer action, link product to information, track store activity and be reliable and flexible,” he advised.

“Remember that self-service is a new media but also a mature and powerful medium with a proven return on investment.

Unreasonable costs hamper implementation

Yeahpoint's headquarters are located in Sydney, Australia, but the company has begun operating in South Africa just over a year. But, already Anderson has identified some challenges, which he believes, might hampering the growth of self-service in this country.

“Cost to implement self-service here is unreasonably high, and we need to get local pricing,” he lamented.

“For many years, software and other technologies have been priced in US dollars.

“There is also the challenge of network and bandwidth availability.”

However, despite many organisations planning to implement self-services to shape consumer experience, it has been established that security is also one vital aspect to consider in this age of identity theft and massive fraud.

Chris Joubert, customer interaction consultant at Dimension Data, said: “People should also consider the technology of voice biometrics as an alternative to secure self-service.

“Voice biometrics verifies whether you are who you say you are to ensure that the speaker is real and impostors are rejected.

“This is an extension of an organisation security policies,” he said, adding that the process has little error margin compared to finger print, for instance.”

Go to www.yeahpoint.com.