Retail Tech Changing in the Blink of an Eye

NEW YORK — Technology can change faster than the speed of light, something definitely evident at the 2016 National Retail Federation (NRF) Convention & Expo, Retail's Big Show, taking place at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center here through Jan. 20.

Last year, EMV — an acronym for Europay, MasterCard and Visa, the three companies that originally created the security standard — and related security technologies were the talk of the show, whether it was in educational sessions or during discussions with vendors on the expo floor.

Although security still held a prominent place at the 2016 NRF Show, its spotlight was shared by plenty of discussion regarding digital communication and how to build customer relationships in this new environment.

This topic was the subject of several educational sessions, including one entitled “Creating Lasting Relationships in a Digital Age.” According to session speaker Jim Barnes, CEO of Enspire Commerce, the digital age will not go away any time soon. The main question is how retailers can convert customers as times change.

The first mistake retailers make is having separate brick-and-mortar and digital strategies, stressed Barnes. “Retailers don’t think horizontally, only vertically,” he told a standing-room-only crowd.

Retailers must think about creating intimacy in a digital environment, added Barnes. The way to do this is via “clienteling,” the art of helping a customer buy vs. selling to them.

To create more in-store engagement, Barnes recommends retailers do the following three things:

1. Develop a customer service roadmap. Start with an end goal in mind and know how customers buy products in the retailer’s store.
2. Change mindset. Move from having sales transactions to building a personal relationship. Salespeople should become personal shoppers for their customers. Be a brand ambassador.
3. Evaluate enabling technologies. “Is new technology the answer?” asked Barnes. “Yes and no. Technology can also be an inhibitor."

Sales associates should have a "personal ‘black book,'" concluded Barnes. “You need to have one-on-one relationships. Contact [customers] via text for example and tell them they bought a certain item and maybe they’ll like this [other] item.”

MOBILE MARKETING

Of course, you can't talk about digital communication without talking about smartphones. In another educational session entitled “Capitalizing on Key Consumer Moments at Retail,” speakers Russell Young, senior vice president of marketing and creative services for Stratachache, and Josh Johnson, senior manager of digital innovation for AT&T Inc., noted smartphones are ubiquitous and retailers need to connect to customers both in-store and outside the store.

In fact, Johnson revealed that consumers tend to look at their smartphones an average of 150 times a day, which equates to five or six times during the average retail visit.

“The challenge is creating tech-enabled moments and turning these moments into a story,” said Young. “We need to remind customers the value they have.”

Retailers should follow a four-step process when trying to attract digitally active customers:

• Create an experience for customers;
• Test and establish goals;
• Learn and refine a program based on takeaways;
• Scale and deploy in rapid fashion for the most impact.

SECURITY STRESSED

Although security shared the spotlight with digital communication, it was still prominent throughout the NRF Show floor. Traditional security products intended to prevent in-store theft from companies such as Axis Communications were displayed, as were products intended to prevent cyberhacking, such as ones featuring EMV, point-to-point encryption and tokenization.

While the Oct. 1 EMV point-of-sale liability shift deadline already passed, exhibitors stressed that EMV will not prevent data breaches on its own.

“Some retailers think EMV upgrades are enough,” one exhibitor told CSNews Online. “But it never would have prevented the large data breaches at Target or Home Depot. Hackers are a very sophisticated group and have had a long time to figure out EMV [as it has been used as an anti-hacking method in many other countries for a decade].”

Also widely seen on the NRF Show floor was a diverse array of payment solutions. Balance Innovations and Glory Global Solutions were two companies that exhibited products providing cash management and cash analytics services.

For the forecourt, NCR Corp. announced at the New York trade show that it is teaming up with Invenco to offer a large touchscreen fueling experience at the pump. The NCR Outdoor Payment Terminal allows retailers to enhance future consumer interactions, such as engaging fuel consumers for marketing promotions or sales inside the store, ordering food items, playing the lottery, or interacting with loyalty program rewards, the company stated. The EMV-ready terminal will come with either 7-inch or 12-inch interactive touchscreens.

On the merger and acquisition front, Verifone Inc. announced at the show it will acquire AJB Software Design Inc., a Toronto-based provider of payment gateway and switching solutions for large merchants in the United States and Canada. AJB connects devices from Verifone and other providers to more than 100 processors and applications — such as fleet cards — required by convenience stores and other merchants. According to Verifone, this agreement essentially means the company is hosting AJB software in its secure data center, thereby extending its services offering to petroleum retailers.