High-street retail: from anonymous customers to strong customer relationships

Click & Collect can also be seamlessly integrated, so that items ordered online can be collected in store on the same day. 

Payment transaction data can be displayed to customers with suggestions about interesting products as they pass the store.

When customers enter the store, they can check in for example, via an app. Thanks to this recognition, customers receive individual recommendations and personalized offers – based on their previous purchasing behaviour and interests – directly on their smartphones, personally from sales staff or, in the case of certain technologies, even directly from the relevant item. 

With person tracking, the behaviour and walking paths of customers in the store can be tracked closely and analysed using heat maps. Body tracking and Smart shelves even make this possible at shelf level. Product placement can be optimized throughout the sales area.

Cameras and artificial intelligence can be used to identify customer emotions. This allows suitable products to be suggested. Alternatively, the data can be used to optimize the product range. 

Checkout and payment are integrated seamlessly into the shopping experience using embedded payment or invisible payment, without customers having to queue at the checkout; in the best case scenario, even without interaction, with the payment process taking place automatically in the background. 

The retailer’s app displays the automatically collected loyalty points and the digital receipt for the purchase. After making a purchase, visitors receive personalized information about selected offers that they are likely to be interested in, or exclusive discounts. 

Retail companies need to maximize the number of digital customer accounts. To achieve this, they need to be relevant to customers and have a high level of returning customers with a high frequency of visits and a high level of trust.

For the initial creation of these customer accounts, companies also require “digital onboarding” with an identification mechanism that balances the benefits of as few barriers to entry as possible against querying the mandatory data, including consent for targeted data use.

What does this look like in practice?

• For small and medium-sized retail companies, the relevant data is stored in the customer account that represents a user’s “digital identity”. Generally, this can be amended by the user. The company must also offer users the option of registering payment instruments when they are logged into their customer accounts.
• Large retail companies generally offer their customers a digital wallet as a customer account, which contains digital receipts, bonus programmes and coupons, alongside their purchasing history. 

Apps, websites and digital marketplaces serve as digital bridges to customers. On the one hand, they are the central access point for all customer interactions. On the other hand, they are the essential link between online and in-store retail.

An app can also serve as a companion in the store, for example, by making indoor navigation easier, providing digital shopping lists or displaying personalized real-time offers (see also customer authentication technologies). But it’s also clear that the app must be relevant to ensure that customers download it in the first place – and the bigger the company, the easier this is.

For smaller companies, digital bridges also include websites that offer the option of registering digitally as a customer or that function as third-party marketplaces. 

The next step is the use of suitable technologies for the unique authentication of customers in store. There are a range of solutions for high-street retail, depending on the use case and setting – such as authentication via a customer card at the checkout, scanning a QR code or using an app when entering the store, or intelligent camera systems. Biometric methods such as fingerprint, facial recognition or palm scanning are also possible, provided that this is permitted by data protection law and accepted by the customer.

The technologies also recognize and measure the uptake of services by each customer account. They also carry out the actual checkout process, including the payment process, by sending the token to the payment service provider using an API via payment provider. They can also trigger additional services such as digital receipts, coupons, etc. 

Nowadays, a compelling shopping experience also includes convenient payment options that customers can register or store with the retailer in a one-time process in their customer account.