In the Middle East, the retail supermarket sectors in cities like Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Riyadh, Muscat, and Doha (to name a few) are at high levels of maturity.

PUNE, MAHARASHTRA, INDIA, May 16, 2024 /EINPresswire.com/ — The standards of customer experience maintained by supermarket brands in the region are considered to be one of the best in the world. It is important for new and upcoming supermarket brands in the region to leverage technology to elevate their CX to competitive levels. The growing popularity of customer satisfaction survey companies is a glaring indicator of the heightened emphasis on customer experience strategy and performance. In this communiqué, retail consulting brand YRC highlights some of the most popular and emerging technologies to improve customer experience in supermarkets.

Get advise for E-commerce retail business : http://www.yourretailcoach.ae/contact-us/

𝐒𝐞𝐥𝐟-𝐂𝐡𝐞𝐜𝐤𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐊𝐢𝐨𝐬𝐤𝐬

Self-checkout kiosks are standing machines with scanning and payment capabilities in retail stores like supermarkets for customers to complete the checkout process without the assistance of any cashier. These kiosks make the shopping journey more speedy and convenient by providing a platform for quicker checkout. These machines also serve as support or alternative to manual counters, especially during busy hours. Self-checkout kiosks prevent the creation of long checkout queues. With both manual and automatic checkout platforms in place, customers have to wait less to complete their shopping trips. Automated kiosks also provide a contactless experience to customers. The need for futile interactions also goes down as customers can proceed with their checkout requirements by communicating with a machine. As experienced supermarket setup consultants with expertise in customer experience management, YRC maintains that self-checkout/interactive kiosks are instrumental during shopping or purchasing when in airports or visiting foreign countries with language incompatibilities.

𝐂𝐚𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐞𝐫𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐂𝐡𝐞𝐜𝐤𝐨𝐮𝐭 / 𝐎𝐓𝐆 𝐂𝐡𝐞𝐜𝐤𝐨𝐮𝐭

Cashierless checkout is an underestimated terminology given its capabilities. It is a highly automated checkout solution that uses a network of cameras, sensors, smart shelves, mobile applications, and other relevant tools and technologies to give effect to automated checkout. The concept is explained using a standard supermarket journey mapping. Upon entering a store, customers are required to scan a QR code from their smartphones that attaches the shopping activities of customers (e.g. picking a product and putting it in on cart) with the digital ecosystem of that store. Cameras, sensors, and smart shelves register the product selections of customers. There is more than one way of confirming final selections because every pick-up may not be for purchase. After finalising product selections for purchase, customers simply have to walk through a designated area and the payment or redemption is automatically completed from their shared and registered digital accounts or wallets.

𝐄𝐥𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐢𝐜 𝐒𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐟 𝐋𝐚𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐬 (𝐄𝐒𝐋𝐬)

A much more comprehensive name for Electronic Shelf Labels (ESLs) would be electronic price displays or digital price tags. ELSs are small electronic display tokens that show product information, prices, applicable promotional offers, and other such information as may be relevant to shoppers. The advantage of ELSs is that they can be updated remotely, say from a store manager’s computer system. In the case of traditional paper or plastic tags, such changes would have to be done manually. This ability has many positive influences on customers’ shopping experience in supermarkets. Shoppers have access to more customised and detailed information about products reducing the need for interacting with sales staff for basic queries. It also reduces the need for the sales staff to explain offers and discounts in detail. A big advantage with ELS is also that supermarket retailers can tailor their offers to the level of individual products with which customers gain access to a wider net of offers and discounts.

𝐒𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐒𝐡𝐨𝐩𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐂𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐬

Smart Shopping Carts are nothing but upgraded shopping carts with built-in technological capabilities for enhanced automation enabling smooth shopping and checkout. The in-built cameras and sensors allow customers to track their purchases and keep a tab on the total bill. Some smart carts are also equipped with interactive interfaces that allow customers to enhance their shopping experience like in-store navigation, detailed product descriptions, etc. The most impressive element of smart carts is the ability to make bill payments. Smart shopping carts are like automated in-store virtual assistants. Enhanced features like voice-enabled commanding make these smart carts deliver a more immersive customer experience.

𝐈𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐊𝐢𝐨𝐬𝐤𝐬

Simply speaking, interactive kiosks are like ATMs with a few more capabilities to facilitate retail shopping. Customers can interact with these kiosks for a wide range of activities like account management, searching for products, accessing product information, checking product availability, in-store navigation guidance, and checkout and bill payment. Interactive kiosks have more functions than self-checkout kiosks as the primary function of the latter is to facilitate checkout. The common solution is an integration of the features of both interactive and self-checkout kiosks.

Other technologies like smartphone applications (not necessarily for eCommerce), analytics, and customer experience platforms (applications) are also important and play a big role in elevating supermarket customer experience.

Get advise for E-commerce retail business : http://www.yourretailcoach.ae/contact-us/

Dr Rupal K Shah
Mind-A-Mend Consultancy Private Limited
+91 98604 26700
[email protected]
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