The next generation of e-commerce

The rise of ecommerce a decade ago had a severe business impact on many high-street stores; everything has changed especially consumer buying behavior. Hence, many big stores are set to transform shopping by establishing a seamless link between the online and offline worlds.  

In the near future, almost every product in such stores will be “smart” and in some cases virtual.  Radio frequency ID (RFID) tags – tiny microchips that can be attached to items and send out unique signals – have been mooted for use on individual items in retail for over a decade, but in combination with mobile technologies, they can not only revolutionize the supply chain, but also transform the payment experience.  What’s more, near field communication (NFC) chips will enable smartphones to become payment devices, and location-based services will give the customer what the want – and what they might not realize they want – in-store or at home.

By combining all these technologies and uniting home ad store retail channels, exciting new ways of tailoring shopping directly to the customer will become possible.  Retailers that fail to keep up are likely to risk the same levels of damage as those that failed to adapt to the ecommerce revolution.

With RFID tags attached to every item in a store and sensors on every shelf, it’s possible to detect when any product has been removed.  If the item is paid for, stock-keeping can be informed and more put out and ordered – or, if discarded in store, it can be returned to its correct location.  If the item is taken through an exit without being paid for, alarms can be triggered.  Since the RFID tag is unique, the stocking system will know which precise item has been sold; this can help to counter fraudulent returns.  RFID can also automatically inform employees about when to replace items that are past their self-by dates.  

Further, by using a shopper’s cart or smartphone to track his or her location within the store, a retailer can send vouchers or shopping suggestions for nearby products straight to the customer.  Alternatively, if customers are not in the store but nearby, the retailer can tempt them in with special offers, potentially based on their past purchases, or by offering loyalty rewards for stepping into the store, buying products, scanning barcodes or other activities.  If the shopper has been using a smartphone to make purchases at home, the retailer can also suggest in-store products to complement the purchases already made. 

In addition, virtual shelves, which are designed to overcome the issue of limited space, are touch-sensitive displays that demonstrate all the items in a store’s inventory.  Shoppers can scroll through the displays to locate items.  Then, using an app downloaded to their smartphone that works by using image-recognition technology, they can scan and order the item.  The order will be fulfilled in store if the item is available or be delivered to the shopper’s home at a time convenient to them.  Coupled with mobile personalization services, virtual shelves can be customized to feature items form the shopper’s buying history or accounting to their clothes size, for example.  And virtual shelves need not only be located within stores.  They can, for instance, appear on station platforms so commuters can do their shopping while waiting for their train home.   

Moreover, shopping carts will no longer be just baskets on wheels.  Equipped with tablet PCs or LCD screens and control panels, “smart carts” can scan products’ RFID tags as they are added to or removed from the basket.  The cart can also synchronize with a website or shopping list app on the shopper’s smartphone and help the customer to locate items in the store – or even recommend the fastest route around the store. It will also be able to make recipe suggestions or suggest products that complement items already in the cart.  More advanced carts will incorporate technology to track movements and follow the shopper around the store.

And finally, when the shopper gets to the exit, the store can total the prices of the products using either the smart cart’s running total or, provided every item has an RFID tag, by accessing the tags on each item in the cart directly using sensors at the exit.  If the store has payment details for the customer, linked to a smartphone, it can charge them automatically.  If not, and the customer’s smartphone has NFC technology built-in, then the phone can be sued to pay for purchases by swiping it at a pay point.