Technological transformations and changing consumer habits force retail to constantly reinvent itself. To adapt to these changes, merchants must constantly evolve their services and rethink the customer experience offered. To do this, it is essential to keep an eye on the latest dynamics in the sector.
In a brand new study, Adyen, the payment platform of choice for many leading companies around the world, deciphers the trends shaping retail.
E-commerce: where are French companies in adopting MACH architectures?
For this, she interviewed 10,000 traders from 23 different countries, in order to better understand their fears, expectations, strategies and investments in 2022 and beyond. It then asked 40,000 consumers from 26 different countries to share their opinions on these themes.
Digital transformation, a source of ambition for companies
Innovation in retail has accelerated sharply over the past two years. New uses have developed with consumers looking for ever more freedom and personalization in their shopping journey. Omnichannel and unified commerce now offer new perspectives. In France, 70% of merchants who connected their payment systems experienced growth of 20% or more in 2021.
For their part, customers are more satisfied. 61% of them believe that retailers have used technology in a smart way to make their products available during the health crisis. These encouraging results are pushing brands to accelerate their digitization. Of the French merchants surveyed, 89% plan to invest to strengthen their business in 2022.
Globally, this would translate to an increase in the growth rate of 4.7 points over the next five years for the sector. To achieve this result, companies must adopt a global vision of digital transformation. By obtaining this study, you will discover the challenges that await companies, particularly in terms of the customer experience. You can learn about the benefits of the Adyen solutionwhich has helped French brands such as Courir and SMCP to improve the experience offered to their customers.
Unified commerce, a strategic solution to grow faster
The flexible technological experiences offered by retailers during the health crisis have broken down silos between different sales channels. This has contributed to the emergence of non-linear customer journeys. Companies had to rethink the customer experience, for example through “click and collect” or new loyalty programs. 50% of global consumers say they used brand apps more often during this time than before. This is a 43% increase from the 2020 study results.Adyen.
Consumers have become accustomed to these new possibilities. The study reveals that 61% of them believe that merchants should offer the same multi-channel flexibility as during the pandemic. For retailers, the objective is to succeed in meeting these new requirements by implementing a strategic solution: unified commerce. This consists of centralizing online and offline sales channels. For customers, this translates to a more consistent shopping experience, as they can more easily switch between channels.
For companies, this allows them to link payments from the web, applications and stores and to have a centralized view of their activity. The information collected makes it possible to build personalized loyalty programs. This is an important element that can make the difference against the competition. 69% of French consumers surveyed said they would not return to a merchant with whom they had a bad online or in-store experience.
The importance of in-store customer experience
Over the past two years, online shopping has developed strongly. However, this does not mean that the in-store customer experience is less important than before. The study reveals that 62% of French consumers prefer to buy in store. In fact, they attach even more importance to the experience offered at the point of sale than on the Internet: 64% of them consider that stores should be attractive and offer something more than the products and services available online. line.
Here again, technological tools remain essential to offer an enriched experience. For example, 48% of French people would like to be able to try pre-selected items on the internet in stores. Combining online and in-store sales can also help to do well. 59% of French consumers are more loyal to merchants who offer to buy on the web and return the item at the point of sale. Yet only 24% of retailers allow it. To find out how payment innovations can help improve in-store experiences, just download the study.
Data, an essential element to build customer loyalty
Customers have very different expectations from each other. Some prefer to make a purchase on the internet and return it in store. Others prefer to buy products at the point of sale, but scan them themselves. For a retailer, the objective is to offer the right experience to each consumer. For this, it is necessary to improve its customer knowledge to better understand them. Data, especially payment-related data, plays a key role in this process. They make it possible to respond more quickly to customer requests.
For this reason, more and more companies are exploiting them. However, some do not yet understand their importance. In France, only 23% of merchants use data to better understand their customers and improve the customer experience, and 20% to better understand their consumers’ habits.
Payment data is particularly useful for managing inventory, creating personalized marketing campaigns, identifying the most popular product lines… In short, for making more informed decisions. However, their use requires keeping in mind the regulations in force, such as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards (PCI DSS) or the revised Directive on payment services (PSD2).
This is an important point for customers. 39% will only allow merchants to store and use data if there are security and privacy safeguards. Complying with regulations is essential both to protect consumer privacy and to protect your business from possible fraud or data breaches. With a global partner like Adyen, retailers ensure compliance with regulations around the world, whether it’s data protection rules like GDPR or payment authentication with PSD2 in Europe. for example.
To discover in more detail the major dynamics of retail and feed your future strategies, don’t forget to download Adyen’s study.