Shopping is changing dramatically in Canada as retailers use new technology to sell their products. “Shopping and retail is becoming much more of a science,” says Doug Stephens, a consultant who predicts retail trends and is president of Retail Prophet Consulting.
Retailers and brands now collect more than just credit card numbers and transaction amounts to get information on how to market their products. They can mine social media posts, weather reports, reviews on products to better understand consumer behaviours and modify their strategies.
2.5 million price changes a day
“Every day Amazon makes about two and a half million price changes on their site,” says Stephens. “A lot of that is in response to minute by minute competitive factors. It may be a question of demand for a certain product at a given time.
“The point is Amazon has the advantage of being able to make these real time changes to their business to not only make sure customers are being better looked after but to make sure they’re optimizing their sales and profits as well.”
In-store personalized messages
“Every retailer is in a footrace with technology,” says Stephens. Stores are starting to use technology and sensors to detect shoppers and send them personalized messages based on previous shopping habits. Retailers in the U.K. are able to make real-time prices changes on products in stores depending on the profile of the customer or traffic in the store.
“Now the store environment is becoming like a pseudo physical website,” says Stephens. On-line retailers like Amazon and eBay are racking up 20% year on year growth and stores have to innovate to compete.
Delivery times cut dramatically
Technology has dramatically cut delivery times for on-line purchases. Retailers have gone from offering next day delivery to same day. EBay even promises one-hour delivery of some products in New York and San Francisco.
Amazon’s CEO is talking about half-hour delivery and, in the future, using drones to get packages to customers.
“Clearly there is this sort of this new moon race to be the first to get to this almost instant level of delivery. Online retailers recognize that that is the competitive frontier for them if they’re going to grow their businesses,” says Stephens.
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