Do your retail store teams feel like they have
Retailers have long surveyed their consumers time and time again to try and figure out how to serve them best and, ultimately, exceed their customer experience expectations whether in the physical or digital store. Corporate retail executives are also the typical subject of research when learning about investments, resources and strategic planning for their businesses.
All the while retailers know they need to align physical and digital experiences that enable store teams with the right tools and data — especially since those in-store teams agree doing so is a necessity. So, who is listening to those in-store retail associates responsible for executing that successful customer experience (CX)?
A recent study conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of Toshiba Global Commerce Solutions (2023) set out to provide new insight into how retailers can improve customer experience and unlock potential for growth in retail stores by addressing the technology disconnects between retail store associates and their corporate leadership.
Do your retail store teams feel like they have access to cutting-edge tech and current customer metrics?
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Toshiba Global Commerce Solutions delivers a total system that can stand up to today’s harsh retail food environment, maintain high uptime and integrate with many plug-and-go solutions with ease of deployment, manageability, flexibility and serviceability.
When aligning your unified commerce platform to your business strategy, focus on a total end-to-end solution that creates happy employees and subsequently builds better customer experiences. Look at the requirements and ask questions like:
Toolkit Tips
Providing the frontline retailers, grocers, convenience, specialty retail and even restaurant associates with the right hardware, software and services, is beneficial not only for those organizations internally, but the benefits trickle over to the end consumer.
Retailers need a strategic mix of solutions, services, and innovations that combine into an integrated retail experience that enhances operations, customer and employee experiences. “Imagine a store full of associates who feel really well-equipped. They’re supported, they’re valued. Think of the impact on metrics like customer loyalty and employee longevity … there are huge possibilities,” according to Pfeiffer, guest speaker at a 2023 Toshiba webinar.
"During the worst of the COVID pandemic, we all referred to associates as frontline workers. We saw them as heroes. They were saving our day and keeping us stocked. We need to remember that these are the boots-on-the-ground troops, literally the frontlines, face-to-face with customers. So when we equip them with the tools they need to better serve customers, it improves the outcomes for them … and the outcomes for customers.”
While retailers know that aligning physical and digital experiences to enable store teams with the right tools is critical for success, listening to what in-store associates need to bridge the corporate gap is an untapped opportunity where the consumer, employee and business can reap the business benefits of getting it right.
While retailers are busy navigating the aforementioned challenges surrounding the industry, new research from Forrester also reveals a gap between what corporate retailers think is happening in the store versus what is happening directly from the source — or, what employees actually need.
For all types of retailers—regardless of their sector—continuously pinpointing issues and strategically investing in solutions is a continuous process. Technologies deployed today must be flexible and adaptable to emerging challenges wherever they may arise. Retailers reveal that inflexibility is one of their core obstacles to change:
A Total Solution that Builds Better Customer and Employee Experiences
Readiness Checklist: Is Your Business Ready for an End-to-End Solution?
Making the Case for Empowered Retail Teams
Business Benefits to Bridging the Gap
New Insights from the Trenches Reveals Untapped Opportunities
Challenges Facing Retailers Today
Know Your Toshiba Technician.
Do your store associates have the right support to leverage those tools so they can focus on servicing their customers and not just the technology?
and find out where your business
stands and what you can do about it
Grocery retail pain points that need to be better served:
Aging infrastructure
20+ year-old applications
Complex environments
System uptime
Harsh environments
System lifecycles
Lower TCO
Interoperability
Vendor lock-in
Software compatibility
Mobile options
Complex deployments
Balancing security & customer experience
Future-proofing infrastructure
Reduce shrink
Loss prevention
Patch/AV management
Slow releases/new products
Faster issue resolution
The inability to digitize in-store customer data, outdated systems, and a lack of tools to share insights and operational data, are among the contributing barriers to improving the in-store shopping experience, according to the commissioned study conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of Toshiba Global Commerce Solutions (2023):
Hardware + Software + Services = Empowered Retail Teams
Find out how
Q. How do corporate leaders and store personnel differ in tracking in-store needs? Corporate leadership believes they are tracking more than store employees believe (5% to 15% delta).
Average transaction value
Gross margins return on investment
Sales per square foot
Survey calls to action on receipts/printed materials
Digital tracking
Customer retention
Inventory turnover
Foot traffic and digital traffic
Source: Forrester Consulting commissioned study conducted on behalf of Toshiba Global Commerce Solutions (2023)
In-store employees indicate a different set of tools used to serve in-store customers versus the tools corporate leadership thinks are being leveraged:
Cashier-assisted POS
Product search kiosks
QR codes
App to enable pickup orders
Cashierless checkout system / AI (tied)
QR codes
Artificial intelligence
Cashier-assisted POS
Augmented reality
Endless aisle
What’s more, corporate leadership ranked “AI insights into customer behavior” as the top technology or digital enablement that improves employees’ ability to provide a good customer experience, whereas, in-store associates ranked “internal retail communication applications/software” as the most important for their CX success (see chart below).
Q: What technology or digital enablement would improve your organization’s employees’ ability to provide a good customer experience?
Source: Forrester Consulting commissioned study conducted on behalf of Toshiba Global Commerce Solutions (2023)
According to Corporate …
Rank 1 Rank 2 Rank 3 Total
According to Associates …
In fact, guest speaker Forrester Principal Analyst Emily Pfeiffer stated in a 2023 Toshiba webinar that the in-store responses paint a really different picture from the corporate responses, noting that, “They [employees] are begging for help.”
"Those two stories are so different, and it paints the picture of the romanticized ‘we know we have this tech and we really hope we’re using it’ from corporate leaders, versus what the employees actually use as they interact with customers.”
Expected Impact
Retailers have the opportunity to meet customers’ varied expectations through a new and differentiated approach to the customer experience. Retail leadership can bridge the gap between physical and digital technology through:
improved self-service
Q. What are the benefits of a fully integrated digital and physical customer experience? Business impacts include improved efficiency of outreach, customer loyalty and even an increase in net revenue (see chart below).
By bridging the gap, retail leadership can enable the underserved employee with the right data, tools and services to bolster the CX. The technology should empower in-store associates to drive revenue generation both in-store and online by allowing them to focus on increasing customer satisfaction and improving brand reputation, rather than spending time servicing (or even not using) in-store investments.
Lower TCO should be measured by the cost of effectiveness of the solution over a lifespan:
Grocery Use Cases
Capture consumer dining spend
Opportunity for brand to reach additional customers
Ease of connectivity to existing systems and scalability
Reliable and durable solution
Self-checkout option
Flexible solutions
One stop – groceries + dinner
Dine in or take out
Order in-store
Order online – pickup BOPIS
Speed to checkout
Convenience Use Cases
Capture consumer dining spend
Opportunity for brand to reach additional customers
Ease of connectivity to existing systems and scalability
Reliable and durable solution
Self-checkout option
One stop – fuel + snacks
Take out options
Pre-order options
More convenient locations
Speed to checkout
Restaurant Use Cases
Customizable solutions that will scale for future use
Ease of connectivity to existing system
Reliable and rugged solution for kitchen use
Accurate order
Speed to order
Omni-channel (order online – pickup or delivery)
Digging Deeper: Success Stories
Local 106-year-old grocer Metcalfe's has delivered additional self-service experiences that have reduced wait times and connected its point of sale with the back office for connected data.
Founded in 1995, Hobbycraft has since grown to a nationwide business with over 100 stores across the UK, ready to support and inspire an ever-expanding variety of crafts.
“We selected the Toshiba POS terminals, knowing they would be a perfect fit for our varied range of stores and formats, with their robust and rugged form factor and a configuration that could be tailored depending on the size of the checkout area.”
READ THE FULL CASE STUDY
Frasers Group has improved and streamlined its customer experience across its business, as it continually pushes to deploy cutting-edge technology while aiming to meet the demands of an ever-evolving consumer who is looking for an enhanced shopping experience.
"Our vision is to serve our consumers with the world’s best sports, premium and luxury brands. Partnering with businesses such as Toshiba and Enactor, with their new Hybrid Kiosk technology, allows us to do so effectively, whilst further advancing our elevation strategy, and investing into the business’ long-term growth.”
Are you aligning your platform to your business strategy and not the other way around?
of retailers consider it important to expand into new categories & markets, yet 63% struggle to pursue opportunities due to limitations of their current commerce technologies
of retailers find it difficult to integrate store experiences with digital due to proprietary in-store technologies
of convenience and gas retailers rate labor costs as a core business driver followed by maintenance costs, and then hardware
Source: Forrester Consulting commissioned study conducted on behalf of Toshiba Global Commerce Solutions (2023)
Services
Software
Hardware
Easy to deploy
Easy to manage
Easy to support
Better ergonomics
Better integration
Better performance
Extended life cycles
Expanded testing
Heat, dust, chemical resistant
Expanded options
Modular design
Consumer facing capability
Serviceable
Usable
Reliable & Stable
Flexible
Modernization
System Availability
Flexibility
REDUCING RISK
SECURITY
TIME-TO-MARKET
said systems are outdated and not connected
report too many disparate systems and tools hinder a cohesive view of their customers and operations
believe that corporate management does not prioritize unifying stores with digital commerce
54%
60%
79%
Store Employees’ Response:
Corporate’s Response:
simplified customer interactions
improved tech usability for employees
in-app features for customer in-store experience
50%
48%
45%
37%
Retailer Benefits:
Retailer Benefits:
Retailer Benefits:
Customer Benefits:
Customer Benefits:
Customer Benefits:
access to the right cutting-edge technologies
State of the Industry:
of convenience and gas brands are dissatisfied with their current checkout experience
Areas Being Tracked
Store
Corporate
Keep Your Associates Safe In the Volatile Retail World.
AI insights into customer behavior
Digital product mapping/lookup in-store
BOPIS/click-and-collect facilities
Electronic shelf labels
Internal retail communication apps/software
Micro-fulfillment
21% 18% 22% 60%
17% 25% 18% 60%
19% 16% 18% 53%
16% 14% 15% 45%
15% 14% 15% 44%
12% 14% 12% 37%
Improved efficiency of customer outreach via customer data
Improved customer loyalty
Reduced employee attribution from better employee experience
Increase in net revenue
Saved cost on hiring new full-time employees
Improved differentiation from competitors
Rank 1 Rank 2 Rank 3 Total
and current customer metrics?
— Matt Louth, IT Director, Hobbycraft
— Frasers Group Spokesperson
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Do you have total control over your platform — from fully managed to fully self-managed — and everything in between?
Can you deliver your unified commerce capabilities on top of your existing store infrastructure?
Do you require flexibility, for example, as a point solution for a specific use case, or as a reference architecture to transform your business?
Do you need to gain total technological and financial freedom with a cloud, hardware, and deployment agnostic technology architecture?
READ THE FULL CASE STUDY
— Emily Pfeiffer, Principal Analyst, Forrester
49%
71%
65%
100%
— Emily Pfeiffer, Principal Analyst, Forrester
Untapped Frontline
WATCH THE STORY HERE
Be sure to leverage an end-to-end solution designed for retail that delivers the highest availability and lowest total cost of ownership that is:
Type of Business Impact
Tech or Enablement
Reliability
Serviceability
Versatility
How to Measure Success
Order accuracy
Efficiency driven
Higher uptime
Faster checkouts
Wall to wall
Proactive availability services
Remote management/monitoring
Self-service kiosk
Line busting
Mobile/online transactions
41%
36%
39%
31%
38%
42%
37%
34%
48%
47%
46%
46%
43%
43%
43%
42%
Rank 1 Rank 2 Rank 3 Total
Tech or Enablement
Internal retail communication apps/software
Digital product mapping/lookup in-store
Electronic shelf labels
Micro-fulfillment
AI insights into customer behavior
BOPIS/click-and-collect facilities
16% 18% 20% 54%
18% 16% 18% 52%
16% 19% 15% 50%
14% 17% 17% 48%
22% 14% 11% 48%
14% 15% 19% 48%
18% 20% 17% 55%
19% 15% 17% 51%
16% 18% 15% 49%
18% 15% 15% 49%
15% 16% 17% 48%
13% 16% 19% 48%
Dig into the data
These use cases are expanding into more key segments including:
Grocery
Opportunities
Finding an all-in-one partner to deliver extensive retail and technology knowledge that works alongside your business as an extension of your team — to create tailored roadmaps, strategies and plans — can empower your teams to implement, manage and maintain your technology investments.
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A fully integrated digital and physical retail customer experience includes:
Increased net revenue
Reduced employee attrition from better employee experience (EX)
Improved customer loyalty
Improved efficiency of customer outreach from use of customer data
55%
51%
49%
49%
Gas & Convenience
Specialty Retail: Apparel/Accessories/Footwear
Restaurant and Food Service
High-Volume Retail
Department Stores
Hyper-Stores
3
ELERA PRODUCTS CAROUSEL HERE
Base: 326 B2C retail decision-makers across North America
Base: 326 B2C retail decision-makers across North America
Source: 2023 Toshiba webinar featuring guest speaker Emily Pfeiffer of Forrester
Source: 2023 Toshiba webinar featuring guest speaker Emily Pfeiffer of Forrester
Source: Forrester Consulting commissioned study conducted on behalf of Toshiba Global Commerce Solutions (2023)
Source: Toshiba, “Convenience Trends Infographic 2023”
Source: Toshiba, “Convenience Trends Infographic 2023”
Source: Incisiv, “State of the Industry: Unified Commerce in Food and Grocery”
Source: "Empower Retail Stores With Smarter Insights And Aligned Technology To Improve CX" Infographic from Forrester Consulting commissioned study conducted on behalf of Toshiba Global Commerce Solutions (2023)
Source: Incisiv, “State of the Industry: Unified Commerce in Food and Grocery”
Base: 326 B2C retail decision-makers across North America
Source: Forrester Consulting commissioned study conducted on behalf of Toshiba Global Commerce Solutions (2023)
Base: 326 B2C retail decision-makers across North America
Base: 326 B2C retail decision-makers across North America