PRIOS:
Aspire Phygital Solution Framework– Features and Technology

There is no doubt that shopping trends have drastically evolved from pure brick and mortar stores to online stores. However, when the growth of online shopping resulted in the boom of ‘showrooming’, most retailers felt that the era of brick and mortar may cease to exist. But retail giants like Walmart, Amazon, Macy’s and Target proved otherwise by seizing such growing threats as opportunities and reversing the shopping trends with Phygital retail. This is because the buying behavior and shopping habits of the growing tech savvy consumers are strongly shaped by the convenience of their lifestyle which is dynamic and highly unpredictable.

"According to CBRE reports, nearly 55% of retailers aim to open more stores because over 90% of global purchases are said to be offline. The high rate of in-store shopping preference owes to the fact that customers can fully engage with the brand by ‘touching’ and ‘feeling’ the products before they buy them. When in-store is merged with technology, it redefines the customer experience to a whole new level in terms of revenue, brand value and customer loyalty."

"A MasterCard research shows that customers who make both online and offline purchases from a specific retailer buy 250% more on average. Keeping this in mind, retailers can implement the growing potential of Phygital retail by leveraging technology to revamp and inspire in-store experience. Rise of cloud apps, IoT, machine learning, big data and advanced analytics have enabled retailers to adopt a ‘connected-store’ technology that will focus on further enhancing customer experience."

PRIOS - Aspire’s Phygital solution

When retail business is centered upon customer experience, the challenge lies in finding a solution that will smoothly integrate both the digital and the physical world. For this reason, Aspire’s Phygital retail solution framework is designed to cater to the needs of modern retailers. PRIOS aims at helping retailers in providing the perfect Phygital shopping experience to their customers by seamlessly unifying the best of online and in-store experiences.

What sets PRIOS apart is its cost-effective, scalable Phygital integration solution that can benefit retailers from SMBs to large scale enterprises. By focusing on four core areas, PRIOS enables retailers to provide enhanced omni-channel experience during their customer’s buying journey.

1. Data-driven Personalization

As the retail business gets highly competitive, personalization is the key to sustainment. Customers are no longer skeptical to give away their personal information like their location, interests, and other preferences in order to gain a personalized shopping experience. According to survey by E-tailing Group Inc, 40% of consumers would prefer to buy from retailers that are willing to align with their preferences.

With PRIOS, retailers can get real time insights about customers by integrating analytical tools and other big data enabled technologies to enhance their shopping experience and increase customer engagement. They enable the right kind of deals, promotions, customized loyalty programs for loyal customers and new customers, location-based notifications latest updates based on their unique search history.

2. Empowered Store Associates

Modern retailing is empowering customers through empowered store associates. With PRIOS, associates can easily enlighten customers who visit their stores for their purchase. By studying the customer’s profile and purchase history, PRIOS equips the store associates with the right knowledge of products, inventory availability, prices, recommendations and offers. PRIOS also notifies the store associates when a customer enters the store in order to assist him/her the right way. Apparently, only well informed associates can make the right move for cross-selling and up-selling which are the most crucial parameters for getting some additional revenue.

3. In-store Mobile Experience

A study by Google shows that 82% of shoppers consult their phones on purchases that they’re about to make in-store. When a customer enters a store, merging the retailer’s existing app with PRIOS enables them to enter into store mode, scan their products, add them to cart and make online payments by attaching their loyalty points, if any. With the social media integration, customers can also check out reviews and other information about the product.

PRIOS gives the added advantage for customers to check stock availability before making a purchase. When customers find their preferred items out of stock, they can check for online options, make payments and choose to pick it up in-store or deliver them online, thus shaping the future of retail.

4. Enabling Self-service Fulfilment

Phygital retail is the era where customers have the choice to locate their products in the store and enable them to complete a hassle free checkout. Long queues can be quite annoying where customers can leave your store without completing their purchase. PRIOS helps your customers to easily scan their products, make their payment on mobiles and simply walk out without having to go through long queues and confusions.

While Phygital retail is clearly the future of retail, the question is how intelligent will your Phygital retail solution be. Aspire’s PRIOS enlightens these core areas with its streamlined features and integration capabilities to redefine customer experience and enable them to shop at their comfort and convenience.

Author Name : Sharon Paul, Research Analyst

Practice Head : Abhishek Mahajan, Digital Retail