Digital trends can impact a company’s overall operations not just in productivity but also in customer interaction. They help improve business processes, boost brand awareness, and exceed customer expectations. Arming yourself with the latest tools will let you innovate faster and ensure continued business success.
Here are various digital trends that help streamline processes and engage customers better:
Real Estate Process Management Tools
Various technologies help business real estate processes in the automation and optimization of tasks to get efficient results. Process management tools help real estate professionals create automated budgets and schedules, control project costs, and manage team communication. These extensive programs are designed to improve reporting and initiate real-time collaboration.
VR and AR in Online Shopping
Virtual and augmented reality technologies transform the retail industry by improving the way consumers shop. It’s a new way of presenting your products or services that creates a cool and interactive shopping experience. VR and AR in retail are expected to reach $17,864.86 million from 2021 to 2028, so businesses begin to adopt this technology to get ahead in the market.
It allows customers to virtually “experience” the product before they make a purchase, increasing their confidence that they’ll receive an item that matches their expectations. This “try-before-you-buy” model effectively helps customers make informed decisions and reduces complaints and product returns.
Here are some types of VR and AR applications:
- Preview Placement: It gives customers a real-time preview of what a couch, television, or other furniture may look like when placed in their own space. Additional features like moving and rotating the items contribute to their decision-making and result in higher customer satisfaction.
- Virtual Try-on: Since shoppers want to know what they are getting, AR allows them to try on clothes, jewelry, or makeup to know how these items will look like. It helps ease their worry if a product will work on them and gives them more freedom to mix and match items, especially clothes and jewelry.
- Virtual Stores: Virtual showrooms let customers visit your store remotely and browse your products the same way as being inside a physical store. They can also virtually meet up with friends to shop together in real-time.
- Interactive User Manuals: These can help customers understand how your products work through videos, graphics, or animations. Most AR user manuals feature apps that scan the product, then show text and graphics in real-life environments.
Logistics Automation in Retail
Logistics management software digitizes various logistics activities to ensure timeliness even without manual work. It helps speed up the delivery process, manage online and offline orders, and build effective order fulfillment strategies. Most customers shop online and expect their orders delivered immediately, so having automated logistics solutions will result in fast shipping and happy customers.
An inventory control system reduces shipping errors or damaged goods and allows accurate tracking of deliveries. It also alerts customers of their order’s shipment and receiving dates and gives them 24/7 visibility to the order progress.
Contactless Payment Solutions
Contactless payment technologies are one of the top digital transformation trends driven by the COVID-19 pandemic. Most establishments develop contactless solutions to avoid the further spread of the virus. While this technology helps overcome the effects of the pandemic, it also features a wide range of benefits for your business:
- Reduces Risk of Fraud: Contactless payment methods are secure due to the one-time code that customers receive on their mobile when they make a purchase. It can only be used once, so it helps prevent any fraudulent activities.
- Increases Customer Satisfaction: Electronic payments are faster and more convenient than cash or credit cards. Faster and secure transactions result in a better customer experience as they don’t have to wait in long queues when making a purchase.
- No Additional Cost: Businesses don’t have to pay additional fees when they enable contactless payment methods. You’ll pay the same rate as with a normal credit card transaction with added safety and convenience.
Artificial Intelligence and Automation
Automation means higher productivity and cost-efficiency to a business. Technologies that use artificial intelligence like smart assistants, security surveillance, and automated responders can handle a wide range of repetitive tasks. Simply using a bot to deal with customer inquiries saves time to complete other work so your employees can focus on other important tasks.
Keeping up with digital transformation trends will help you make better decisions on dealing with emerging customer demands. Since you’re in an ever-changing industry, these trends will allow you to stand out, compete better, and adapt to various economic environments.
