By Katie Davis I n a time when retails stores and outlets are investing in technology trying to keep their customer engaged both online and in-store with touch screen mirrors in changing rooms and virtual assistants providing shopping ideas to get consumers to spend more time in the store and online to capture more of their spending dollars. The truth is consumers are not looking for help they are lookingtobuy stuff asquicklyandeasilyaspossibleandthe proof is in the numbers. According to a recent study by mobile commerce and analytics firm GPShopper, only 18 percent of the more than 1,000 consumers polled think smart mirrors
will improve their shopping experience. With only 21 percent saying that virtual assistants Technology makes purchasing in store or online better. There is a disconnect between retailers and custom- ers over technology. Maya Mikhailov, a co- founder of GPShopper, explained that, while retailers get excited with the latest technology, hoping it will catch on as the next big thing, people just want to buy stuff as quickly and easily as possible. “They may be very excited,” Mikhailov said of stores, “but consumers aren’t neces- sarily as eager as they are.” In many cases, shoppers don’t even know that the technology exists. Technology is the new annoying store assistant that is asking you if they can help you or what you are looking for. Trust me, customers know what they are looking for when then shop and that is to be left alone when it comes to fancy technology shopping gadgets. However, one technology that is winning customers over is the ability to self-checkout, with more than 50 percent saying it is beneficial to them when shopping, which goes further to prove that customers want to get in, shop and get out, with little to no interaction or help.
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SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS MAGAZINE • MARCH 2017
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