The Digital Retail Revolution: The Future is All About Delivering Great Customer Experiences Every Time in Real Time

When the Covid-19 pandemic struck in March 2020, many businesses across a variety of industries were heavily affected by the quarantine. The retail industry was no exception. At the peak of the shutdown in April 2020, over 70 percent of consumers said they would be spending less in 2020 than in 2019, with 67 percent of consumers citing staying at home as the driver, according to 451 Research.

Given this, the retail industry had to undergo a serious transformation and make itself more digital than ever been to reach consumers.

Customer Experience and the Digital Transformation

Customer experience (CX) is now being shaped more and more by technology and digital services as retailers implement digital transformation plans designed to create a richer experience for consumers.

Customer experience has always been one of the most important aspects of retail. As the retail world adopts more digital engagement paths, an efficient and seamless CX has become a consumer expectation and demand. According to a 2021 Contact Center Week (CCW) Market Study, 44 percent of consumers said they were likely to repurchase from the same retailer when they have a positive CX. When asked if even just one poor customer service experience would negatively impact brand loyalty, 68 percent of consumers agreed.

Create Exceptional Retail Customer Connections with Kandy

At Kandy, we help retailers and agencies build exciting digital engagement experiences embedded along the entire customer journey - whether shopping online or interacting at physical retail venues.

Our retail customers are adopting solutions built upon our Communications Platforms as a Service (CPaaS), a cloud-based platform that lets them add real-time communications features to their own applications without building backend infrastructure and interface.

Kandy’s CPaaS enables embedded communications for enterprises as part of the broader digital transformation and enhanced customer engagement strategy - allowing enterprises to deliver immersive and superior embedded communication experiences.

Common applications for CPaaS’ supported by Kandy’s CPaaS, include video-enabled help desks, appointment reminders, and authentication services.

Brilliantly Implement Artificial Intelligence CX Solutions to Boost Revenue

The use of artificial intelligence in the retail industry is also becoming increasingly more common, using automation and business intelligence to offer a more sophisticated CX.  According to the same 2021 CCW Market Study, retail businesses that used some form of AI saw a 68 percent increase in revenue and a 69 percent decrease in OPEX.

AI tools, such as Kandy Live Support, enable business websites with immersive, interactive support capabilities. These allow SMBs and enterprises to provide productive and efficient customer support at a fraction of the traditional cost of formal contact centers. Live Support uses the Kandy CPaaS solution to easily integrate real-time communications into an organization while also leveraging AI-agents. AI-based agents provide 24/7 support using AI-based agents and reduce hold times or agent staff costs.

Expanding Contextual Customer Experience to the Real World, in Real-Time!

As the world continues to slowly open back and consumers once again begin to travel to stores when shopping, the digital aspect of retail isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. Digital CX during the pandemic showed that customers are responding to relevant, convenient, and meaningful experiences offered through technology, and in turn, spend money with brands that deliver.

At Kandy, we make sure you have the tools to ensure every engagement with your customers is exceptional and seamless regardless of the channel they choose. With embedded experiences, whether online or in-store, retailers sharpen their competitive edge by simply serving customers better.