As mentioned in our previous blog, the holiday 2020 is all poised to bring a high growth impact to eCommerce businesses. The share of Digital shopping vis-a-vis in-store shopping is rapidly increasing in the retail industry. The boost we witnessed in digital transactions due to the pandemic are gradually changing the way people shop. It won’t be wrong if we say that COVID-19 drastically increased digital commerce by tenfold.
Online shopping has always been popular among the millennial generation, and now, Gen-Z is taking it a step further with the surfacing social media and Google shops. Before we move towards the overview, let us understand touchless retail a bit.
“In the simplest form of it, touchless retail can be defined as negligent to zero human intervention across end-to-end customer buying processes.”
From product browsing, virtual try-outs, payment, shipping, and doorstep delivery – touchless retail is all about eliminating human touchpoints in the consumer buying journey. Social distancing is the new normal, and so are contactless shopping habits. Frictionless commerce, yet another name for touchless retail, became a priority for people amidst the pandemic. Even from the people who prefer in-store shopping, about 87% of them chose touchless, self-checkout options to buy.
Automated shopping and shipping facilities, AI-based product suggestions, self-checkout points, drop-off, and pickup stations to prevent human contact, digital payment options, virtual try-outs, contactless delivery tech, and the list goes on and on. It is not justified to sum up touchless commerce as just online shopping facilities. The post-pandemic world is opting for touchless retail as not only a safety measure but also as a convenience. On that note, let us understand why touchless retail will gain traction in the recent and future times.
All in all, there are numerous benefits for both the retailers and consumers when they get their hands on frictionless commerce. Digital transformation is the future, and so is contactless business.
As mentioned above, it will do injustice to the term frictionless commerce if we just include online shopping into it. There are:
There are still points that we can consider in touchless retail. But majorly, contactless product display, purchase, payment, and delivery models are the few widely accepted and implemented areas. In the upcoming series of blogs, we are going to discuss these in detail with a detailed description of how they are driving the touchless retail bandwagon.
The root-source for robust touchless retails is China, as Chinese consumers are well-known for the rapid adoption of the new digital technologies. But, the concept is now widespread across the globe for many brands to acquire the facility. Here are a few examples.
Just as we talked about product display kiosks, post-pandemic, Decathlon made its stores operate as such kiosks where people can look and feel the products before buying. When they finalize their choices, the checkout process takes place over their application.
Huda Beauty, a well-known cosmetic supplier brand, launched its very first pop-up store in London, long before the pandemic hit. Many small and large beauty retailers are also following the footsteps by opening up such stores to encourage touchless shopping.
Curbside pickup has become the new drive-through for many food and beverage firms. Starbucks has always led the initiative by offering contactless curbside pickups to its consumers.
Apart from that, Walmart also offered contactless, quick doorstep grocery deliveries in select locations. This rapid adaptation of the technology proves that today’s retailers and consumers won’t hesitate to try new things if it brings convenience to them.
Touchless commerce is the new way of shopping and people are more than willing to take advantage of it. In the coming blogs, we will take up different aspects of frictionless commerce and discuss their implementation.
Till then, if you are intrigued by how contactless is becoming the new normal and want help with touchless retail for your business, we are here to help. Be it a website conceptualization, modifications, or custom webpage and feature optimization, our tailored eCommerce development services will suit your needs. Get in touch.
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Minal Joshi is a content marketer at Krish with a flair for eCommerce and Digital Commerce aspects. She is a MarTech fanatic with a knack of writing with which, she helps brands to curate, create, & commence digital brand positioning. Sharing insights via articles, case studies, eBooks, Infographics, and other forms of content creation is what she lives for. Being an ardent traveler, when not writing, you'll find her sipping coffee into the mountains or petting a stray.
21 December, 2022 After WooCommerce, Shopify is the 2nd most loved and used eCommerce platform worldwide. Shopify is an entirely feature-rich eCommerce platform. It offers many drag-and-drop options, and its apps work tremendously for store owners. In addition, Shopify is easy to use as it doesn't require depth coding.
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