How new customer loyalty programmes fuel the c-store retail experience

Fuel retailers now realise there is enormous untapped potential to revamp their loyalty programmes to drive customer engagement and expand share of wallet. Kelly Brown explains how to elevate fuel loyalty solutions to create more relevant and personalised experiences that grow customer value and differentiate the business.

For many years, fuel retail loyalty programmes were an easy way to drive customer engagement and revenue. However, with changing consumer behaviours and formidable new competition, few meet the needs of today’s retailers or consumers.  

Most are simple “earn-and-burn” transaction or discount-based programmes that extend the same set of outdated offers to all customers, regardless of their different behaviours.   

They typically relinquish ownership of customer data and relationships to third party coalition loyalty providers that can’t differentiate retailers from their competition. And, crucially, with no access to data on their customers’ preferences, purchasing behaviour or communications, retailers can’t assess what their customers care about to provide the fast and easy personalised services they increasingly expect.  

The reality is, today customers don’t just compare your service to that of your competitors, but to the best service they’ve ever received, anytime and anywhere.   

At a time when industry regulators like the NZ Commerce Commission say that “motorists are often better off simply choosing the petrol station with the lowest board price or the site with a one-off ‘discount day, rather than counting on a complicated loyalty scheme”, you know that loyalty programmes are well overdue for an overhaul. 

Leading fuel retailers are investing in innovation, digitisation and branding to launch new loyalty solutions that deliver a complete view of customers’ preferences and purchasing behaviour, with the ability to create fast and memorable experiences.  

And they’re seeing the benefits - loyalty programmes are linked to an 18-30% increase in visits and spends at restaurants and c-stores, and loyalty members annually spend 38% more on average.  

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If you’re looking at how to develop your loyalty and personalisation capabilities, here are the steps to take to deliver an exceptional CX, and examples of fuel retailers doing it best:  

1. Take control with a standalone loyalty programme  

In contrast to the third party loyalty programmes, modern loyalty systems give you a 360-degree view of all retail and trade customers, with their entire purchasing history and preferences captured and centrally stored in one database.    

By reclaiming ownership of your customer data from all channels and touchpoints – ranging from fuel selections to coffee preferences and convenience items within stores - you can recognise customers consistently wherever they shop with you.  

Example: in the UK, Shell Go+ is a very simple mechanism: customers earn visits, instead of points. All they have to do is spend £10 or more on fuel or £2 or more in the shop. They get 10% off all hot drinks and deli by Shell food ranges, and money off fuel every 10 visits, and plenty of treats and surprises along the way.  

This programme stands out due to its simplicity. Gaining and redeeming points is simple and doesn’t involve complicated calculations. 

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2. Extend your loyalty programme to your mobile app 

Today loyalty programmes are an integral part of a smartphone app: loyalty mobile app users typically spend 10-20% more a month, and visit 20-30% more frequently each month.  

The customer essentially manages their own loyalty experience and should be able to collect points, make payments and redeem points straight through their mobile device at any time. And to really differentiate your offering, make it a simple and engaging experience by enabling both fuel and in-store transactions. 

Example: Z Energy, now part of Ampol Australia, expanded its Pumped loyalty programme back in 2019. Customers now save 6 cents per litre every day with no minimum spend at Z and participating Caltex stations, on up to 50 litres. They can choose to stack their discount when spending $40 or more to get an even bigger discount next time. And they earn Flybuys or Airpoints Dollars by scanning their Z or Caltex App, or Flybuys or Airpoints card.   

Z’s mobile app plays a key role in their loyalty programme. By delivering loyalty discounts and rewards at point-of-sale and on the app – not just via a card - they lowered the hurdle for customer adoption and made it faster and easier to use. For many users of the app, the big draw is another essential daily fuel: Coffee. The ‘jump the queue’ feature is one of Z’s most popular mobile offerings, with one in four coffees sold now pre-ordered.

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3. Apply analytics to create more relevant and personalised offers  

The next stage is to use the data-driven insights to create cluster- or even site-specific offers. Tailor your offers for local buying opportunities and use your customers’ transaction histories to customise product bundles, pricing and promotions to increase sell-through without compromising margin.  

You can then capitalise on opportunities to craft offers that feel personally relevant to each individual in your database by combining internal data (such as transactions and location) with external data (such as competition, weather, traffic conditions and demographics).  

Example: The Chevron Texaco Rewards program rewards Chevron and Texaco customers for their fuel and qualifying in-store purchases at participating stations. But Chevron has also had success offering short-term loyalty schemes. Its AFANity program, which debuted in 2016, gave members points for specific activities, such as visiting a Chevron or Texaco gas station or checking in on the Chevron or Texaco mobile app. They then redeemed the points for rewards, including tickets to football games, autographed memorabilia, officially licensed team gear and unique once-in-a-lifetime experiences with their favourite teams.  

Chevron understands that people are not emotionally attached to petrol or convenience items but are very emotional about sports. Their loyalty programme tapped into that to create a positive affinity with the brand.  

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4. Use AI-driven marketing tools to hyper-personalise the CX  

AI algorithms let you analyse customer preferences, predict many aspects of customer behaviour and develop personalised communications, experiences and offers.  

By interacting with customers at the right moment, with the right offer and in the right channel, you can drive behavioural changes in customers and multiply the lifetime value of loyalty customers. This is why gamification is the number one loyalty trend businesses plan to invest in during 2024.  

Example: Ireland’s Circle K understands the value of gamification with it Play or Park loyalty game. Members get 1 point for every litre of petrol or diesel and 4 points for every €1 spent on eligible purchases at Circle K stores. Members collect points and can play or park: each batch of 200 points qualifies for one entry which they can ‘Play’ for the prize of the month or ‘Park’ for an upcoming prize. And the prizes are big: February 2024’s ‘Experience of a Lifetime’ prize offers two friends the opportunity to drive free for a year, and March 2024’s prize awards 10,000 euro in cash.  

This is a great example of an engaging loyalty programme. It includes elements of gamification and has fantastic, tangible prizes for winners.   

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5. Ecosystem loyalty programmes are next 

Looking ahead, large retailers are learning to drive customer loyalty and growth by pooling data within an ecosystem of brands. Multiple companies are tapping into their complementary product and service offerings to develop a joint loyalty programme around a unifying customer value proposition. 

 While still in their early stages, these ecosystem approaches promise many benefits: 

• Consumers will receive heightened experiential benefits in addition to faster loyalty rewards growth, more flexible redemptions and an unmatched simplicity and daily relevance. 

• Retailers and brands will see a rise in reach and frequency of usage. They will gain access to richer, more privileged consumer data, shared infrastructure and cross-marketing opportunities.  

Example: bp’s Everyday Rewards loyalty scheme in New Zealand is simple - customers earn 1 point for every litre of fuel and $1 spent on convenience products in-store. It includes ongoing loyalty promotions, such as 6 cents per litre off the fuel price up to 50 litres. And customers benefit from savings across a range of everyday purchases from multiple partners including Woolworths, ASB and Vineonline. 

Everyday Rewards is a powerful purchase motivator. Users gain points across a variety of partners and aren’t locked into spending rewards with one brand. People will be more motivated to use bp stations if they know their loyalty will be rewarded with other experiences and offers, not just fuel discounts or free car washes. 

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As you look at how to modernise your loyalty programme, ensure you focus on the end-to-end customer experience. You have a fantastic opportunity to leap-frog your competition by taking an ecosystem-centric approach that gives your customers a ‘next-generation’ experience. 

Z Energy fuels more sales and repeat visits

Z Energy, New Zealand’s largest fuel retailer and part of Ampol Australia, developed Pumped to replace a third-party loyalty scheme and create a more seamless mobile and in-store customer experience.

Built using Infinity’s Loyalty module, Pumped uses a QR barcode on Z’s mobile app to identify the customer at point-of-sale or self-serve online payment terminals and add any relevant offers to their transaction. It also lets them consume any offers they have earned, such as free coffee, carwashes or LPG bottle swaps.

Z can now create new offers that help engage customers, offer them valuable rewards and encourage repeat visits. And Pumped is now Z’s cornerstone for innovation, with the ability to deliver the unified and personalised experiences its customers expect.

“With a single view of the customer we are right in the middle of the transaction with the customer in real-time. We know where, when and how they shop and, over time, will find new ways to interact, personalise and reward each customer’s experience.”

Andy Stewart, Head of Digital & Operations – Low Carbon Futures, Z Energy 

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This blog was originally published on 12 February 2023 and updated on 21 February 2024.

Want help to modernise your fuel loyalty programme? 

As you transform your customer experience to deliver the seamless and personalised buying journeys your customers crave, your retail systems must transform as well. If you’re looking for help to develop your loyalty and personalisation capabilities, get in touch. We’d love to help you develop more meaningful relationships that deliver profitable growth.  

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For more on how to deliver every c-store customer a personalised, fast and seamless experience, download our new ebook:

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Low tech, high risk: 8 signs your retail business is underinvesting in IT

Are retailers spending enough on their IT? 

As we all know, retailers traditionally have spent less on IT compared to other industries and enterprises of a similar size.    

In the past, it was for good reason.   

Other sectors like finance and healthcare rely heavily on technology for their core operations and risk management. Banks need top-notch IT for secure transactions, while healthcare relies on IT for patient records and life-saving equipment.   

Retail, on the other hand, focused more on physical store operations and customer service, where IT played less of a central role. Retailers didn't face the same level of regulatory pressures as other industries with strict data security and privacy requirements, nor did it handle much sensitive customer data.   

Retail is also a volume-driven and highly competitive sector with significant operational costs and price sensitivity, and slimmer margins compared to other sectors. This leaves less room for significant IT investments, especially when measured against competing demands from inventory, store rents and staffing. 

And retailers were often slow to adopt new technologies because they didn’t yield high returns. Business changes were more gradual and often driven by consumer trends rather than technology. 

So what has changed?  

It was only with the advent of new technologies like mobile apps, ecommerce and digital marketing that IT become a game-changer in retail.   

Retailers learned to be agile and invest in technology for competitive advantage during the pandemic and are starting to embrace that agility as new technologies like generative AI become mainstream.  

Now retailers are focussed on finding the right systems and partners to rebuild their business from the bottom up. They’re building a customer-centric approach to retail using technology and experiences to enhance the brand, drive sales and grow loyalty.  

The most forward-thinking and ambitious retailers know that they need to do it quickly. Nearly one in five retailers have posted negative economic profit since 2015. And while the retail sector has created value over that time, the gap between winners and losers is widening, with the top 10% of publicly traded retailers now accounting for 70% of the sector’s economic profit.   

Retailers that are aggressive on growth - creating distinctive omnichannel customer experiences and expanding the breadth of their product offerings, while also resetting their cost base - are the companies that will create value, meet customer needs and head off competition.  

And that means retailers are now as dependent on technology as other industries for their survival.  

How much should retailers spend on IT?   

The simple answer is it depends. There’s no one-size-fits-all solution and the right number depends on a retailer’s specific circumstances. It can vary greatly by retail category, company size and growth stage.  

Our anecdotal experience suggests that most retailers spend only 1-3% of their revenue on IT, although one study found that retail and ecommerce IT spend was 10% share of company revenue in 2023 (up from 7% in 2022). 

This is still low compared to other industries such as software, tech hosting and financial services, which dedicate 19%, 16% and 15% of revenues respectively. 

These industries, of course, have different business models with significant investments in R&D. We’re not suggesting retailers need to invest at these levels, but they do need to scale their IT spend for opportunities that make their businesses stronger, smarter and ready for the future. 

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What are the problems retailers experience when they underspend?  

There are 8 indicators that can mean it’s time to assess your level of IT spend:  

1. Things just don’t work smoothly 

Retailers who don't spend enough on their IT infrastructure may face hardware malfunctions, software crashes and other technical issues that disrupt business operations and negatively impact customer experience. Legacy systems can be less efficient, more vulnerable to security breaches and don’t integrate well with newer technologies.  

2. Customers are frustrated 

Today’s consumers expect a seamless shopping experience, whether online or in-store. Inadequate IT infrastructure can result in slow service, unavailability of products, discrepancies in pricing and a disjointed omnichannel experience, all of which lead to disappointment and frustration, a lack of trust and even a sense that your organisation is dysfunctional and incompetent.  

3. Growing pains 

Retailers with outdated or poor IT systems may find it difficult to scale their operations effectively. As the business grows, systems can become a barrier, hindering expansion and adaptation to new market demands.  

4. Data, what data? 

The inability to collect, analyse and act on data due to poor IT infrastructure can leave a retailer behind in understanding market trends, consumer behaviour and inventory needs. That means missing out on insights that could drive business growth and operational efficiency.  

5. Security, what security? 

Inadequate security measures and a lack of robust data privacy protocols are signs of underspending. Retailers need to invest in IT to protect customer data and comply with privacy laws. Failure to do so can lead to data breaches, legal issues and a loss of customer trust.  

6. Compliance and regulatory challenges 

Retailers are subject to various regulations, including those related to data protection and privacy. Insufficient IT investment can lead to non-compliance with these regulations, resulting in fines and damage to the company’s reputation.  

7. Employees aren’t happy 

Working with outdated systems can be frustrating for employees, leading to decreased morale, lower productivity and higher turnover rates.  

8. Sales decline 

With all these issues, sales and profitability can dip. Customers may choose competitors with better service and technology, and the retailer may incur additional costs due to inefficiencies and security breaches.  

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When is it time to increase your IT spend?  

If your retail business is focused on any of the following goals, you’ll want to increase your IT spend as a percentage of revenue, at least in the short term:  

• Transforming into digital-first business: Retailers are implementing omnichannel strategies to make shopping a fast, easy and compelling omnichannel experience with personalised products, prices and promotions pre, during and post their purchases, plus fast and frictionless on-demand delivery options.   

• Meeting changing customer expectations: Changing consumer preferences and rising expectations for speed and convenience are creating new growth opportunities. The retailers that deliver a personalised and memorable CX are best positioned for long-term growth and loyalty.   

• Developing new business models: Retail leaders are improving and expanding their traditional products and services and launching in new, but related, market segments. Technology is blurring industry lines and allowing different operators – including retailers – to move into services such as media, healthcare, finances, travel and entertainment.  

• Improving operational efficiency: With increasing costs, pressure on consumer spending and the cost of doing business on the rise, there will be more consolidation and business failures. Retailers recognise that investing in technology now will lead to long-term cost savings, even if it means a higher short-term spend. It’s about making things run smoother and more efficiently, which cuts costs down the road. 

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Want help to find the right systems to build your unified commerce business model? 

We can help you build a foundation for operational efficiency and continuous, innovative growth. Just contact me at kelly.brown@triquestra.com or get in touch.  

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For insights into how a unified commerce approach gives you the flexibility and agility you need to keep in step with consumers’ changing needs, download our ebook:

The 7 omnichannel capabilities reshaping stores

There’s a colossal shift taking place right now in how retailers plan, build and deliver their in-store customer experience.

And the prime driver behind this upheaval is the ecommerce boom that is creating new online shopping habits and reshaping consumers’ expectations of in-store experiences.  

Customers today crave convenience, personalisation and a seamless shopping journey that doesn’t stop when they enter a store.  

As more shopping journeys begin online and store visits becoming more intentional, retailers are looking for new ways to elevate the customer experience - by bringing digital convenience to stores, fulfilling orders via stores to increase profitability and delivering personalised and tactile in-store experiences.  

And while the shift towards online retail is real, physical retail is going to continue to grow at 4% year on year and total an estimated 70% of sales by 2027. The retailers that take a unified CX approach are seeing significantly higher profitability and sales growth than their peers. 

Do you have a clear strategy and roadmap towards strengthening your in-store CX?  

Many retailers struggle to support their customers’ omnichannel demands and aren’t equipped to create the shopping journeys now expected by post-pandemic, digitally savvy consumers.   

They have disparate and siloed backend systems that are fragile, inefficient and costly to integrate. Many implemented quick-fixes to get new capabilities up-and-running, but now need a long-term unified solution that delivers a single source of truth across all physical and online channels.  

And they’re under increased pressure to implement change fast but can’t quickly spin up the new “phygital” customer experiences the business demands. 

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So what are the new capabilities retailers need to modernise their customer experience for unified retailing?

Here are seven areas where retailers are increasing their focus and investment:

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1

Stores that amplify the digital experience

The phenomenal rise of live online customer experiences has migrated beyond social media and live chat to virtual shopping appointments. Retailers are using the unparalleled knowledge of their store staff to boost digital sales and service by giving in-store teams the tools to connect with shoppers digitally. Platforms like Brauz provide the video commerce smarts, while unified commerce solutions (like Infinity) help to automate the end-to-end process, from customer communications and data insights to seamless sales transactions and fast delivery. 

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2

Digital convenience in stores

The POS used to be the epicentre of the store technology experience. But today consumers expect unlimited access to information and functionality to inform their purchasing decisions, and demand digital convenience inside the store. Retailers are putting customers in charge of their in-store experience by integrating digital services, such as the ability to look up loyalty points, explore product information and add items to digital wishlists in stores. Shoppable screens provide ‘endless aisle’ capabilities that let customers browse and order from the entire inventory. 

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3

Self-checkout expands to self-service

In tandem with the new digital experiences inside stores, retailers are modernising their checkout experience so that customers can transact on their terms. They’re putting customers in control with fast and flexible self-guided assistance, mobile point of sale and contactless payments wherever the customer is - in the store, out in the warehouse or yard, at trade shows and pop-up stores. While self-serve kiosks are practical solutions for larger stores and supermarkets, fuel and convenience retailers taking advantage of new self-service software that can be deployed on any touchscreen terminal, making it simple to create fast and memorable experiences.  

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4

Endless aisle for anywhere, anytime orders

Consumers are choosing retailers based on the ease and flexibility of the end-to-end experience. With a ‘buy anywhere, fulfil anywhere’ strategy and centralised unified commerce platform, retailers can give customers and staff real-time visibility of inventory, order and customer data across the business. That means customers can shop whenever they feel like it, at any time, using their most convenient channel.  And endless aisle access to inventory lets customers order any product and get it delivered to any address. 

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5

Flexible omnichannel fulfilment

With ecommerce sales returning to pre-pandemic growth levels, services such as ship-from-store, click-and-collect, endless aisle and returns anywhere are all just table stakes today. Retailers are prioritising capabilities that help them to launch and scale omnichannel experiences faster by improving store fulfilment efficiency and enhancing the store pick-up experience. They’ve created hybrid stores that support the rise in online sales while meeting customers’ expectations for fast pick-up and delivery.  

They’re now introducing ship-from-store capabilities that not only enable ecommerce orders to be shipped from stores, but stores can also ship orders placed in other stores.  And with a unified view of inventory across all stores and DCs they can quickly see where inventory is located and the fastest route to fulfil orders. 

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6

Unified channels strengthen personalisation

With more buying journeys beginning online, and store visits become more predetermined, customer expectations for a frictionless ‘one brand’ experience are rising. However, many retailers have channel silos that mean any interaction or activity that the customer had with them online is not available to the customer or staff within the store.  

Retailers are delivering personalised experiences by using AI and intelligence across online and offline channels to deliver timely and relevant communications, recommendations, offers and rewards across in-store and digital touchpoints, including the point of sale, mobile app, web, email and social. And some are extending these personalised recommendations into other communications with customers, such as e-receipts and shipping notifications. 

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7

Unified employee experiences

A great customer experience hinges on a great employee experience. After years of underinvestment and now a labour crunch, many retailers are playing catch-up by making employee efficiency and enablement a top priority this year. They’re giving their in-store teams access to relevant customer intelligence - such as loyalty points and rewards, wishlists and sales histories – to equip them to add more value to their customer interactions. Some are using AI technology to provide personalised upselling recommendations during click-and-collect pickups. And localised pricing gives their teams up-to-date, competitive pricing and empowers them to make better, on-the-spot decisions. 

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This post was originally published September 2022 and updated on 14 December 2023.

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Want help to modernise your stores for unified retailing? 

As you transform your stores to be the centre of your omnichannel experience, your POS and retail systems must transform as well. If you’re experiencing technology challenges that prevent you from unifying store and digital experiences, get in touch. We’d love to help you make stores play a bigger role in your CX strategy. 

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If you’re driving the CX transformation at your retail business, our unified commerce maturity model is the perfect tool to create your roadmap. Learn about the capabilities you need to create a rich mix of omnichannel experiences. 

The 7 omnichannel capabilities reshaping stores

There’s a colossal shift taking place right now in how retailers plan, build and deliver their in-store customer experience.

And the prime driver behind this upheaval is the boom in ecommerce that is creating new online shopping habits and reshaping consumers’ expectations of in-store experiences.

Yet many retailers have struggled to support their customers’ omnichannel demands and aren’t equipped to create the shopping journeys now expected by post-pandemic, digitally savvy consumers.

They have disparate and siloed backend systems that are fragile, inefficient and costly to integrate. Many implemented quick-fixes at the start of the pandemic to get new capabilities up-and-running, but now need a long-term unified solution that delivers a single source of truth across all physical and online channels.

And they’re under increased pressure to implement change fast but can’t quickly spin up the new “phygital” customer experiences the business demands.

---

So what are the new capabilities retailers need to modernise their customer experience for digital-first retailing?

Here are seven areas where retailers are increasing their focus and investment this year:

---

1

Stores that amplify the digital experience

The phenomenal rise of live online customer experiences has migrated beyond social media and live chat to virtual shopping appointments. Retailers are using the unparalleled knowledge of their store staff to boost digital sales and service by giving in-store teams the tools to connect with shoppers digitally. Platforms like Brauz provide the video commerce smarts, while unified commerce solutions (like Infinity) help to automate the end-to-end process, from customer communications and data insights to seamless sales transactions and fast delivery.

---

2

Digital convenience in stores

The POS used to be the epicentre of the store technology experience. But today consumers expect unlimited access to information and functionality to inform their purchasing decisions, and demand digital convenience inside the store. Retailers are putting customers in charge of their in-store experience by integrating digital services, such as the ability to look up loyalty points, explore product information and add items to digital wishlists in stores. Shoppable screens provide ‘endless aisle’ capabilities that let customers browse and order from the entire inventory.

---

3

Self-checkout expands to self-service

In tandem with the new digital experiences inside stores, retailers are modernising their checkout experience so that customers can transact on their terms. They’re putting customers in control with fast and flexible self-guided assistance, mobile point of sale and contactless payments wherever the customer is - in the store, out in the warehouse or yard, at trade shows and pop-up stores. While self-serve kiosks are practical solutions for larger stores and supermarkets, fuel and convenience retailers taking advantage of new self-service software that can be deployed on any touchscreen terminal, making it simple to create fast and memorable experiences.

---

4

Endless aisle for anywhere, anytime orders

Consumers are choosing retailers based on the ease and flexibility of the end-to-end experience. With a ‘buy anywhere, fulfil anywhere’ strategy and centralised unified commerce platform, retailers can give customers and staff real-time visibility of inventory, order and customer data across the business. That means customers can shop whenever they feel like it, at any time, using their most convenient channel. And endless aisle access to inventory lets customers order any product and get it delivered to any address.

---

5

Flexible omnichannel fulfilment

With ecommerce sales returning to pre-pandemic growth levels, services such as ship-from-store, click-and-collect, endless aisle and returns anywhere are all just table stakes today. Retailers are prioritising capabilities that help them to launch and scale omnichannel experiences faster by improving store fulfilment efficiency and enhancing the store pick-up experience. They’ve created hybrid stores that support the rise in online sales while meeting customers’ expectations for fast pick-up and delivery.

They’re now introducing ship-from-store capabilities that not only enable ecommerce orders to be shipped from stores, but stores can also ship orders placed in other stores. And with a unified view of inventory across all stores and DCs they can quickly see where inventory is located and the fastest route to fulfil orders.

---

6

Unified channels strengthen personalisation

With more buying journeys beginning online, and store visits become more predetermined, customer expectations for a frictionless ‘one brand’ experience are rising. However, many retailers have channel silos that mean any interaction or activity that the customer had with them online is not available to the customer or staff within the store.

Retailers are delivering personalised experiences by using AI and intelligence across online and offline channels to deliver timely and relevant communications, recommendations, offers and rewards across in-store and digital touchpoints, including the point of sale, mobile app, web, email and social. And some are extending these personalised recommendations into other communications with customers, such as e-receipts and shipping notifications.

---

7

Unified employee experiences

A great customer experience hinges on a great employee experience. After years of underinvestment and now a labour crunch, many retailers are playing catch-up by making employee efficiency and enablement a top priority this year. They’re giving their in-store teams access to relevant customer intelligence - such as loyalty points and rewards, wishlists and sales histories – to equip them to add more value to their customer interactions. Some are using AI technology to provide personalised upselling recommendations during click-and-collect pickups. And localised pricing gives their teams up-to-date, competitive pricing and empowers them to make better, on-the-spot decisions.

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Are you looking at how to modernise your stores for digital-first retailing and a better customer experience? Our unified commerce maturity model is the perfect tool to create your roadmap. Use it to assess your current capabilities, identify the gaps and prioritise areas for improvement.

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New guide: Why cloud edge is the new battleground for retailers

Retailers have turned their attention to the store to create the unified commerce experiences consumers now expect across the entire buying journey.

They’re blending physical locations with digital channels and using technologies such as AI, AR, VR and IoT to create new value through frictionless and dynamic interactions. 

However, it’s a challenge to give these latency-sensitive, data-intensive applications the performance and speed they need with a traditional central cloud or data centre. Uploading and downloading data takes too long. And it requires expensive infrastructure and network bandwidth. 

That’s why cloud edge is a game changer. By enabling connected devices to process data closer to where it’s created, on the edge, it ensures the customer experience is truly ‘zero-friction’. 

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Our new guide, The retailer’s guide to cloud edge: Why cloud edge is the new battleground for retailers, explains what edge computing is and why it matters, what’s driving adoption and the benefits it delivers, with retail use cases and architecture considerations.

It’s been written for technical and non-technical audiences who want to create lightning-quick ‘phygital’ experiences that cut costs, delight customers and grow revenue. 

DOWNLOAD THE GUIDE

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Want a taste of what’s inside?  

Watch Mike Baxter, Triquestra’s CTO, as he explains how edge computing works and why it’s important for rich retail experiences.

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APIs and innovation: build your competitive advantage now

Want to increase your pace of innovation?

Giving your customers truly innovative experiences is the fourth step in your unified commerce journey. By this stage, you’ll have centralised your inventory and customer data onto a single platform, you’ll be extending brand experiences across all channels and you’ll be delighting customers with personalised experiences and messages. Next is shifting your team’s priorities to innovation and using APIs for a disruptive competitive advantage.  

The most innovative retailers are creating new business models that are less focused on the store-online-mobile balance and instead concentrate on building ecosystems that give their customers extraordinary experiences.

These retailers have realised that they need to access third-party data and services to successfully give customers what they want at every step of the customer journey. In the past, that required moving a lot of data between systems and possibly even replicating functionality in systems to achieve a consistent outcome.

Now the best retailers are embracing Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) for efficient and open connectivity between applications, partners and customers. Using APIs, they can expose rather than move or replicate data, and make one set of functions available across various systems without having to recreate it.

APIs are present in every part of our digital world. Every time we use an app like LinkedIn, make a Skype call or listen to Spotify on our phone, we’re using an API.

APIs let you add specialised functionality to a website, application, platform or software without having to write all of the back-end code. By using APIs to access existing solutions in the market, you are free to focus your development efforts on the front-end and create new services that deliver frictionless customer experiences and differentiate your brand.

You can also use APIs to turn your own assets into a platform that can attract partners to build new products and services that bring you both additional revenue. For example, you could release an API that lets developers access your product catalogue to build interesting applications that increase your product exposure.

Here are just some of the ways APIs are enhancing the retail experience:

1

Retail anywhere, any time

APIs let you easily expose your product catalogues and other eCommerce solutions to give customers many more ways to engage with your brand.

Social platforms like Facebook and Instagram have launched APIs that let you sell products on your social pages. For example, Instagram’s shopping feature lets you tag up to five products in organic posts which consumers can then tap on to find out more information and make a purchase.

Using an API like Semantics3, you can connect your product catalogue web pages directly with a global database that shares detailed information such as brand images, product descriptions, product specifications and full product titles. That lets you sell more by creating better product listings and expanding your catalogue and market reach.

2

Voice and visual to boost personalisation

Retailers have long used APIs to personalise their websites and the marketing content they serve up to customers. Site search APIs like Algolia provide advanced search features to help visitors quickly drill down to particular products. Personalisation APIs like RightMessage help you organise your website content to better match the needs of every customer, based on previous visits and buying history. And marketing automation APIs like Emarsys let you suggest products you know they’re interested in.

Visual search APIs are also helping customers quickly find the products they want. The Iconic’s Snap to Shop and Cue Clothing’s Style Finder mobile apps use Alibaba Cloud’s visual search service to retrieve information about products that are similar or identical to an input image. Users can shoot or upload an item of clothing’s photo and each service searches the retailer’s range for similar looking products.

When 50 percent of all searches are predicted to be voice searches by 2020, you can consider using Siri, Alexa and Google Assistant APIs to further tailor the shopping experience and boosts sales.

3

Payment convenience counts

Deregulation of the banking sector and an explosion of new fintech startups is letting consumers shop online using many new payment options and mobile apps.

Payment APIs from PayPal, Stripe, Square and Dwolla not only offer you the technical, fraud prevention and banking infrastructure that’s required to operate online payment systems, they also give consumers innovative digital payment options.

When 25 percent of online shoppers abandon their orders due to frustration with filling in forms, you can offer a digital wallet that lets people transfer their information securely and accurately. These digital wallets are the payment method of choice in mobile-first markets like China.

If you’re selling in China or want to provide frictionless experiences to Chinese visitors, students or ex-pats, then include support for Alipay and WeChat Pay, the dominate digital wallet providers with 92% market share between them.

Consumers also love new ‘buy-now, pay later’ services, particularly millennials with an aversion to credit card debt. APIs let you easily offer pay-later options from providers like Afterpay, Laybuy or PartPay. The benefits can be immediate: Afterpay reports that many retailers have seen customer order sizes jump between 20 to 50 percent and retailers are processing up to 25 percent of online orders through the service.

4

Deliver anywhere, any how

Your order fulfilment process gives you an opportunity to meet customer expectations for faster and cheaper deliveries.

Shipping and delivery APIs let you integrate third party services to automate everything from the sale through to the parcel being delivered to your customer’s address of choice. APIs from Shippit, Temando and Gosweetspot provide one-stop-shop systems to generate a consignment label, ship via the cheapest and fastest delivery service and track your order.

Your customers get the benefit of shipping flexibility, checkout customisation and other functions like tracking notifications and customs forms. And bricks-and-mortar retailers can gain a competitive advantage – for example, fashion retailer Cue Clothing uses its stores as distribution centres for fulfilment options such as 30 minute click-and-collect, store-to-door and 3-hour deliveries nationwide.

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So how do you start making the most of APIs?

Begin by evaluating your company’s value chain. Can you easily integrate and use APIs to access third-party platforms and services to scale your business? Or can you release your own APIs to attract partners and build out your platform? The two options are not mutually exclusive.

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An API-enabled platform like Infinity lets you scale your business quickly by easily adding new apps and services as business requirements change.

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We can also help if you’re looking for advice on how to create a strategy and implement an API programme that quickly creates customer and business value.

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By developing a community of third-party apps and systems working together in an ecosystem, you can reduce integration and maintenance overheads, enjoy virtually limitless scalability, monetise your data and continually innovate.

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Contact us for advice on how to use APIs to achieve greater agility, faster growth and better margins.

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4 ways to create an experience-first future for customer loyalty

Updated July 19, 2019

Are you looking for new ways to build trust, loyalty and repeat sales?

Creating delightful, personalised customer experiences is the third stage of your four-stage unified commerce journey. Here we look at how to invest in fresh, value-added experiences that appeal to today’s consumers.

To learn more about the first and second stages of unified commerce, check out our earlier blogs on how to get an accurate and single view of your inventory and extending your brand experience across all channels.

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Today’s retailers know that changing customer behaviours and disruptive technologies have altered the dynamics of customer loyalty.

While loyalty used to be closely linked to price and proximity, now it’s awarded to the brands that offer the best experiences and personalisation. Customers want individual content, communications, offers and rewards based on their preferences and purchase history. They expect to be recognised across all channels, no matter whether they walk into a store, phone a call centre or shop online.

Is customer experience important to decision making?

And when 73% of people say customer experience is an important factor in their purchasing decisions (just behind price and product quality), that’s a massive opportunity to create more authentic and frictionless experiences that strengthen your customer connections.

However, many retailers struggle to get this connection right.

There’s a growing disparity between rising consumer expectations and the reality of what they encounter online, on apps and in stores. According to Accenture, 50 percent of consumers say they turned to a competitor after having a bad customer experience. And 41 percent say they stopped shopping with a company because of ‘poor personalisation.

And after Facebook’s Cambridge Analytica scandal and heightened awareness of consumer rights via GDPR, data privacy and security are more important to consumers than ever. Retailers now face a ‘privacy paradox’ - they’re caught between the need to use data to provide better consumer experiences and the risk of violating consumer privacy.

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So how do you create meaningful relationships without overstepping personal boundaries?

1

Transactional rewards are out, experiences are in

As consumer spending shifts toward experiences rather than physical goods, customer loyalty programmes also have more success with experiential rewards. Look beyond rewarding transaction frequency and instead identify and bolster the factors that influence consumer preference for your products and services.

Who’s doing it best?

Sephora’s Beauty Insider Program has over 10 million members and helped propel Sephora to the number one speciality beauty retailer in the world.

Why? It’s the experiences that the program offers at all levels. These include personalised product recommendations tailored to each customer based on shopping history, through to exclusive products and events, invitations to the Sephora Beauty Studio and early access to products and sales.

Not only do these offers motivate customers to purchase more products, they also make customers feel valued, foster loyalty and turn shoppers into brand advocates.

Here’s how you can do it:

Implement a fully integrated loyalty programme that gives you a 360 degree view of your customers. By looking at their purchase and browsing data, you can work out which types of experiences motivate them and develop timely, relevant and tailored rewards that surprise and delight. Be sure to offer personalised experiences across all your tiers, not just the top levels.

2

Immediacy counts

Customers want faster and cheaper purchase delivery to the location of their choice, including on-demand or same-day. This desire puts huge pressure on retailers to have a real-time view of inventory and the fulfilment capability to get orders turned around on a faster scale than ever before.

Who’s doing it best?

Multi-store bricks-and-mortar retailers that are taking advantage of their store networks to compete with Amazon and the online giants. While many eRetailers rush to build distribution centres, beef up their data analytics to anticipate orders and even test delivery by drone, bricks-and-mortar retailers already have the power to enable same-day delivery.

By turning their stores into customer-facing fulfilment centres that deliver purchases from stores to consumers in a few hours, they are creating a new retail battleground.

The savviest retailers are combining drop shipping with third-party logistics (also known as '3PL') to offer warehouse-to-door or even manufacturer-to-door. They no longer need to transport and store inventory in a costly warehouse and can efficiently and quickly scale by adding new suppliers and products that help win new customer business.

Here’s how you can do it:

With a unified commerce platform, you can choose the logistics and fulfilment options that are most efficient for your customers and most profitable for you.

Infinity’s order management system provides visibility across channels and ensures consistent and accurate stock, customer, purchase history and loyalty information in any channel. You can then offer same-day delivery by using APIs to partner with fast-shipping providers that let you connect to existing courier services and optimise delivery routes from your stores.

3

Create experience-first stores

Consumers no longer view bricks-and-mortar stores as primary shopping destinations but just one of many distribution points. That means to attract customers into your stores, you need to offer fresh, value-added experiences.

Who’s doing it best?

Target’s mobile app is a good example of how to combine mobile and in-store experiences. The app uses GPS to help in-store customers find what they’re looking for quickly. And beacon technology can alert shoppers to discounts as they move about.

Physical stores are evolving into showrooms that feature merchandise to be touched, felt and tried on, then ordered and shipped to shoppers' homes. Showrooms have always been popular with certain industries (such as bespoke clothing or furniture), but the format is taking off with online and bricks-and-mortar retailers as well.

Samsung’s ground-breaking flagship experiential store - Samsung 837 - goes even further. It’s a 56,000 square foot playground with interactive art, virtual reality, lounge areas, a recording studio and a three-story, 96-screen display wall. It doesn’t try to sell visitors anything - instead it encourages them to explore, learn and have fun. By focusing on activity, not product, the store has attracted accolades and been labelled one of the world’s top three brand experiences.

Here’s how you can do it:

By providing a single view of inventory and customer data, unified commerce gives you the freedom to design and implement new in-store customer service technologies and experiences. Imagine the customer satisfaction when you can offer shoppable screens, connected change rooms, or mobile apps that self-checkout. They all let customers easily locate products, find their order status or get personal recommendations.

4

Automate transactional interactions and solve customer problems

Retailers are using new technologies such as augmented reality (AR), artificial intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT) and RFID technology to not only automate parts of customer service to cut costs but also increase customer satisfaction.

By digitising services across all channels and touchpoints, they are increasing convenience, customisation and control over their customer experiences.

Who’s doing it best?

Many retailers start online, building websites that provide individual product recommendations based on a combination of the customer’s behaviour, CRM data and AI. They then create customer communications that include personalised recommendations, with emails released at a specific time when each individual is most likely to engage with the communication.

Sephora’s use of AI and VR spans online, in-store and app shopping. Knowing that the vast choice of products can be overwhelming for customers, Sephora developed a variety of tech options to make shopping more fun and more efficient.

Customers can try on makeup virtually using AR, match their skin tone to a foundation with AI and sample a fragrance via a touchscreen and scented air. And this is just the start, with Sephora saying that five or ten years from now every aspect of a customer’s experience, from what they see to the products that are recommended, will be customised, based on face shape, sales history and stated preferences.

Here’s how you can do it:

You can use APIs to easily create or add new apps, systems and services, fast. You can partner with startups and tech companies outside the retail industry to take advantage of new capabilities and deliver results at a speed and scale that would be unachievable within a traditional omnichannel model. You’ll also need to cultivate the necessary digital skills by partnering with or hiring talent from marketing, product development and technology industries to help source, develop, evaluate, test and ultimately launch new offerings and technologies for shopping in-store and online.

Now...

How will you create an ‘experience-first’ future?

Consumer expectations are driving today’s retail successes or failures.

The most successful retailers are digitising their entire business strategy, using new technologies to create in-store, in-app and online solutions that simplify and enhance the shopping experience.

Stay focused on your customers and their pain points. If what you're creating doesn't make the shopping experience faster, easier or more fun, then it's probably not worth the investment.

Our next blog is about stage four of implementing a unified commerce platform - how to use APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) to deliver truly innovative offerings to customers and build a competitive advantage.

If you’d like help to build genuinely meaningful customer experiences, get in touch. We’d love to help you achieve greater agility, faster growth and better margins.

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