Clarity® Experience: How Does RFID Improve Customer Service?
Delivering high-quality customer service is paramount in today’s retail environment. However, according to an InRule survey, 60% of respondents ranked the typical retail customer experience as only ‘average’, while 6% said it is poor. This should be a major concern. When a retailer fails to live up to customer expectations, it sacrifices both short-term sales opportunities and long-term customer loyalty. Clearly, there is a need for retailers to prioritize delivering seamless customer service, which can improve brand reputation, revenue growth and long-term business sustainability. This is where SML’s Clarity® Experience plays a key role.
How Does RFID Improve Customer Service? Going Above and Beyond
Customers desire seamless shopping experiences more so than ever. By deploying Clarity® Experience, retailers can achieve this and differentiate themselves from their competitors to create an advantage. Our software facilitates connected fitting rooms where customers can place the items they would like to purchase on a hanger, and our Clarity® solutions can provide accurate information on the availability of items in different sizes, colors, and styles through the data provided by item-level RFID technology. From there, customers can notify the sales associate of which items they would like to try on, and they can bring the customer the new items while they remain in the connected fitting room, creating a convenient and streamlined shopping experience.
RFID-enabled self-checkout can allow customers to complete transactions in seconds when paying for these items. In-store visitors can place their baskets or carts in a designated scanning area. All items, tagged at the item-level, are then scanned by RFID readers accurately, immediately, and automatically. Customers have to pay for their products and leave, significantly streamlining the point of sale and creating a frictionless experience at the final retail touchpoint. Through an improved customer experience, customers are more likely to make repeat purchases, resulting in increased revenue for retailers and generating business growth.
Frictionless Buying Journey
In today’s retail landscape, many obstacles, such as long checkout lines or a poor omnichannel experience, can negatively interrupt the customer’s shopping journey. However, according to our State of Retail 2022/2023 report, almost half of retailers (48%) believe frequently out-of-stock items cause the biggest challenge to them serving customers. This results in retailers being unable to fulfill customer orders, negatively impacting brand reputation while customer trust and confidence diminish.
To meet this demand, retailers must deploy item-level RFID technology to allow them to manage their inventory effectively. Our Clarity® solutions at SML enable retailers to gain over 98% inventory accuracy. With this solution in place, retailers gain accurate and up-to-date information on existing stock, allowing staff to fulfill customer orders quickly. On the shop floor, in-store associates can spend less time manually counting inventory and more time serving customers to create a seamless shopping experience, increasing retail sales and revenue.
Effective Returns Management
When manually processing returned items, retailers’ costs significantly increase due to a significant amount of items being sold at a discounted price and the increased time spent handling and processing returned items. Equally, a poor returns management system can create further complications, where a Statista survey revealed that more than 60% of U.S. consumers would be hesitant to shop again at a store after a negative return experience.
In today’s competitive environment, customers have many options to shop from, so it’s vital that retailers provide an efficient returns process. With Clarity® solutions, retailers can quickly identify each product by scanning items with an RFID reader, reducing waiting times for customers returning items in-store. In addition, retailers can track returned items in the reverse supply chain, allowing them to quickly add items back on the shelves to generate further sales. As a result, staff can spend less time processing returned items and focus on other key areas to improve retailers’ operations, creating long-term success.
Future of Retail
The quest to deliver a seamless customer experience is central to retailers’ strategies. However, it is an area that many retailers can improve, which can result in improved ROI. Ultimately, delivering the perfect customer service is pivotal to retail success. By investing in our RFID solutions, retailers can elevate the in-store experience for customers, streamlining their time spent in-store and driving overall satisfaction. This directly results in customer experiences that make shoppers want to make repeat purchases and create long-lasting impressions for your brand that stand out amongst competitors.
Contact us today to find out more about how Clarity® Experience can transform the customer experience and deliver retail ROI.
