Endpoint: Better Get Moving on Integrated Shopping

Integration of in-store, online, and mobile shopping makes for a much quicker and more convenient shopping experience. It’s what consumers are beginning to expect and demand.

Too few ISOs have progressed beyond the basics of POS technology, says Rick Berry.

Rick Berry is chief executive of American Bank Card Processing Inc., ABC Processing, and ABC Mobile Pay, Valencia, Calif. Reach him at rick@abcmobilepay.com.

Last spring, at our new address where we recently bought a home, we received a newsletter. Because the newsletter was addressed to our cat, Blue, I was curious and began to read the message.

The mailing was from PetSmart, a chain of pet-supply stores where we shop for our cats and our dog. It had probably been a year and a half earlier that my wife and I were checking out at PetSmart, having acquired two new kittens. We had adopted them several weeks before and we had come back to buy play-toys, food, and collars.

Between the point-of-sale checkout and the entrance/exit was a self-serve collar-tag kiosk/dispenser. We needed tags, so we went to the machine and followed the easy instructions, selecting the type, shape, size, and color of each tag.

After inserting our payment card, we were prompted to select the type and size of text that we wanted laser-inscribed on each tag, both front and back. We chose to have the cat’s name, our new address, and our phone numbers evenly distributed over the front and back of the tags.

The entire process was quick and easy, and we smiled to each other as we exited the store with everything in hand that we needed to provide for and keep track of our newest family members.

Not until I received the mailer did I personally understand how effective an integrated system could be for a merchant when done properly. Not only does an integrated system save and/or make money by providing inventory control and management reports, it does much more.

Integration can also generate invaluable loyalty among customers when utilizing a systemwide approach. For instance, when we used that self-serve kiosk, little did we expect to receive a cool little newsletter addressed to our cat a year and half later in which we’re offered discounts on items that we regularly purchase from PetSmart.

The Mobile Anchor

When they’re in brick-and-mortar stores, customers are pulling out their smart phones to check prices and are sometimes buying online. Often, customers go online before a store visit. So smart merchants are melding the customer buying experience into a cross-channel shopping experience anchored with mobile technology.

This integration of in-store, online, and mobile shopping makes for a much quicker and more convenient shopping experience. It’s what consumers are beginning to expect and demand.

Here’s an example of what I mean. I often receive promotions on my receipts from Starbucks to go online and take a survey. My incentive is a free drink or a discount. But I never take advantage of the promotion because of the time and effort involved. I’m required to go back to the computer, bring up the site, enter a code provided, and so on.

By contrast, I went to Jack in the Box recently to get their tacos with “secret sauce.” I had a few minutes to spend by myself while I ate them inside. Both in-store and on the POS receipt were offers of two free tacos if I merely completed a quick survey via QR code.

I scanned the QR code with my smart phone and found myself quickly completing an easy survey. I received my two free tacos via a code on my phone, which I was to present for redemption on my next visit.

The point is that if it’s convenient, quick, and easily accessed on whatever mobile device the consumer is carrying at that moment, customer engagement is dramatically increased and sales climb.

No Path to Follow

Integration of the online presence with the brick-and-mortar POS system and the mobile ecosystem isn’t as daunting as it may seem to many merchants because of readily available technology in the form of applications and software as a service (SaaS).

Here’s the rub: Most independent sales organizations are unable to provide the technical knowledge, expertise, and support required to affordably execute systemwide integration. The very idea is in its nascent stage. There’s no path to follow, nor much that could be successfully modeled just yet.

Also, there are very few ISOs or merchant-service providers that are capable of providing reliable customer service and tech support for a true POS system. I can count on one hand how many ISOs are able to provide such mundane solutions as a traditional POS system with a touch-screen monitor/computer, cash drawer, receipt printers and scanners etc., let alone support them.

However, there are some trailblazers with vision, and there are some easy and fairly affordable solutions, as well as some complicated and very pricey options as well. There are a few ISOs that have seen the light and have realized dramatic success after developing a traditional POS system.

Even so, combining the online, brick-and-mortar and mobile presence into a productive, smooth, and seamless buying experience requires much more than providing and supporting a POS system. A certain technical expertise is required to provide complete integration with the POS, mobile, social-media, loyalty-programs, digital-signage, marketing, inventory-control, accounting, and reports systems and flows.

It’s well worth finding that expertise. The typical merchant account has a lifespan that ranges from about six months to perhaps two years. With an integrated POS system, that life span increases dramatically while achieving a significant decrease in the attrition rate. Because the level of service is increased, customer-satisfaction levels and customer loyalty also increase, along with sales volume and profits.

Restaurant and retail business owners recognize that, by providing an integrated and unique buying experience to their customers across all channels, they will generate goodwill and customer loyalty.

More important, merchants that quickly integrate technology that provides this cross-channel buying experience will assuredly capture market share while increasing sales and profits. And ISOs that position themselves to provide and support this integration will see growth and revenue beyond their expectations.