How Has Digital Technology Changed The Shopping Experience?

Over the past few years technology trends have dramatically changed the shopping experience for customers. Every customer is a digital customer with rising expectations about the quality of their shopping experience across  digital and in-store activities. They are becoming increasingly more interested in taking more control of their shopping experiences. At the same time, technologies surrounding new forms of data and analytics are driving better operations and raising the level of understanding of customer behaviours.

As digital technologies continue to become more user friendly and accessible in our everyday lives, retailers have taken advantage of this by investing in mobile applications to provide a seamless bridge between customers’ online and in-store shopping experiences. This will enable retailers to build more personalised relationships with their customer base and better differentiate themselves from their competitors.

Leading retailers are using social media data to analyse local markets for scale and follow trends. Social media can allow retailers to do everything from predicting demand for products and influencing in-store displays to creating more convenient and personalised shopping experiences for customers at each step of their shopping trip.

Over the last few years several of the leading supermarket retailers have introduced 'Scan-as-you Shop'. Tesco were the latest to roll out the scan-as-you-shop devices in over 100 stores and are looking to adopt this UK-wide (The Grocer, 2014). This is due to the trial stores revealing that for every £1 in every £7 spent in its stores goes through the 'scan-as-you-shop' device.

The devices, which use a portable barcode scanner that can be checked out at a self service system at the front of the store, has also proved an unlikely hit with children as they have been helping their parents do the shopping (The Grocer, 2014).

The benefits to the customer using  'Scan as you Shop'; its more convenient, time saving,  pack your bags as you go, the ability to track what you are spending and also there is no need to queue at the checkouts.