Moving Customer Engagement Forward
Chain Store Age recently spoke with Jason Miller, chief commerce strategist of Akamai Technologies, about how mobile technology can serve as a key component of omnichannel customer engagement strategies.
What benefits does responsive Web design (RWD) offer retailers versus designing separate sites in native device formats?
One of the benefits of RWD for retailers is that they can serve all of their customers from a single URL while maintaining a single code base for both their desktop and mobile. This is because RWD utilizes a fluid design that resizes and reorders the page elements to fit the screen size.
This removes the need for duplication of work to maintain separate mDot and desktop sites, and provides a level of “future-proofing” for new device formats. It also has the benefit of streamlining marketing efforts. For example, it removes the need to create separate landing pages per device for email promotions, SEO optimizing and social sharing.
This is a multiscreen world, and customers will use many different devices to interact throughout the day — perhaps mobile in the morning, desktop at work and tablet in the evening. RWD allows retailers to create a seamless customer experience across all these different devices.
How can mobile technology help retailers offer in-store customers a shopping experience with the same type of personalization they receive online?
Retailers can use geo-fencing to offer coupons or e-receipts based on users’ proximity to stores. For example, Starbucks uses this functionality to enable its order-ahead feature to choose the nearest location, and in store beacons like the iBeacons used by Shopkick allow retailers to capitalize on data-driven retail experiences.
With iBeacons, retailers can provide product recommendations, track customer movements and send push notifications about merchandise to shoppers when they are in close proximity to the item. In an interesting role reversal, some Web-only retailers are opening retail outlets that are essentially fitting rooms where you can try on items before you order from the website.
How can mobile devices serve as a seamless shopping assistant for customers?
It is undeniable that mobile devices have become a key component of the shopping experience, whether the customer chooses to conduct the entire process online or partially in-store. Mobile stands out as the preferred research device for products and services.
Retailers are also taking advantage of the ubiquity of mobile devices to act much like a personal shopper with apps guiding shoppers to products, or allowing them to take a picture of a product, or view product availability for similar and recommended products. Enabling Web, mobile and video experiences both online and in-store is key for shoppers who wish to utilize their mobile devices as shopping assistants.
What are some ways retailers ensure security for customers shopping with mobile devices?
In order to ensure a secure mobile shopping experience, retailers should employ the same best practices they use for overall website security and PCI compliance. While desktop and mobile platforms may have their differences, the reasons and strategies for securing them are the same. Retailers don’t want the bad guys to exploit their technology, so they must stay current with the latest methods to mitigate security threats.
Customers want to know that the way you handle their personal information is secure. Making sure it’s obvious that data is encrypted and providing third-party trust seals can help increase customer confidence.
What mobile solutions and services does Akamai offer retailers?
Akamai’s services include cloud security, Web performance, media and delivery, and professional services and support solutions. One of the more recent offerings from Akamai includes Cloudlets, which help retailers manage and solve specific business or operational challenges by offloading decisions to the Akamai edge, resulting in increased flexibility, resource offload and control.