If you’re not using mobile technology in your store, you’re being beaten not just by your competitors… but by your own customers! The results of a recent Deloitte study on the digital divide show that 78% of non-Millennials are now using digital devices either two or three times throughout their shopping trip. This means that mobile usage is no longer as heavily skewed toward Millennials. Now, all groups are turning to their mobile devices before and during the shopping journey.
The study also found that customers are taking control of how they interact with a brand—a finding which has wider implications for marketers and advertisers. Importantly for the foodservice, grocery, and CPG industries, the study found that digital influence in these categories jumped 49% year over year, with health and wellness climbing 32%. To put these gains in perspective, these categories follow the most digitally influenced category, electronics.
The results of this study beg the question: If your customers are increasingly using mobile technology in your stores, why not allow your own employees to use mobile technology to manage store operations?
This is especially important considering your employees are (hopefully) your customers, too!
Mobile technology rules the day, and the power of this technology can be harnessed in practical ways. Put yourself in your store/regional managers’ shoes. These are problems that arise daily in the store environment:
Have a mechanical or equipment problem inside or outside the store?
Don’t spend a half-hour on the phone trying to determine if the store manager can fix it on their own. Take a photo and share it through a centralized platform to expedite that process.
Need to check the price of a promotion?
Don’t waste time consulting print-outs or emailed instructions. Use your mobile device to scan the barcode of the SKU.
Have an employee accountability problem at a location? Don’t just chalk it up to a learning experience and hope it goes away on its own. Create checklists of tasks and hold employees accountability for completion of those tasks. Then reward employees for meeting goals.
The Best Part about Implementing Mobile Technology
You don’t have to buy your employees a new device! Employees can bring their own device and access important tools through an app. Zenput is a software solution that utilizes mobile and cloud-based technologies. It’s a tool that can help address the aforementioned problems and more in real-time. The Zenput mobile app (also available on desktop) allows senior managers to easily create mobile forms and checklists that increase communication and improve accountability within organizations. Overall, Zenput is the mobile solution for retailers and foodservice operators in the 21st century. To learn more about Zenput’s capabilities in retail operations, click here.Subscribe to our blog
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