How Should Retailers Layout New Retail Stores Post-Pandemic?

By: Telpo

Affected by the stay-at-home policy and out of the fear of infection, e-commerce and online shopping have become a new shopping trend. How could new retail stores retain old customers and attract new customers in such a competitive environment?

Use Data Analysis to Plan Ahead
There is no doubt that data, no matter the commodity, sales data or customer browsing data, can truly reflect the preference of consumers. In virtue of online big data, merchants can quickly identify the most popular or high-quality products that have already purchased by online consumers. Merchants can use this data to create opportunities to intrigue customers such as placing the hot sales products in the front of the physical store.

Don’t be afraid to collect unique, local market research. Living in the millennium era, younger people crave and expect innovative experiences – merchants must find a way to get younger people to continue buying in-store. Inspired by this idea, merchants can start collecting data by surveying consumers in their local area to see what they would like to experience in a store. With the research findings, merchants can design a store with an identity that matches the consumers’ wants and needs. It is worth mentioning that AI technology and AI devices are conducive to improve store image, enhance store competitiveness, provide better interaction and attract more customers.

Exploring New Models
The new retailer needs to construct a multifunctional system to transform their sales model from online to in-store shopping. As the saying goes, retail success comes down to customer experience. Nowadays, omni-channel can help merchants learn customers’ dynamic demand in a timely manner to provide corresponding services and promote loyalty programs.

Compared with the 24 to 48-hour service cycle of online stores, the 30-minute accessible cycle of brick and mortar stores can become the consumer’s new preference. Under such circumstance, new retailers should take the biggest advantage of the location and strive to provide high-quality service and unique experiences in their stores.

Introduce Self-Service Kiosk, Increase Check-out Efficiency
Contactless and safety are the biggest issues for consumers in today’s world, which can be better guaranteed with the help of a self-service kiosk.

Implementing facial recognition and mobile payment technology to the current self-checkout kiosk can help merchants improve checkout efficiency, shopping experience, member marketing, contactless payment and other functions.

Take Telpo self-checkout kiosk as an example. The large and high-resolution screen enables customers to clearly view display content, hot sale products or promotion activities. The simple and clear operation interface helps them quickly self-checkout without contacting store staff or gathering in a crowd. Supporting the need to keep a reasonable social distance and reduce the risk of infection.

A kiosk with contactless payment methods such as QR pay, face pay, and NFC swiping cards create effective methods to reduce the spread of germs compared to cash transactions. After successfully paying, customers can immediately receive their receipt and go on about their day, improving the checkout efficiency and ultimately optimizing the shopping experience.

In addition, self-checkout provides the opportunity to free up staff to guide and assist special groups (e.g. the elderly, children, etc.)  This will undoubtedly highlight the store humanistic care and strengthen brand image.

Lastly, customers can enroll in a member loyalty program by registering their faces with the kiosk one time, without filling in any other personal information. After registration, when they are ready to check out, the kiosk will capture their facial features and recognize their memberships. Once their identities are matched with the membership database, they can enjoy membership discounts, points and other loyalty program services automatically. 

In virtue of big data and cutting-edge technology, businesses can accurately grasp consumers’ shopping requirements and target them with precise marketing. Therefore, each consumer can enjoy their special VIP service once they enter the store, thus further promoting secondary consumption.

If e-commerce is the first part of retail development, then new physical retail may be the second. Whether retailers are looking to create a convenient consumption model for consumers or encouraging the whole industry to operate efficiently at the business level, the new retail cycle with omni-channel characteristics will become the new trend for the retail industry. 


About Telpo
Introduction: Founded in 1999, Telpo is a world-leading smart retail terminal and solution provider. Telpo able to provide a series of smart retail devices (cash register, self-service kiosk, barcode scanner, etc) and personalized retail scene solutions relate to digital transformation, online and offline combination, diversified payment, inventory management, member marketing, contactless delivery service and so on.