Digitisation is driving a fundamental shift in the way consumers shop as the smartphone becomes a primary tool for research, browsing and purchasing goods.
Customers expect a frictionless experience with ‘anytime anywhere convenience’, but many merchants are struggling to meet these demands and often disappoint customers, according to Adyen country manager for Australia and New Zealand, Michel van Aalten.
“Merchants who don’t keep up will simply lose but digital commerce is not going away, it is accelerating, he said. “Brands need to reinvent themselves or customers will go elsewhere. It’s all about experience and payments is an important part of this. Whether a customer shops in-store or online, they expect a seamless and frictionless experience.
He said knowing your customer as a business is more important than ever – who they are, when they shop, and what they buy.
The recently released Adyen Agility Report highlights four key payment trends re-shaping the Australian retail landscape. These are:
Loyalty: The pandemic forced consumers to assess their priorities and choose stores that are closer in proximity to support local retailers. Customers also like to be rewarded with 60% shopping with retailers that reward their loyalty.
Instalments: Instalments are becoming an everyday way to pay and are a hot topic. The combined forces of convenience and tighter budgets due to Covid-19 have accelerated buy now pay later (BNPL) options and made them mainstream.
Contactless: There is a transition to contactless and this will continue to grow. Check-in and check-out will be changed indefinitely with more one-click payments and same day delivery options. And 62% of young shoppers aged 18 to 34 want retailers to use more in-store technology to reduce human interaction and contact.
Unified Commerce: Online and offline is merchant terminology because shoppers don’t think or look in channels, they decide when a shopping journey starts based on convenience. During the pandemic, the ability to seamlessly move customers and their data from one channel to another, from in-store to online, was key to survival.
“Even though stores have re-opened in Australia, demand for digital infrastructure will remain with almost 74% of consumers still expecting the same flexibility when it comes to cross-channel shopping, shown during Covid-19,” van Aalten said.