Consumers are becoming more and more proactive when it comes to shopping. This recent trend is due to monumental advances in payment technologies as well as easily accessible knowledge about products and services. These progressions have created a new space for businesses and retailers to compete in, shifting the focus from the product or service to the consumer experience. Customer satisfaction will be key to driving sales in 2023.
Trends in driving sales in 2023
As we head into 2023, there will be two major trends that have significantly grown and developed throughout 2022. These trends should be a priority for merchants in the coming year as they enable retailers to create better experiences for their consumers and drive business continuity and growth. Only by focusing on the consumer will companies be able to succeed and create a larger profit margin. Given the current economic climate, this is particularly important, as consumers are less likely to spend without thinking about it first.
The first trend is the increasing importance of data in creating a superior consumer experience. Gathering and analyzing data about consumers, when done right, can make a huge difference in the way merchants approach their consumers. When we consider what our consumers truly need and desire, it makes it much easier to provide them with just that. Using an omnichannel solution is particularly important, as most consumers do a significant amount of their research online before they shop in store. When merchants are able to connect their online and in-store data, they can more easily target consumers and drive their growth.
Once retailers boost their consumer retention with data-driven decisions, they transition to the next step, or trend, of turning these returning consumers into brand advocates. Brand advocates are a valuable asset to any business, as they act as a secondary sales team simply by promoting the business’ products or services. This promotion is usually a fairly passive act, as the retailer and products may casually come up in a conversation with a friend, but promotion can also be done more actively, through social media posts for example, with advocates sharing their feedback on a retailer with a wider online audience.
Effective loyalty programs
Given these trends, it is important for retailers to leverage consumer loyalty with an effective loyalty program. Bolstering loyalty can come in many forms, such as asking consumers to sign up with their email to receive coupons, sending them digital receipts with a CTA to visit the store again, or via a payment app which can work in both the attended and unattended retail industry. These tools enable retailers to stay in touch with their consumers and encourage them to return. Without this connection, it is nearly impossible to drive consumer stickiness, which as we’ve already discussed, is necessary in today’s world.
Final thoughts
We expect to see great changes taking place in the coming year in the space of consumer loyalty, with retailers competing for their consumers with personalized and customized offers. This will also be one of Nayax’s focuses, as we continue to develop and improve our loyalty programs to create more positive experiences for consumers, no matter the business.
