In-Store Tablets: Gimmick or Genius? [ANIMATION]

Posted by Ian Newcombe on Tue, Apr 15, 2014

The tablet has changed the way we interact with technology for ever – could it do the same for the retail sector?

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Since Apple first unveiled the iPad back in 2010, the tablet market has exploded. Between 12 - 13 million of them were sold last year alone – just in the UK!

In Summer 2012, 36% of Britons had access to a tablet computer - by the end of January 2013, that figure had risen to 50%.

And the retail sector is now exploiting our insatiable appetite for tablet technology.

In six special ‘digital stores’, Argos has ditched its laminated catalogues, pencils and notepads, replacing them with banks of tablets. Using these self-service iPads - or their own mobile devices - shoppers can use the free in-store wi-fi to browse product videos and customer reviews. There are more sales assistants on the shop floor than in traditional stores and dynamic digital screens replace the old flyers and posters.

At House of Fraser, customers waiting to collect their ‘order online, pick up in store’ purchases are offered iPads. They can use these to continue to browse and shop alone - or sales people can walk them through a personalised selling experience. Shoppers love it, and the strategy has boosted sales both in-store and online.

And then there's Carphone Warehouse's success story . . .

To help customers make sense of the 300,000 combinations of carriers, manufacturers and tariffs available to choose from, Carphone Warehouse created the Pinpoint app. Staff help customers access the app on in-store tablets to support them in finding the right combination for their needs and budget.

Thanks to its useful key questions and live tariff checker, Pinpoint has seen buying rates in-store boosted from 40% to 90% since its introduction.

There's nothing gimmicky about that genius figure.

These tablets also collect valuable data about what customers are browsing - invaluable Big Data which will help the company understand shoppers’ research journeys.

So deploy tablets in your in-store operations by:

Using them as kiosks.
Using them for 'clienteling', where the sales assistant can offer the customer a more personalised experience.
Deploying tablets as interactive digital signs that offer dynamic messaging.
Or simply using tablets to manage and train sales assistants more effectively.

The tablet is here to stay. The question is – is your business?