In Australia, digital commerce continues to grow at a rapid pace and retailers are making the shift to digital to keep up with strong consumer demand.
By Stocard Country Manager Australia and New Zealand Radinck van Vollenhoven.
A recent e-commerce industry report from Australia Post revealed that Australians spent an incredible $50.46 billion online over the year of 2020, dwarfing the $32.1 billion e-commerce spending from 2019. Consequently, the line between the physical and digital world is becoming increasingly blurred, as retailers look at new ways to provide a seamless omnichannel experience for their customers.
Mobile wallets can help facilitate the core of what omnichannel is trying to achieve. By definition, omnichannel is immersive and puts customers at the core. It’s about communicating in ways that are aligned with why they use a given channel and showing awareness of their individual stage in the purchasing journey. Customers can browse, research and buy, wherever they are, in a more natural way, rather than treating channels separately and having fragmented experiences that can result in poor conversion rates.
But how exactly do mobile wallets achieve all the above?
Facilitate omnichannel shopping experiences
The shift to seeing more digital purchasing puts even more emphasis on how digital is best integrated with the physical store network. Retailers will need to think about innovative ways to make the most of their physical stores and how to best link them to their digital channels. A great example of this shift occurred during the pandemic when stores were closed but e-commerce suddenly boomed. Accent Group, Australia’s largest footwear retailer, used its physical store network throughout the mass lockdown period to fulfil online orders from ‘dark stores’. Its online sales increased exponentially in a matter of weeks.
A seamless shopping experience that allows customers to easily use different channels for different stages of the shopping journey is what customers are looking for in 2021.
According to a recent study by Nielsen and Stocard, 67% of surveyed mobile app users research items online, then buy the same items in-store, while 50% say they’re reluctant to buy online because they can’t see or touch what they’re buying.
A good example of the seamless shopping experience is at Dan Murphy’s, where customers can order online, enter their car number plate, drive to the store and wait for staff to deliver their order direct to their vehicle’s boot. Similarly, Woolworths has launched a convenient drive-through service that allows customers to order groceries online, then when they arrive to collect their shopping, they can alert staff via the Woolworths app or SMS link, to notify the store team, who will then pack the order directly in the boot.
Mobile wallets are strong enablers of cross-channel shopping experiences and provide full online to offline measurement and sales attribution. Shoppers, for example, can browse a retailer’s catalogue and latest products before going in-store, be notified of an in-store promotion when nearby, and even sign up to a new loyalty program, all while on their way to their workplace.
Create tailored, targeted and relevant cross-channel engagement at scale
A mobile wallet offers an excellent channel for delivering tailored and targeted digital marketing campaigns and content personalised to consumers. The platform can also enhance a retailer’s loyalty program experience. For example, users regularly receive notifications about nearby stores, new promotions or sales that match their shopping profile, as well as discounts at their favourite retailers. The overall impact is that shoppers feel more connected to the brand, are more engaged and swipe their digital loyalty cards more regularly in-store.
Integrate with consumer needs and lifestyles
Mobile wallets help consumers simplify their day-to-day lives. The platform tops the charts when it comes to delivering convenience. To become an indispensable tool in a consumer’s daily routine, a mobile wallet needs to support a huge range of functionality and join up the array of different features that deliver each part of the customer’s purchasing journey. This is why Stocard is unique, as it’s essentially giving consumers the ability to research and pay for any item they need in a given a situation, all from the palm of their hand.
Now is the time for marketers to consider how a mobile wallet could be integrated into their omnichannel strategy. Those retailers not integrating their offline and online channels could be left behind. We at Stocard are certainly excited about what’s to come in 2021 as digital wallets continue to mature in Australia and become a critical component of a retailer’s omnichannel strategy.
About Radinck Van Vollenhoven
Radinck van Vollenhoven is the Country Manager of Stocard in Australia and New Zealand, the leading mobile wallet with more than five million app users, and a strategic partner to retailers looking to close the loop between the digital and physical worlds.
Radinck is a highly driven senior retail and technology executive, well versed on the customer of the future and how to effectively engage them, drive repeat business and improve sales revenue through strategic marketing. He has launched and scaled multiple start-up businesses in the technology, retail and media space over the past decade, spanning multiple continents. Radinck is especially passionate about disruptive technology that has the potential to change the way consumers interact with each other and the brands around them. Before he joined Stocard, he worked for Apple, Criteo and Spotify in various business development and management positions, building their Australian and European businesses.
Radinck is most active on LinkedIn. Click the link to view his profile.
About Stocard
Stocard is a rapidly growing fin-tech start-up focused on enhancing the shopper experience and bridging the gap between the online and offline worlds. With more than 60 million global users and five million across Australia and New Zealand, Stocard is the leading mobile wallet for the entire shopping journey from research through to purchase. Stocard helps leading Australian retailers engage with customers and drive footfall and sales into their stores. For more information, visit stocardapp.com/business.