Softwares That Are Changing Online Shopping

Online shopping is a big convenience for people, and it has hit the industry by storm. It is becoming more popular than shopping in stores, because people can shop without leaving the comfort of their homes. It is being used even more than ever before, because new software makes it even easier to shop online.

Digital Marketing and Analytics

Digital marketing has been a major factor in increasing the popularity of online shopping. It is a great way for retailers to connect with shoppers, and it can be through digital coupons, emails, increased ads, or virtual storytelling. According to Gartner's 2018 CIO Agenda: Retail Industry Insights, digital marketing is the top area for new spending. Analytics is used to understand customers, demographics, and customer traffic, which helps businesses to make decisions based on these results. Taking advantage of this new opportunity in the marketplace will be an important step in the digital marketing industry.

Artificial Intelligence and Voice

Artificial Intelligence automates and customizes the retail experience, which makes shopping easier for customers. Over a third of brands are using this technique to improve their businesses. Using "cashier-less" stores, such as Amazon Go, eliminates long lines, and the need for cashiers. Amazon Go is a fully automated store in Seattle, and two more stores will be opened up in both Chicago and San Francisco. Voice technology has made a huge impact on the industry, because it creates less hands-on work for people. You can ask Siri on your iPhone to search for something online, or ask Google Home to purchase something for you. With voice control, employees can communicate in the store with one another through voice-controlled wearables. It’s revolutionizing the way we view business, and completely streamlining the buying process for both businesses and consumers.

Facial Recognition and Cloud Services

Facial recognition is a popular tool that is featured on iPhones, and that can help retailers to better understand what their customers like and dislike. Facial recognition can be used to prevent theft, determine customer demographics, and track where customers gravitate to within stores. With this useful information, businesses can figure out a good layout for their store that will help their business be productive. Cloud services are another tool used that shows stock availability, shipping details, and inventory tracking. Big companies such as Hallmark use this type of technology to gain insight into information within their company. This allows data to be processed much faster, and it also lowers the cost of software development. CPQ Software stands for Configure Price Quote Software, and it's a sales tool that allows companies to make accurate and highly configured quotes that allow the prices, products, and business rules to be centralized, available, and automatic. It’s much more accurate, and can help reduce the number of human errors. Overall, it can help increase your business’s productivity and efficiency.

All these tools are helpful in driving sales for businesses, and help make their tasks a lot easier. Instead of driving to a store, and not knowing if you will find what you're looking for or not, it is much easier to shop at the touch of your fingertips. All these technologies allow shopping to be much easier for consumers. A 2014 Infosys survey found that 78 percent of consumers would be more likely to shop at a store again if the retailer was able to target their wants and needs. According to real estate firm Cushman and Wakefield, the use of technology has caused 9,000 stores to close down in 2017. This number will continue to rise as more and more technologies begin to develop.