Posted by The combined power of an increase in digital transformation and the COVID-19 pandemic had retailers reckon with how to use technology to sustain, improve, and innovate their current business models. Those who were able to adapt to digitization were more likely to survive and thrive during the past few years, while those who were not faced the repercussions. However, it’s not as black and white as it seems- while many predicted brick and mortar retailers to be completely terminated, we have since learned that with the support of low-code development and an innovative team, even brick and mortar retailers have succeeded. It’s really all about understanding where the market is headed, what your customers are looking for (and which competitors are offering that), and how to quickly and successfully deploy those services.
Low-code provides everything that is needed for that last point. Applications used to automate supply-chain logistics or support the customer experience, for example, are necessary functions for any successfully digitized retailer. Low-code’s user-friendly and intuitive setup allows for many other stakeholders within a business to create applications for their retailer, as opposed to depending on an IT team or software developers to do so, thus speeding up the process and seeing results faster. With low-code development predicted to grow at a CAGR of 44.29% from 2021-2028, it is in retailers’ best interest to consider using low-code for their brands. Let’s take a look at three practical uses for low-code application development in retail.
1. Chatbot capabilities
Customer-facing chatbots are transforming the retail industry by leveraging AI in order to offer support to customers without staff member intervention. Chatbot capabilities include answering questions in real-time, offering brand awareness, and increasing revenue. Businesses know that as the consumer market continues to become saturated with customers looking for digital transformation experiences, features like smart chatbots are going to be more important than ever. One reason that many consumers are more inclined to use chatbots is because chatbots offer quick response times. In fact, about 80% of sampled adults have used a chatbot before and 67% of respondents expressed appreciation for the quickness of chatbots’ response times.
Low-code chatbots are quickly taking over the chatbot industry due to its increased agility and low development costs. There is a sort of creative freedom and touch when business users are able to be involved in the chatbot development process for their company. Afterall, chatbots are an extension of a company’s brand, customer service experience, and credibility. Low-code platforms allow businesses to tailor the exact experience they want their customers to have more efficiently and effectively. At Iterate.ai, Interplay®, has successfully supported companies in their chatbox development using the benefits of our low-code platform. Notably, we built a smart chatbot in less than 2 weeks for the largest beauty retailer, Ulta. We were able to do so with Interplay due to its rapid and iterative prototyping process, as well as using our variety of smart AI engines. Ulta customers can now use a chatbot function that is able to process thousands of inquiries at a time.
2. FAQs
Having a designated “Frequently Asked Questions”, FAQs, section on a website supports the customer experience for any company, especially retailers’ websites. Not only can an FAQs page help customers navigate your company’s website, it also allows customers to find answers to their questions in real-time. Traditionally, FAQs portions of retail websites hold static content, frustrating customers as they rummage through loosely relevant information related to their question. Smart FAQs powered by AI address these frustrations by offering quality answers and solutions. Low-code allows for smart FAQs to be built much faster than hiring a developer to write the code for this from scratch.
Using our low-code platform, we were able to offer an efficient solution for popular retailer, Jockey, for their FAQs page. With Interplay, we designed an AI-based natural language FAQ where customers can ask a question conversationally, just as they would with a customer service agent, and are offered a recommendation based on what they’re looking for. If a customer is looking for a product that would best suit them, for example, they deserve to receive recommendations that are relevant to what they are looking for. Jockey specifically wanted an AI-powered FAQ where this would occur, not like other smart FAQs that suggest products that are “best selling” or “most popular.” We made sure to incorporate this when building the application for Jockey. Since deploying our FAQs platform, Jockey saw a 50% increase in conversion for shoppers who used the new Interplay-created FAQs function, all thanks to low-code.
3. Social Commerce
Retailers continue to consider the benefits of using social commerce as a part of their business model because social commerce is predicted to grow three times faster than traditional e-commerce by 2025. Since the vast majority of us use social media anyway, of course it makes sense for brands to market their products on social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, and Tik Tok, to name a few. Low-code application development has often been involved with the uprising of social commerce, “Shopify” being a prime example of this, because of its ability to democratize the integration process between a company and the world of social commerce.
As you can imagine, many brands pivoted towards social commerce when the pandemic hit. Using Interplay, we made sure that companies made this pivot the right way. Notably, we helped online retailer “Pampered Chef” bring video hosting, broadcasting, and marketing to their website in order to strategically connect to social media networks for potential customer engagement. Being that their hosting platform occurred in person, having to completely switch to a virtual engagement method was no easy feat; luckily, our low-code platform was able to successfully build their new “Pampered Chef’s Table” platform in just 8 weeks. This company was able to benefit from the social commerce experience and saw an increase in customers, conversion rate, and revenue in just a few months.
What’s next for retail?
Digital transformation is the future for all sectors, especially for retail. As retail leaders continue to digest this reality, those offering low-code services will undoubtedly be sought after in order to provide timely, cutting-edge solutions. There simply isn’t enough time, resources, or software developers to code groundbreaking applications from scratch; that is precisely why low-code is so necessary for a business’ success in today’s digital age. At Iterate.ai, we are ready to collaborate with you and offer transformative solutions for your business using our successful low-code platform, Interplay. Contact us here to learn more.