Bricks And Mobile: How Mobility Is Impacting Physical Retail Locations

A Q&A with Nicholas Wislocki, Vice President, R&D, MICROS

1. In your piece on “Bricks and Mobile,” you reference the fact that mobility is changing store layout and design. What are some of the most significant changes going on now, and what do you think will be some of the dramatic changes over the next 5 years?

Nicholas Wislocki: Mobile technology provides shoppers with the ability to make purchases anywhere, as long as they have a mobile device connected to the internet.  While this makes it more challenging for local merchants to ensure customers still visit stores, and make purchases there, retailers understand that this mobile phenomenon is only going to increase.  As such, the savvy retailers have made mobile and online shopping more convenient, offering same-day shipping and in-store pickup of an online purchase in near realtime. 

In addition, retailers have more recently taken advantage of mobile POS and clienteling applications in the store, and these have changed the store layout by eliminating the need for some registers and “wrap desks”, where packages are wrapped and bagged. The mobile POS devices mean fewer fixed registers in the store, and more mobile devices that associates can use in a more collaborative fashion with consumers. Associates are able to do “line busting” on the floor, providing additional service and improving overall customer satisfaction.

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