The Proliferation Of Mobile Devices Is Driving The Rapid Shift To Unified Commerce, According To BRP's 2017 POS/Customer Engagement Survey

89% of Retailers Plan to Offer Mobile Solutions to Associates within Three Years

Boston, MA (PRWEB) - According to a new report from Boston Retail Partners (BRP), the mobilization of retail and a renewed focus on customer centricity is the catalyst for the new retail paradigm of unified commerce. According to the 2017 POS/Customer Engagement Benchmarking Survey, retailers understand that the always-connected consumer expects a personalized, seamless experience wherever, whenever and however she shops and they are focused on delivering a unified customer experience.

“Unified commerce goes beyond omni-channel, putting the customer experience first, breaking down the walls between internal channel silos and leveraging a common commerce platform,” said Brian Brunk, principal at BRP. “Retailers are moving in this direction with 71% planning to have a unified commerce platform within three years.”

Critical to unified commerce are the four key pillars that define the required customer experience: personal, mobile, seamless and secure. Personalization of the customer experience is key and offering more mobile options and real-time retail are necessary to make the experience seamless across channels. To ensure the trust and loyalty of the customer, data security is also critical.

BRP’s 2017 POS/Customer Engagement Survey of top North American retailers offers insights into retailers’ current priorities and initiatives as the digital and physical worlds converge to facilitate a seamless experience across channels.

The key customer experience trends driving today’s initiatives are:

PERSONAL – Today’s informed consumer researches products and shops anywhere and anytime and she expects a personalized experience wherever she shops.

• 75% plan to use Wi-Fi to identify customers with their mobile devices in the store by the end of 2019
• 80% will suggestive sell based on previous purchases within three years

MOBILE – Having a constant, virtually unlimited array of information at our fingertips through mobile devices has changed the shopping experience and elevated customer expectations for customer service.

• 89% will offer mobile solutions for associates within three years
• 84% will use mobile POS within three years

SEAMLESS – Real-time retail is the ability to deliver a seamless and personalized experience to the customer whenever, wherever and however she chooses to shop.

• 71% plan to have a unified commerce platform by the end of 2019
• 60% plan to have centralized POS within two years

SECURE – Today’s retail environment requires security beyond retailers’ current focus on payments and networks.

• 96% will have end-to-end encryption (E2EE) by the end of 2019
• 73% will offer a single token solution across the enterprise within three years

To download the complete 2017 POS/Customer Engagement Benchmarking Survey, visit: https://bostonretailpartners.com/2017-pos-survey.

The 2017 POS/Customer Engagement Survey platinum sponsor is Manhattan Associates and the gold sponsors are Aptos, Diebold Nixdorf, EarthLink, Experian Data Quality, Fujitsu, PCMS, Salesforce Commerce Cloud and Tata Consultancy Services.

About BRP
BRP was founded in 2009 by retail industry-recognized thought leaders and became an EarthLink subsidiary in 2016. BRP is an innovative and independent retail management consulting firm dedicated to providing superior service and enduring value to our clients. BRP combines its consultants' deep retail business knowledge and cross-functional capabilities to deliver superior design and implementation of strategy, technology, and process solutions. The firm's unique combination of industry focus, knowledge-based approach, and rapid, end-to-end solution deployment helps clients to achieve their business potential. BRP’s consulting services include:

For more information on BRP, visit http://www.bostonretailpartners.com.