As the landscape in which small retail businesses operate in continues to change, they must adapt. The new digital tools from Lightspeed look to help retailers improve their digital transformation and address the changes taking place.
The company is introducing in-store POS, eCommerce, Digital Wallet, and Analytics Core solutions. It will also include Mobile Tap, which will support contactless payment and curbside pick-up. Lightspeed says this will support small businesses as they adjust to new consumer behavior. And if businesses don’t overhaul their digital capability, they will not attract customers that are adopting these new behaviors.
Lightspeed Tools for Retail Business
The Founder and CEO of Lightspeed, Dax Dasilva, explains the priority is to look to the future of retail. Adding he wants businesses to adapt rapidly to the quick and dramatic consumer behavior changes of the past few months.
In the release, Dasilva goes on to say, “The SMBs that Lightspeed powers are innovating quickly because they are equipped with tools that help them remain agile, stay connected with their customers, and future-proof their businesses.”
For retailers, it means improving the omnichannel shopping experience so customers can seamlessly go in and out of a brick and mortar and digital stores. According to Lightspeed, the goal is to enable greater multi-location efficiencies and provide opportunities for improved productivity for its retailers.
Mobile Tap
One of the new behaviors consumers are having to adopt is avoiding or greatly limiting contact with people. But by their very nature retail businesses require some contact; at least that was the case in the past.
With Mobile Tap, retailers can deploy contactless payment and provide curbside pick-up for their customers. This will dramatically reduce the points of contact between employees and customers.
Lightspeed says merchants in the U.S. using its payment system can process transactions with just a tap. This includes anywhere in the store as well as curbside so they can follow social distancing protocols.
The Mobile Tap hardware connects through Bluetooth thus turning an iPad into a contactless mobile payment terminal. The end-to-end encryption technology then processes the payment securely.
Digital Wallet for eCommerce
One of the biggest challenges for eCommerce retailers is abandoned carts. According to Lightspeed 21% of U.S. eCommerce shoppers abandon their cart at checkout. This the company says is because of lengthy or complicated checkout processes.
The Lightspeed Digital Wallet will expedite the process with a secure and seamless experience. Digital wallets are fast and efficient in the real world often taking seconds to pay for items. The one-click eCommerce checkout will make customers happy and improve the conversion rate by lowering abandoned carts.
Analytics Core
Another essential tool part of a company’s digital transformation is analytics. Because more businesses now also have a digital presence, Analytics Core looks to empower owners so they can make data-driven decisions.
With Analytics Core businesses can get access to different dashboards and get insights on sales, inventory, and employee performance.
The New Economic Landscape
The way people consume is going to be different for the foreseeable future. Whether it is one, two or more quarters businesses must adapt in this new economic landscape. And this will change businesses after the pandemic is under control.
For those who manage to survive, it is because of their ability to adapt to the new consumer behaviors with technology. And the great thing about this is, the technology will continue to deliver long after the pandemic is over.
The key is to explore all possible opportunities digital technology offers to your industry and business. While not everything will deliver positive results, having a strong presence in a digital ecosystem will pay dividends.
Image: Lightspeed
This article, “New Lightspeed Tools Helping Small Retail Businesses” was first published on Small Business Trends