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Paybefore: Cognizant’s Senior Vice-President of Retail and Consumer Goods Consulting Says the Convergence of Online, Mobile and In-Store Shopping is Reshaping Retail

Leading retailers are embracing the omnichannel concept by retooling their stores to include smartphones and tablet devices to help streamline and improve the online and in-store shopping experience, according to Steve Skinner. By harnessing channel convergence, stores can evolve from the limitations of selling only merchandise on hand to serving as sales and marketing hubs, where clerks spend more time helping customers choose among a broader assortment of merchandise, which can be sent directly to consumers’ homes or picked up at the store as early as the next day, Skinner contends. “We believe the smartest retailers will make the concept of showrooming work for them, not against them,” he says.

“The traditional fixed POS cash register in a department store takes away space retailers should be using for merchandise, while it traps a sales clerk behind a computer when they could be out on the floor, actually selling items,” says Skinner. “Our perspective is that if retailers can transition away from the fixed POS terminal in stores to mobile POS, you will improve shopper satisfaction, close more sales and reduce capital outlay by making every square foot more profitable.”

Even as they introduce mobile checkout options, retailers are unlikely to replace all fixed checkout terminals, Skinner notes. The shift in retail to a convergence of channels certainly will change the face of retail, but brick-and-mortar stores won’t go away, Skinner adds. “People still love the social element of shopping and they want to see the products.”

Advanced new methods of shopping and paying through the omnichannel are still in the early stages of development, but industry participants need to plan carefully to prepare for the future, Skinner says. “Mobile digital payments are inevitable in the future, because we know that technology is reshaping every element of commerce, and payments are no different,” Skinner says. “Whether is happens in six months or six years or 20 years, it’s a process that’s already under way and certain companies are positioning themselves to win now.”

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