Frank Weil, Chief Customer Officer at KWI, examines if branded coin via crypto will be the future of payments in retail.
Brands have been offering their own credit cards for years. In fact, the first known proprietary cards date back to the 1920s, when they were introduced by a few US department stores and oil companies.
Successful retail brands stay relevant and grow by clearly showcasing how their products fit into a consumers' lifestyle. They tell their brand stories through strong content and insight which can drive commerce and create lifelong, loyal customers. This was the main topic of conversation during Advertising Week in New York City where KWI’s Chief Customer Officer Frank Weil moderated a thought-provoking and lively panel with Lindsay Bressler, VP Strategy of Hatch Collection (and a KWI client), Sean Dollinger, CEO, President and Co-Founder of Namaste Technologies, YinYin Gao, Senior Product Director at Tencent Smart Retail and Geoff Schiller, Chief Revenue Officer at PopSugar
Customer satisfaction and the customer experience has quickly emerged as the primary metric of success for retailers. Investing in new technology, staying abreast of fashion trends, and creating in-store experiences are all smart strategies, but the best brands always come back to the Why. Why are you investing in new technology? (To make the shopping and checkout experience better, easier, and faster for your customers.) Why are you mindful of trends (to keep your customers interested.) Why are you offering yoga classes in your stores (to entice your customer to open the door). The answer is always about the customer experience.
I had the pleasure of interviewing Sam Kliger, Founder and CEO of KWI, a pioneer of cloud technology for specialty retailers. KWI provides companies with a unified commerce solution for point of sale, merchandising, eCommerce, CRM and loss prevention to create a holistic customer experience— both online and off. KWI counts leading fashion brands and retailers as customers including Bandier, Blue Mercury, Dylan’s Candy Bar, Hatch, NARS, Stance, Il Makiage and many more.
Having a state-of-the-art unified commerce and mobile POS system is crucial to compete in today’s retail market. Is your infrastructure ready to support it? A strong, reliable network (with cutting-edge monitoring, dynamic channel management, traffic shaping, and more) make all the difference in the consumer experience and whether or not you’ve earned a repeat visit and their loyalty.
Market analysts tend to proselytize about the state of retail and how Amazon is killing our business as we know it. And while there is some truth to that, that’s not the headline most insiders would use. The industry is full of highs and lows right now—yes, some traditional box stores are going out of business, but there are also exciting partnerships developing and innovative new companies popping up. As with any business, competition, evolving customer habits, and new technology can be a challenge. After talking with our clients here’s what they told us the biggest issues in retail are right now.
KWI offers a complete commerce solution for specialty retailers. Our cloud-based technology powers all the solutions you need to create unified customer experiences. It is a Point of Sale, Merchandising, eCommerce, CRM, and Loss Prevention solution, all from a single database.
