Success in the retail business is only possible through extraordinary customer experience. But delivering a great customer experience isn’t possible with traditional strategies because of their time-consuming nature. And time-consuming tasks are a killer for customer experience in modern times. So, what can retailers do in such a situation? The answer to this question lies in using OCR technology.
OCR technology holds the power to automate the different aspects of a retail business. And that automation can translate into a better customer experience. But how? Let’s find out the answer to this question here.
Thus, without any further delay, let’s delve into this discussion.
A Brief Introduction to OCR Technology
The term ‘OCR’ (also known as Optical Character Recognition) is a technology that recognizes text from scanned documents and converts them into editable and searchable forms. The scanned documents can be in the form of images and PDFs.
This technology works in multiple phases to convert text successfully into a machine-readable format.
- For starters, this technology first analyzes the content of a document and identifies the individual words or characters within it. And for that, it uses various specialized algorithms.
- Once the analysis and identification phase are done, OCR technology converts the identified text into a machine-readable digital format.
- And that’s the simplest explanation of how text extraction through OCR technology actually happens.
How Can OCR Technology Enhance the Customer Experience in Retail Businesses?
As the previous section indicates, OCR technology can automate various aspects of businesses. So, let’s specifically see the benefits of OCR technology in improving the customer experience of retail businesses.
By Processing Faster Checkouts
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One of the main factors that frustrate the customer base of retail businesses is waiting in long checkout lines. This factor is a major deal breaker for the customer experience of a retail business. But OCR technology can resolve this issue by optimizing the entire checkout process. Let’s find out how.
OCR technology can speed up the entire checkout process with the help of barcodes or QR codes. For instance, retailers can add barcodes or QR codes on each product and customers can scan those codes to add the product information to their cart instantly. This way, customers won’t have to wait in long checkout lines. And ultimately, the customer experience of the retail business will improve.
Through Quick and Accurate Data Entry
In today’s era, the manual way of entering data in retail business has a plethora of disadvantages. How? Let’s find out.
For starters, the manual process is time-consuming. And if the retail store is bustling with foot traffic, the retailer may enter incorrect data under time pressure. But thankfully, OCR technology can save you from this hassle. So, let’s see how.
Since OCR technology works on algorithms, the tools that use this technology can quickly and accurately extract text from image. In this way, retailers can streamline and optimize the process of entering customer data (such as name, address, contact and payment details, and purchase history). All this will reduce the chances of error and ultimately improve the customer experience.
Through Effective Inventory Management
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Another primary reason for the bad customer experience in the retail business is the unavailability of the products that customers expect to find. How? Let’s find out.
Customers say that when a particular product is listed as available, it must be available. But most of the time, that specific product is unavailable. Such a discrepancy leads to unhappy customers, which is a replication of a bad customer experience. However, OCR technology can help retailers improve this flaw.
The OCR technology can help retailers keep track of inventory in real time. For instance, retailers can scan invoices or delivery notes and extract necessary data from them. This way, they can keep track of and update inventory records without manually entering the data. As a result, customers will always have instant access to the products they need.
By Streamlining the Product Returns
Product returns are another crucial aspect of a retail business. But the manual way of returning products has a lot of shortcomings. And that is why customers often feel dissatisfied with the conventional product returning service. However, OCR technology can improve this aspect of retail business as well. So, let’s see how.
OCR technology can make the procedure of returning products faster and more convenient by automating its different aspects. So, let’s briefly discuss each aspect here.
- For starters, OCR technology can scan the product information and return label to automatically confirm the product’s eligibility for return.
- Some retailers offer a self-service return policy on their websites. So, customers can use that service to generate a return label and quickly begin the return procedure. And when it comes to populating the return label with appropriate data items, OCR technology can automatically fill in all the details.
- As we’ve already discussed, OCR technology eliminates the need for manual data entry and automates the returns process. So, retailers can use the saved time to identify issues with the returned items. This way, they can work on the weaknesses to improve their inventory management.
So, that’s how the availability of OCR technology can make the entire product return process faster, more convenient, and more accurate.
By Using Data From Customer Loyalty Cards
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Most retailers use loyalty or membership cards to make their business more appealing to customers. But besides benefitting the customers, loyalty or membership cards also help retailers improve their customer experience. So, let’s see how.
Retailers can use OCR technology to scan and retrieve information from loyalty or membership cards. The retrieved information can contain things like purchase history and personal preferences. So, retailers can use data from purchase history and personal preferences of individual customers to offer a more personalized shopping experience. Doing so will also prove helpful in increasing business loyalty.
Conclusion
Overall, OCR technology can automate time-consuming processes and reduce human errors in the retail industry. So, retailers can provide faster and more accurate services to customers with the help of this technology.
The faster and more accurate services through OCR technology will translate into a better customer experience. And a better customer experience is crucial to surviving in these challenging times, as the retail industry is getting more competitive daily.
