#CiscoChat Recap: Where Shopping Experience Meets the New Digital Customer

In my first #CiscoChat I hosted together with Anabelle Pinto, we were joined by Gaurav Pant and Sahir Anand from EKN Research to share their perspective and dig deeper into additional findings from Cisco and IDC. We started by defining who the digital consumer is, what type of services they’re looking for and what shoppers want and expect, all while providing the security they need.

Here are a few highlights from the #CiscoChat:

Who is today’s digital shopper?

#ciscochat a digital shopper is everyone. We seamlessly transition across channels of engagement,commerce. Make the experience frictionless

— Gaurav Pant (@gpantEKN) October 27, 2015

#ciscochat Digital Shopper uses a mix of both on-line and in-store information and purchases — Ron Kjelden (@rkjelden) October 27, 2015

#ciscochat #digital #shoppers are influencing close to 30% of US #store sales. Digital is confluence of #online–#mobile–#social..

— Sahir Anand (@sahiranand) October 27, 2015

What’s important to today’s shopper?

A1. Shoppers are looking for relevant omnichannel experiences, personalization & personal data security. All at once. #Ciscochat — Anabelle Pinto (@anabellepinto) October 27, 2015

How can retailers best meet the needs of today’s shopper?

1A #CiscoChat The store has to move from being a place of transactional commerce to an #omnichannel experience hub. Bring the fun back.

— Gaurav Pant (@gpantEKN) October 27, 2015

1A #Ciscochat in-store #digital transformation journey can include #mobile app, #online order purchase-returns, assisted sales and more.. — Sahir Anand (@sahiranand) October 27, 2015

A1. Proprietary intelligent Wi-Fi network is the key enabler of all those things! #Ciscochat

— Ron Kjelden (@rkjelden) October 27, 2015

For brands and retailers, it’s not all one-sided. Investing in the technology digital consumers want can pay off big for retailers.

A1. Combining #mobile technology with in-store experience provides new opportunities for retailers to create differentiation #ciscochat — Anabelle Pinto (@anabellepinto) October 27, 2015

A1. #Retailers are combining store systems and #digital commerce technologies into a single end-to-end environment #ciscochat

— Ron Kjelden (@rkjelden) October 27, 2015

This graphic from Gaurav @gpanekn is a nice summation of the value of the omnichannel experience:

1C #ciscochat The future of the store lies in becoming a hub of #omnichannel commerce and experience pic.twitter.com/So7DcqWGQ9 — Gaurav Pant (@gpantEKN) October 27, 2015

What matters most to today’s shopper?

3A #CiscoChat Offers work, but using them very frequently could condition shoppers to only shop when they get a discount

— Gaurav Pant (@gpantEKN) October 27, 2015

A3. Around the world, we are seeing savings & discounts are not shoppers’ top priority! Surprised? Convenience is actually #1! #ciscochat — Anabelle Pinto (@anabellepinto) October 27, 2015

A3. Convenience = faster check out, shopper enablement and way finding #ciscochat

— Ron Kjelden (@rkjelden) October 27, 2015

Security is a major concern for retailers and today’s shopper.

7A #CiscoChat It’s a Top 3 business priority for the retail and restaurant industry. It’s also the ever increasing cost of doing business — Gaurav Pant (@gpantEKN) October 27, 2015

A7 #ciscochat Data security is keeping retail executives up at night..among the top 3 store investments. #Digital & #payments adds pressure

— Sahir Anand (@sahiranand) October 27, 2015

A7. Security is a key driver for consumer’s trust & loyalty. Secure data at every touch point, in store, online, email & mobile #Ciscochat — Ron Kjelden (@rkjelden) October 27, 2015

7B #CiscoChat earning trust will mean going beyond security to transparency. Allow customers to understand,view,edit how their data is used

— Gaurav Pant (@gpantEKN) October 27, 2015

Are there benefits to stores and brands owning their own Wi-Fi networks?

A1. Proprietary intelligent Wi-Fi network is the key enabler of all those things! #Ciscochat — Ron Kjelden (@rkjelden) October 27, 2015

We asked which Brands and Retailers are delivering a superior customer experience and our participants were eager to share their top picks!

8C #CiscoChat @Bonobos @birchbox @Disney @WarbyParker @Burberry and @Uber are raising the bar on new experiences

— Gaurav Pant (@gpantEKN) October 27, 2015

@CiscoRetail Love @REI, @amazon, @zappos Really great customer experience. #Ciscochat

— Wendy Leung (@weleung) October 27, 2015

A8. We work with extremely creative minds in reinventing their business through tech. @HM @Target @Staples @WholeFoods @Gap @IKEA #Ciscochat

— Anabelle Pinto (@anabellepinto) October 27, 2015

It was great to hear and share insights on how digital technologies have changed and is still changing shopping behaviors and expectations. We thank all our participants and our friends from EKN Research, Gaurav Pant and Sahir Anand for such an interactive and fun hour. Please view our Where Shopping Experience Meets the New Digital Consumer Storify recap and visit our Retail page for more updates and insights.