Although many retailers are currently focusing their efforts on increasing online sales, statistics show that a high percentage of Australians will research a product online but head to a bricks and mortar store to make their purchase.
The co-founder and CEO of RainCheck app, Cameron Wall, has built his business on this premise.
RainCheck is an app that lets consumers save items they find online and receive a notification if a nearby bricks and mortar store stocks the product.
It was launched in November 2014 with the aim of converting the 88 per cent of shoppers who research online but make their purchases offline.
While online sales are important, Wall said there is evidence that getting customers in-store is more beneficial.
“It’s surprising to many, but retail online sales in Australia are slow, showing a growth of only 2.3 per cent over the past five years,” he explained.
“Three out of four shopping carts are abandoned and 88 per cent of shoppers research online to make purchases offline.
“The evidence is there that, in Australia, retailers need to be utilising tools to get the customers through the door, rather than trying to execute the sale online.”
Joining forces to fight cart abandonment
With this in mind, Wall’s company RainCheck has announced a partnership with Australian ‘buy now, pay later’ company Openpay that he hopes will drive customers to make purchases in-store.
After meeting at the NRF Retail Conference in New York, Wall and Openpay CEO Simon Scalzo decided that, together, their businesses could help address the issue of three in four online shopping carts being abandoned.
The partnership will use Openpay’s beacon technology to drive interaction with customers in-store and RainCheck’s ability to let customers know that stock researched online is available as the customer walks past the store. Openpay’s ‘buy now, pay later’ service will also encourage purchases.
“When you start to look at the impact of building customer awareness of targeted product availability together with deferred payment options, before the customer reaches the checkout, it represents a very effective way to assist retailers in driving sales, reaching a highly diverse and dispersed audience,” said Wall.
“We chose to partner with Openpay because they understand the significance of bringing customers in-store to purchase and have an app that facilitates that journey.
“By integrating with the RainCheck app shoppers are reminded at a contextual and relevant time, when the purchase decision is being made.”
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