Adyen Agility Report Australia ~ Chapter Three
No going back Maintaining high standards
Before March, few would have expected the government to abandon its commitment to a surplus and rip up the budget. But that’s what it did to try to bolster the economy during the pandemic. In the same way, businesses have been forced to rapidly accelerate changes and improvements to service delivery.
For many consumers, this has been a positive change. Suddenly, a wealth of flexible, cross-channel journeys have been made available to them. Six in ten (62%) say their expectations of the sector have increased as a result of retailers’ ability to adapt and offer new ways to engage. Technology has given businesses the agility to pivot fast, adjust to market conditions, and keep their customers happy. One thing’s for sure, it’s technology that will ensure retailers are ready for whatever comes next.
“During times of uncertainty it can be harder to maintain a clear direction of where you want your business to be within the consumers mind and within retail. Having the right governance and processes in place, and ensuring transparency so the voice of your customer shines through - and drives change - allows the business to be adaptable, to test and pivot. Transformation isn’t something that should ever actually stop.”
Alexa Anastassi ~ Head of Digital Product, Jurlique
% feel that if retailers can sell across multiple channels during the pandemic (e.g. in-store, on their website, or through social media), they should adopt the same, flexible approach normally
% want retailers that opened an online offering during the pandemic to continue to maintain this even when they can open their stores again
Global
73%
73%
US
68%
65%
UK
76%
72%
Australia
74%
70%
Let your customers call the shots
Customer journeys are constantly evolving. What used to be online or in-store is now click and collect, cross-channel returns, endless aisles, in-app food orders, pay-at-table... the list goes on. There are also new sales channels appearing all the time. From smart speakers to smart cars and shoppable social media posts, buying can happen anywhere, and at any time. Businesses were already under a lot of pressure to offer flexibility to consumers. Now it’s sink or swim. Our research shows that customers increasingly expect to be in control of how, when, and where they buy.
“It’s important to give customers total flexibility. They can pre-order in-app, they can order in store, they can pay via the terminal or in app. We have really given them choices.”
Thomas Evald ~ VP - Strategy & Business Development, Joe & The Juice
Outstanding experiences win the day
We’ll never tire of saying it: offering a great customer experience is paramount to business success. In fact, you could argue it’s now more important than ever, especially when you’re looking to secure the loyalty of a more selective consumer. Half of Australian shoppers will go out of their way to visit stores that make shopping easier for them.
72% say they won’t shop with retailers where they’ve had a bad shopping experience either in-store or online
42% say they prefer retailers who remember their preferences and previous shopping behaviours to create a more tailored shopping experience
Male
73%
40%
Female
71%
43%
18 - 34 yrs
66%
55%
35 - 54 yrs
73%
43%
55+ yrs
76%
29%
Online: easy does it
While Australians didn’t prioritise online shopping to the same extent as other countries, our consumer survey is clear: a bad online shopping experience will lose you business. The research revealed 72% of Australians believe that ease of experience is as important as the quality of the product when shopping online, while 69% flat-out refuse to shop with retailers whose website or app is difficult to navigate. Clunky experiences with too many steps to pay, not enough or irrelevant payment methods, or a sluggish authentication process will let you down.
If your ecommerce site was an afterthought, now’s the time to turn that around and watch your conversions soar. There are many elements to a great online shopping experience, but your payment pages are a good place to start.
“We integrated Adyen’s platform two weeks prior to COVID-19 restaurant shutdowns, which thankfully meant we were able to quickly transform our digital offering. We rolled out our Grill’d Delivery platform three days following, moved our Relish membership rewards online and drove a huge volume of traffic – triple our usual online traffic – to our website. Without Adyen, I don’t think the site could have handled it."
Caitlin Caldwell ~ Product Manager, Grill’d
% that say that when shopping online, the ease of use is as important as the quality of the product
Global
72%
US
65%
UK
70%
Australia
73%
Beautiful checkouts
Where possible, keep the customer on your site and host the payment in your own environment. If redirects are necessary (in the case of chatbots or social media) make sure the payment page is consistent with your brand. Give your customers a relevant choice of payment methods based on their location and the wallets they might have installed on their phone. And whatever you do, design your checkout as mobile-first.
will abandon their cart if there are too many steps in the checkout
like to have a range of payment options available to them
expect the payment authentication process to be fast and require no action from them
Secure payments
Managing payment fraud can be tricky. Set your risk settings too low and you’ll leave your business vulnerable. Set them too high and you may inadvertently block legitimate customers. Use a smart risk system that uses data and machine learning to automatically find the perfect balance between security and conversion.
Note on Strong Customer Authentication:
No ecommerce strategy is complete without a clear plan for Strong Customer Authentication (SCA), especially since new guidance was introduced by AusPayNet in July 2019. Consumers expect the process to be fast, requiring no action from them. There’s no one-size-fits-all approach to applying SCA, but the right partner will take care of this for you.
In-store: a journey worth making
Even with ecommerce on the rise, we know Aussies love shopping in-store. But we also know that consumers are highly discerning and will not tolerate a sub-par experience.
The pandemic hasn’t dampened customers’ desire to visit stores and restaurants. But they have high expectations and will go out of their way to shop in places without queues or where buying is made easy for them. Store layout is also important; the adage ‘stack em high and watch them fly’ no longer applies. In fact, 44% say they want to see thoughtful curation of items rather than just stacks of products.
44% say the layout of a store is important. They believe that stores should be curated more like a gallery, rather than racks or stacks of products
55% say they will go out of their way to visit stores that they know have no queues or that make it easy for them to pay
Male
43%
54%
Female
45%
57%
18 - 34 yrs
54%
55%
35 - 54 yrs
44%
60%
55+ yrs
36%
51%
“Payments are critical from a customer experience perspective. It’s often simple things that make the experience more elegant. They've been crucial during the pandemic and will continue to be so.”
Robbie Tutt ~ GM Digital and Technology, Aesop
Experiential technology
From personalised digital greetings to large-scale robotics, the wealth of experiential technology is growing fast. However, the extent to which you adopt these experiences will depend heavily on your customers and where they’re located. Close to half of consumers surveyed say they’d favour a business that uses technology to improve the experience.
In the F&B space, high expectations can be met by delivering a fast and efficient service. Many quick-service restaurants (QSRs) have found self-service options, like kiosks, help to streamline the ordering process while maintaining social distancing.
% that would like restaurants to use technology to improve the experience, e.g. implement self-service checkouts/kiosks or pay-at-table technology
Global
23%
US
22%
UK
19%
Australia
20%
Male
20%
Female
21%
18 - 34 yrs
23%
35 - 54 yrs
22%
55+ yrs
17%
% that are more likely to shop with retailers that use technology to improve the shopping experience
% that want retailers to use technology to make the experience more interesting (e.g. virtual reality, AR, in-store cafes etc.)
Global
51%
36%
US
49%
37%
UK
41%
29%
Australia
45%
35%
Male
44%
35%
Female
46%
36%
18 - 34 yrs
60%
51%
35 - 54 yrs
50%
37%
55+ yrs
28%
21%
Technology behind the scenes
In some cases, the best application of technology is behind the scenes. Data-driven loyalty programs, bespoke offers, and tailored messaging can add a dash of magic to the buying experience. Knowing these systems are in place allows you to focus your energy on providing good old-fashioned service.
Want to explore how payments tech can help create magic behind the scenes?
“As an internet-based platform, we’ve always had to learn and adapt quickly in an ever-evolving world. All changes we make are carefully planned for long-term use. Technology is now crucial for the survival of all businesses, not just internet-based businesses, and has proven vital during the pandemic. During the pandemic, we rolled out no-contact delivery and continued our regular app updates. We have now updated our check-out module to provide a better user experience, with available coupons applied automatically.”
Kitty Lu ~ National Account Manager, Easi
Looking further afield: in-store tech enthusiasts
Australians sit in the middle of the pack when it comes to wanting technology to improve the in-store experience, with 45% more likely to shop with retailers who use technology to enhance the store experience, compared with 49% of Americans, 41% of Brits, or the global average of 50%.
Australians (like Americans and Brits) don’t want gimmicks or technology for technology’s sake. Only 29% of Australians like it when retailers use technology such as augmented or virtual reality, or smart-mirrors, compared to 53% of Spanish and 64% of Brazilians, or the global average of 39%.
While self-checkouts are the norm in supermarkets, and Australia has well and truly embraced contactless payment methods - particularly payWave - Aussies are less interested in these technologies making their way into other retail scenarios. Just over a third (37%) of Australians would like retailers to introduce apps so they can self-checkout, compared to 41% of Americans, 36% of Brits or the global average of 47%.
