The term BYOD, "Bring Your Own Device", can be found in various areas of society. Basically, it is the term for integrating private mobile devices such as laptops, tablets or smartphones into the networks of companies or (educational) institutions. However, areas of application are also developing in stationary retail, which bring many advantages for both retailers and customers.
Bring Your Own Device To Shopping
With the advance of the digital age and the competition between online and offline retail, digital services at the stationary point of sale are on the rise. Bring Your Own Device plays a major role here: consumers can use their own smartphones to access a variety of services. This increases the attractiveness of brick-and-mortar retail and draws customers back into the store: Scan & Go, intelligent shopping lists or digital receipts. Whether online or offline - as a Swiss army knife, the smartphone becomes the center of shopping.
Scan & Go
Scan & Go enables customers to bypass queues using their own smartphone: Customers scan selected products with the device's camera, which are then held in a virtual shopping cart within the app. Payment is also made in the app, thanks to stored payment methods such as a credit card. Retailers can also offer their own mobile payment options or enable them through payment-on-demand partners, such as Google Pay and Apple Pay.
Particularly due to the pandemic, that shopping option has gained popularity. Self-scanning eliminates unnecessary touch points, such as multiple product check-ins and check-outs or interaction with checkout staff.
Shopping Lists
In addition to the classic version - a piece of paper and a pen - many consumers now have shopping list apps on their smartphones. The Bring! app was used more than 125 million times in 2020 alone, making it one of the most widely used shopping list apps. Including digital shopping lists, shopping requests can be collected and accessed on the smartphone. With a shared list, the list can then be completed by several people at the same time.
Digital Receipts
Receive the receipt digitally directly at the checkout. Without an app and without registration - easy, right? That's what anybill thinks and enables all users to save receipts digitally. Instead of unnecessary mountains of paper, consumers always have an overview of their expenses and guarantees.
BYOD Advantages
As mentioned at the beginning, the smartphone is becoming the center of shopping as a Swiss army knife. Why shouldn't retailers take advantage of this phenomenon? With digital services and BYOD, stationary retail can not only satisfy customer expectations and increase the attractiveness of shopping, but also save various costs. There is no longer any need to provide handheld scanners for a scan-&-go service, as users use their own smartphones. Receipts no longer have to be printed and mountains of paper no longer have to be disposed of in the trash. Brochures can be produced in smaller runs as they are replaced by digital services mitutner. Stationary retail faces many opportunities that want to be exploited
