Using NFC To Help Create A Seamless Experience In Retail
NFC is the right tool to strengthen customer relationships and enhance the customer experience by making in-store and post-sale engagement simple and compelling. NFC empowers products to sell themselves and encourages interaction while increasing conversions, engagement, and brand awareness. NFC Use-cases span the entire customer journey & product life cycle.
Pre-Purchase
With NFC-enabled products, businesses can provide branded content directly to customers in-store long before a sales rep can take note.
- Smart packages and hangtags drive: Education, Sales, and reorders
- Mobile connections allow customers to share reviews and access sales
- Ads integrated into print and out-of-home media- increase traffic to the store
- Book a showroom appointment- for a personalized shopping experience
In-Store
Once a customer understands the value of a product and is ready to purchase they can skip the checkout line, and instead purchase the item right from their phone. Empowering objects to sell themselves streamlines the shopping experience and eliminates the need to stand in line to checkout.
- Connect to store wi-fi
- Pre-sale product messaging
- Product Authentication
- Digital Signage
- Quick link for shoppers to download the relevant app
- Access Product Information (Virtual salesperson)
- Couponing and loyalty integration
- Connect to a chatbot to answer questions
- Fast, simple, secure payment
- Mobile point of sale integration
- Endless Aisle- Links to a retailer’s e-commerce when a product is not available in store
- At-shelf experiences that encourage purchases
- Get social proof: Connect to social media and/or reviews
Post Purchase
After the sale, brands can provide value-add content to consumers to ensure they get the most out of their purchase. Brands can use this new stream of customer insight to fuel future product decisions.
- Post-sale product messaging
- Connect to a community with shared interests
- Product Authentication
- Automated or subscription purchases
- E-commerce to cross-sell and up-sell
- Instant secure pairing
- Connect to support and customer service
- Provide timely feedback
- Warranty Registration
- Personalized Gifting
- Access Instructions and Maintenance info
- Product re-order
The Most Common Ways To Integrate NFC Into Your Product Line
Because NFC tags are small, durable, and lightweight they can be embedded into physical items& products that would otherwise have no digital connectivity. Once embedded with NFC, those items and products are able to drive online content with just a tap, connecting the physical and digital worlds.
There are three general ways to integrate NFC Tags into your products. Let’s have a look at each of them.
- Fully Integrated Tags
Essentially, the NFC tags are fully integrated into the product. In the case of a pair of shoes, the tag might be in the liner. The key element is that the tags are added during the manufacturing process, making them fully integrated. - Additional Hangtag
With an Additional hangtag, the tags are added to additional swing tags, PVC cards, or similar items which are either attached or provided with the product. For example, a luxury watch might include an authentication card within the presentation box. - External Tags
In this instance, the NFC tags are applied to the outside of the products. This can be an easy and flexible solution if, for example, the tags are added to food packaging or similar where integration or additional hang tags might be problematic.
Learn more about the three best ways to integrate NFC into your product line.