Amazon Pay’s Smart Store model is proving to be a boon for local brick-and-mortar (offline) stores. Introduced in 2020 in India, this model aims to enhance customers’ offline shopping experience and assist local businesses in boosting their sales/revenue.
As of now, 17,000+ local businesses have joined hands with Amazon Pay and are experiencing phenomenal success. But what is this Smart Store model? How is it helping SMBs adopt digital transformation and grow?
Let’s find out.
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What is Amazon Pay’s Smart Store?
Amazon Pay’s Smart Store is a revolutionary digital system where a customer can explore various products available in an offline store by just scanning a QR code. Once customers finalize the product, they can check out quickly with Amazon Pay, using multiple payment options. Customers can also avail of various bank offers, credit cards, and debit cards.
Such a convenient shopping experience increases footfall, boosts revenue, and helps offline stores grow quickly.
What is the idea behind Smart Stores?
More than 90% of the customers still shop offline in India and the trend is set to continue. The reason is that people still prefer touch-feel-demo for the products and like to shop from the stores they know. Such an offline shopping experience gives them more confidence.
But such offline shopping, too, is marred by multiple challenges. E.g.
- Customers feel a lack of transparency in product selection
- Lack of seamless payment solution
- No or minimal offers on various purchases
- Delays in the delivery and installation
- Lack of proper paperwork after the purchase
These challenges in offline shopping result in a poor experience and customers often end up feeling unsatisfied. This can harm the offline store’s revenue and growth.
The idea of Amazon Pay’s Smart Store emerged from these challenges. The core idea behind these stores was to deliver a memorable shopping experience to the customers and help SMBs grow.
How does Amazon Pay’s Smart Store help Offline Stores?
Flexible Payment Options:
Smart Stores offer customers a wide range of payment options by partnering with Amazon Pay. Customers can pay via Net Banking, Amazon Pay or various cards. And for this, the stores won’t have to invest in expensive POS devices.
Such a flexible payment option surely increases sales and boosts revenue.
Easy EMI options
Offering EMI options in traditional offline stores can be a cumbersome process. But at Smart Stores, customers easily access EMI options via various debit and credit cards. They can also avail themselves of the Amazon After Pay facility at offline Smart Stores. And if they use the Amazon Pay ICICI Bank Credit Card, there is always unlimited 2% cash back for all!
More footfall
Offline stores love more footfalls. The more people visit their stores, the more sales these stores will achieve. When such offline stores partner with Amazon Pay, they get a digital storefront. This storefront offers much-needed exposure to offline stores in front of millions of customers nearby.
The more people know about your store, the more they will visit you.
Excellent offers for the customers
Customers love offers. Delivering excellent offers to customers can bump up the revenue of offline stores. As Amazon Pay has partnered with various financial institutions, the Smart Stores connected with Amazon Pay’s program can offer a wide range of offers to their customers.
Such offers can play a pivotal role in helping businesses generate more revenue.
Is Amazon Pay’s Smart Store initiative really working?
In the past two years, Amazon Pay has partnered with more than 17,000 offline stores in India. The majority of these states are spread across Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, and Telangana. These stores reported a 10-15% rise in their overall sales.
This is the reason why big brands like Lenovo, ASUS, HP, Prestige, USHA, Pepe Jeans, OPPO, Barista, Xiaomi, Miniso, and Samsung have joined hands with Amazon Pay.
Closing Remarks
Online shopping is the future, but offline shopping is here to stay. Amazon Pay offers an immense opportunity for offline stores to grow their business quickly via Smart Stores. New-age customers demand a quality shopping experience, apart from the product itself.
And Smart Stores can deliver that experience.
Featured image source: Amazon.in
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