Consumers look forward to a fulfilling retail experience at their favorite store, especially during the holiday season. However, their enthusiasm comes to a grinding halt when they struggle to find a parking spot nearby the brick-and-mortar store. The store owners often suffer losses because consumers who cannot find a suitable parking spot return without shopping. Many shoppers prefer to shop from e-commerce sites to avoid parking hassles. However, retail store owners can overcome this problem by adopting intelligent parking management solutions like the real-time parking availability system. Such solutions can play a huge role in increasing customer footfall in a retail store.
Advantages of Implementing Real-time Parking Availability in Retail Stores
A real-time parking availability system is an AI-based parking system that provides accurate information about parking space availability. By implementing this technology, retailers can help customers reduce the time spent finding the right parking spot. A study reveals that by combining real-time parking availability solutions with digital signages, the time taken to park a car can be reduced by 30%. The other advantages of implementing a real-time parking availability system at retail stores are:
Enhanced Customer Experience
Creating a positive customer experience is crucial for gaining a competitive edge in the retail sector. Encountering traffic congestion in the car park is a common frustration experienced by all shoppers. This can drive them to visit other retail stores and malls. Integrating a real-time parking availability system can help reduce traffic congestion near the parking spot and streamline operations. During peak times and the holiday season, the system will give real-time alerts to inform the drivers about the availability of free parking spots. This can improve the overall customer experience.
Improved Customer Loyalty
A seamless parking experience can help retail store owners improve customer loyalty, which, in turn, helps increase revenue. Implementing a real-time parking availability system can help achieve this objective. The system can eliminate all the concerns related to parking and allow them to focus solely on shopping. It is specifically designed to provide a hassle-free shopping experience for customers.
Improved Services and Acquiring Customer Data
With a real-time parking availability system, frequent shoppers and high-net-worth customers can reserve parking spots in advance. This feature optimizes their shopping time and provides valuable data to retailers, enabling them to identify their loyal customers. This information allows retailers to personalize their services and create customer rewards programs to offer bonuses and discounts. This will further improve customer satisfaction and loyalty.
Reduced Carbon Footprint
With growing awareness about climate change and its consequences, consumers are now conscious about shopping from retailers focusing on reducing their carbon footprint. A report by Neilson highlights that 66% of consumers are willing to shop from retailers who are playing their part in reducing carbon emissions. A real-time parking availability solution can help retailers to minimize their carbon footprint. It efficiently guides the driver to the right parking spot, preventing them from circling a parking spot and wasting fuel.
Conclusion
With intelligent parking management systems like real-time parking availability, retailers can improve the customer experience and meet their business objectives. Such systems are the need of the hour as they help streamline parking operations and improve mobility.