Credit by: Flavio Palaci, Ramy Sedra, and Anand Rao
Digital natives apply their pioneering spirit to the physical world, using their inherent data-led knowledge of customer behavior and their comfort with technology to rethink and remake the experience shoppers have in their stores. And they’re showing the way forward for some of the savviest older retailers and brands. Here are some of the lessons bricks-first retailers are picking up from their digital-first peers.
Create a frictionless store.
Online retailers have to focus on user experience and customer journeys to succeed. Shoppers are easily distracted from an online purchase by the ping of an arriving email or a flurry of social media likes. Each click away from the page could cause them to ditch their carts, so e-commerce strives to be as frictionless and engaging as possible.
Another point of friction for customers is not knowing whether the items they need will be in stock at a physical store. Canadian online fashion retailer Ssense has solved this problem. Its shoppers can browse 20,000 products online, and the ones they’d like to try on are then shipped from warehouse to store within an hour.
Use data to add a personal touch.
Digital-native retailers are data-centric, and as a result have been able to disrupt brick-and-mortar shopping by being better at predicting customer needs and wants. In some cases, their insights reveal that customers want to see and use products in real life.
Stores are also using data on customers’ physical locations to enhance experiences. For some people, this is delightful and convenient, but for others it’s intrusive and unwelcome, so data analytics is helping companies determine which customers are which, too. Of course, for these location- and habit-tracking features to work, people will have to trust retailers with their personal information — and that will be a big hurdle to overcome.
"Data and technology are the connective tissue underlying the creation of rich, informative in-store experiences."
Make shopping fun.
Personalization can help turn offline retail into a rich experience that consumers will seek out. And technology can enable even more ways to make shopping entertaining.
For example, the New York City location of fashion retailer Rebecca Minkoff has interactive mirrors in the dressing rooms so customers can order a different color or size with a few taps. They can also customize the lighting so it matches the environment in which they will wear the outfit.
Track different things better.
Retailers have traditionally measured success by sales per square foot, and based on that formula, numerous chains have closed branches because of diminishing results. But now that people no longer have to rely on stores as the sole way to access products, this gauge of productivity looks dated.
Data and technology are the connective tissue underlying the creation of rich, informative in-store experiences. Digital natives already know the value of understanding and using these tools, and it’s time for brick-and-mortar retailers to catch up. Using already-available digital approaches to capture the rich stream of information on consumers’ in-store and online behavior will turn traditional companies into data-driven organizations with an obsessive customer focus.
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