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Future of Retail — Customer Engagement
issue 08
must take centre stage, and that products are there to be handled. In fact, store teams are trained to consider play and disrupting merchandise displays to be vital parts of their job. Product, price, ‘retailtainment’ and
customer service all play their parts to boost customer engagement in bricks-and-mortar stores. And in the spirit of the age, digital engagement via mobile solutions and social media messaging is beginning to work its magic to connect all customer touchpoints. Factor in the ability to track shopper
traffic into stores, and understand customer behaviour within the retail space, and retailers have a wealth of insight to build upon. Such knowledge can help them attract more like- minded shoppers, and ensure the space is optimised to deliver the maximum number of conversions, as well as the best possible customer experience.
STORES EXEMPLIFY WACD In this context, retail experts keep coming back to What Amazon Can’t Do (WACD). It’s predominantly within the four walls of shops that we’re seeing the most powerful emotive connections being made, something that pureplay retailers can never hope to emulate in the digital space, even if they have all the data in the world. And let’s not forget that the vast majority - 82% - of retail sales in the UK are still made in stores in 2018, according to Statista. Stores have a different role today, but they are still a big deal, and when supercharged with data insight, pose a mammoth opportunity. And while retailers on the high street
don’t necessarily have the ability to compete on price - which is where online has won so many fans - what they can do is deliver an outstanding experience for customers. They can engage, convert, and measure everything that’s happening in order to keep raising that bar.
MOMENTS OF TRUTH Levi’s president James Curleigh spoke at this year’s NRF conference in New York on just this subject and very passionately summarised what retailers must achieve. For him it’s the ‘moment of truth’ that must be identified and brought to
life within any modern retail strategy. The core of this is providing the right
product, relationships and service in store. “Delivering the expected has never been more important than it is today,” he said, meaning that consumers expect to have the right size, colour, fit and combination, as well as getting help from a knowledgeable assistant, if and when required. At Levi’s, this renewed appetite for
connecting in a more meaningful way with shoppers relies heavily on stores. The
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