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Future of Retail — Customer Engagement
issue 08
“By converting one more shopper out of every 100, the store is adding 6% onto their sales result.”
that will encourage shoppers to buy. Perhaps a health and beauty specialist installs a product demonstration hub, which allows shoppers to try skincare products, proven in other stores to push conversions up by 1%. By converting one more shopper out
of every 100, the store is adding 6% onto their sales result, which could begin to reflect positively on the store and therefore affect bonuses. And as we know, happier employees are more likely to drive long- term store performance. Devising and communicating KPIs as a carrot, rather than a stick, is key here.
SECTOR SPECIFIC CUSTOMER ENGAGEMENT Different retail sectors are becoming adept at engaging with customers in ways that will suit their product type and customer groupings. They can use traffic data, and a host of other data sets to inform their decisions about which marketing and operational initiatives work best. Great examples of customer engagement
excellence include Warby Parker, the trendy US eyewear phenomenon whose in-store customer service is attracting global acclaim; and Rituals the beauty retailer which celebrates slowing down, and treats shoppers to hand massages and cups of herbal tea in its zen-like stores, smartly increasing dwell time in the process. Apple stores swarm with tech experts who enthuse about the product, ensuring face-to-face engagement, supported by digital tools, so that sales opportunities are always maximised. Andy Bounds, the influential sales expert,
constantly reminds the retail sector that the only way you can influence someone, is if you know them. Well-trained staff in stores get to know shoppers – even for a few minutes – and
this can encourage a sale. The psychology of this kind of customer engagement, is that individuals feel as if they owe you, because you have given them your time. Once this mini-relationship has been forged, the chances of a sale vastly increase. Amazon can’t do this. It can recommend,
and its recommendation engine is globally revered, but it does not have the opportunity to befriend, engage and encourage on a human level.
If you’re browsing online for
a blue polo shirt, you won’t get talking to someone who will take the time to unwrap one in your size, talk you through its merits and let you check the sizing there and then.
NEXT GENERATION OF STORES Bricks-and-mortar retail will play a massive part in global economies for hundreds of years because personal engagement is what human beings really love.
It’s something that cannot
be simulated online, which of course is why the likes of Amazon, Alibaba and
JD.com are investing in physical stores today. In data terms, retailers with a store
portfolio up and running today are sitting on a goldmine. Within these spaces human relationships are forged that can last a lifetime, while insights into customer behaviour are being generated that can fuel business growth into the future. Analysing the data and acting upon the findings needn’t be challenging if you have the appropriate technology in place, and the ongoing support to turn knowledge into performance-driving action. Certainly, retailers face a challenging future,
and action now to perfect the art of both online and offline customer engagement is essential. Sadly, it will be the brands that fail to evolve and deliver on what’s expected today, that risk shutting up shop tomorrow.
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