Creating a seamless retail experience
Your website is the digital shop window of your business and can now offer all the features and excitement of a real, live shop retail experience. Chrissie Hunt, at communications and social media company, Quick Brown Fox PR, on how to make omnichannel retailing work for you.
Compelling
Actual technology aside, the website and the store need to offer the same compelling ‘experience’, rather than the store being about display and service, and the website about shifting boxes. Independent retailers will never win in shifting boxes against
At this year’s Retra Conference, several speakers discussed the importance of getting your omnichannel strategy right. This does not have to include massive investment in cutting edge web technology, but your digital presence does need to show off the best of what makes you an asset to the high street; compelling product range, knowledgeable staff, friendly delivery service and top-notch after sales care. Omnichannel retailing describes a retailer’s efforts to provide
a coordinated customer experience across all possible customer channels, using consistent, universal data. New media, including web, mobile devices and social media, have given customers a wide array of new channels through which they research products and make purchasing decisions. As Google’s Richard Hartigan said at the conference, the customer journey today has a very messy middle. Omnichannel retailing offers the best way to contain and
leverage these multiple channels, manage the mess if you like, to improve the customer relationship, create more effective outreach, and increase your share of their spend.
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During lockdown, several prominent retailers, including Currys and Hughes Electrical, developed offerings around the Shop Live platform. This is a useful tool to let customers see products remotely and get that all-important sales advice, from the comfort of their own homes
Prominent
During lockdown, several prominent retailers, including Currys and Hughes Electrical, developed offerings around the Shop Live platform. This is a useful tool to let customers see products remotely and get that all-important sales advice, from the comfort of their own homes. Darren Clements, retail general manager of Hughes Electrical, says: “Shop Live was one of the ‘good things’ to come out of lockdown. Once customers are on the Hughes website and looking at products, they can select to have a live video chat. They will be and be able to see and talk to one of our skilled advisors who can to them about the product they are interested in. “The advisor can answer questions and even go out onto the shop floor to show and demonstrate other items. The system also allows customers to book appointments with advisors via an online calendar. It has been a huge success and is here to stay.”
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the pure players, so the website needs to integrate all the best bits from the store – its great look, the feel, walkthrough videos and walk-around technology – so the user can experience the store online and get excited about visiting for real. Passing trade aside, even customers determined to buy in-store will have almost certainly have looked at your website for its or opening times first, so their initial contact is not walking through the doors; it’s clicking through to your site. If the site doesn’t deliver an equally compelling experience and
reason to visit on the home page, why wouldn’t they just navigate over to Amazon and save the shoe leather? Once they are into the site, offering services like Zoom or
WhatsApp video calls is a natural next step. This allows your staff to put a friendly face to the call, to show and demonstrate products, and gives them an engaging platform to sell the best reasons to buy from your shop - even if the customer is at home on their sofa.
Omnichannel tips
Compelling web design Look at what other retailers are doing, especially in other High Street consumer durables sectors. What inspires, excites and engages you about their sites? Above all, ensure the website is super-easy to update by your own staff, as it needs to be kept fresh and vibrant to engage consumers and Google’s search parameters.
Personal touches
Don’t just copy manufacturers’ blurb. Add your own thoughts to product descriptions and make it personal. For example, “We love this Bosch fridge-freezer because XYZ” or “this is a best seller in store because our customers love the XYZ feature”. Making it personal engages the user with your experience and value, making them more likely to buy.
Video walk throughs Platforms like Shop Live are great tools for sharing the real live feel of your store. Video walkthrough aisles really sell-in the customer journey when they get to the store and may get them clicking to chat with a sales advisor straight away. Single product-focused videos don’t have the impact of store walkthroughs and can be extremely time-consuming to create.
Virtual appointments Offering virtual appointments over Zoom, Facetime or WhatsApp is a great way to engage your customer with your store and the staff. Familiarity with video-call platforms is at an all-time high after various lockdowns, so most customers will grasp the concept and technology.
Digital Marketing
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