Re-imagining the in-store Digital Retail Experience

Reimagining the in-store Digital Retail Experience

Creating a strategy for integrated in-store retail

Author: Tery Spataro

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Smart Insights (Marketing Intelligence) Limited. Please go to www.smartinsights.com to feedback or access our other guides.


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Creating a strategy for integrated in-store retail

Contents

Introduction: Whats In-store? ..............................................................4About the Author ...................................................................................................................5Setting the Stage ..................................................................................................................5About our Re-imagining the in-store Digital Retail Experience guide ...................................6How will the guide help me? ................................................................................................6Who is the guide written for? ................................................................................................6What does this guide include? ..............................................................................................6

Step 1: Analysis to uncover opportunities and challenges ............... 9In the Spotlight ....................................................................................................................10What to think about .............................................................................................................13What did you learn from this exercise? ...............................................................................16In the Spotlight CloudTags NFC integration in-store ........................................................17

Step 2: What do your customers need? .............................................20Applying models of shopper behaviour to redesign experiences ........................................22In the Spotlight: ...................................................................................................................26What to think about: ............................................................................................................28

Step 3: Define the retail digital experience ........................................31Aligning consumer behaviors with experience design ........................................................32In the Spotlight: ...................................................................................................................34What to think about applying the Experience path template ............................................35

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Step 4: Reaching across the aisle ......................................................37In the Spotlight ....................................................................................................................39

Step 5: Reinvigorating Retention ........................................................43In the Spotlight ....................................................................................................................47What to think about redefining the relationship during retention ......................................48

Step 6: Performance tracking and evaluating ...................................49In the Spotlight Face detection technologies ...................................................................54What to Think About the in-store experience measurement template .............................60

Step 7: Refreshing ................................................................................63In the Spotlight: ...................................................................................................................66What to Think About resources for experience and content management ......................68Cashing out .........................................................................................................................69Additional Smart Insights tools ...........................................................................................70Sources: ..............................................................................................................................70Images: ...............................................................................................................................71

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IntroductionWhats In-store?

Consumers are center stage in their relationships with retailers. The idea that a bricks and mortar store can simply pile it high and sell are increasingly waning. The in-store experience needs to compliment and work with the e-commerce experience by adding a sense of magic and hyper personalization that is so perfect to each individual that it cant be found elsewhere. Retail needs to be the theater!

Nelson Freitas, Chief Strategy Officer, Wunderman.

THE DIGITAL FUTURE OF RETAIL, MERCHANDISING MATTERS, 2014

Does the word quagmire resonate with you when you think about the overwhelming changes in retail? The omni-channel can be a quagmire. We have seen tremendous change occurring in retail fueled by changes in consumer technology. As consumers become more techno-savvy, the demand to transfer and infuse this behavior into the retail experience will become the norm.

Digital technologies inspired new visions for stimulating engagement with customers while helping customers move along their purchasing journey. E-commerce left some retailers scratching their heads on what to do, with many questioning whether the Internet was just a fad. To safeguard against the potential risk of the Internet being just a fad, some marketers chose to treat e-commerce as a separate sales opportunity rather than risk intertwining e-commerce with brick and mortar. Digital entrepreneurs took another route, building elaborate online malls that catered to a customers every need without ever needing to go to a physical location. Gradually, adoption and acceptance of e-commerce took over.

We are observing another technological shift in the retail experience. Mobile inspired customers on the go to make easy online transactions. This inspiration has led to forward-thinking devices like Square and eliminating clunky cash registers that take up retail space.

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These technology shifts have caused great disruption but have also led to innovation. The customer that is demanding the most from these technological shifts is the Millennial customer. They are telling us what to expect from upcoming generations. As retailers, we need to prepare and think about both the short-term and long-term future of retail.

The Smart Insights Guide Reimagining the in-store Digital Retail Experience: is here to help you plan the best way to integrate digital retail into your in-store experiences.

About the AuthorTery Spataro is widely known for helping brands understand the role technology plays in marketing, innovation and retail environments. Wielding over two decades of experiences in marketing as a digital strategist, Tery takes a deep look into understanding why, what and who.

She has created tech marketing strategies for automotive, food and beverage, consumer packaged goods, education, energy, entertainment, health care, insurance, pharmaceuticals, non-profits and retail brands.

Tery has brought digital to life in physical space, having worked with Bloomingdales, Michaels craft stores, Sally Hansen, Novartis, Whole Foods and Nine West. Tery founded or co-founded, self-funded and operated seven start-ups, held executive roles with top agencies, served as senior strategist for several consulting firms. Through the years she has lectured at universities and international conferences, providing valuable industry thought leadership, and has been quoted in books and articles about business and marketing. You can connect with Tery on LinkedIn.

Special Heartfelt Thanks to Rick Colby for editing.

Setting the StageRetailers are faced with many challenges created by digital technologies. Some of the difficulties facing retailers include getting the attention of the distracted customer, deep discounting, decreased dwell time, showrooming, customer privacy concerns, and complicated integration of the omni-channel. Capturing the awareness of distracted customers before they make a decision to purchase, both during the decision making process and after the purchase is completed, is complex. The friction of communicating with the customer needs to be lowered. The customer doesnt care where the message comes fromtelevision, email, banner, radio, or online from the brick and mortarthe customer only cares if the brands they are purchasing are the best for their needs and the purchasing process is stress-free.

Today we are living in an incredibly challenging and exciting time for retail. The changes that digital technologies have created are providing retailers with opportunities to know their customers, create deeper relationships, and lower the friction of the connection through a seamless omni-channel.

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About our Re-imagining the in-store Digital Retail Experience guideSmart Insights has prepared Reimagining the Retail Experience guide to help assess your readiness and identify the digital experiences in-store to enhance your customers experience with your brand.

This guide will help you to assess your retail business readiness and define a strategy to seamlessly integrate omni-channel before going forward with any decisions to use digital and technology to create in-store experiences.

By using the guide you will be able to:

Assess the challenges your retail business and brand are facing Identify the opportunities for using digital technologies in-store Understand your customers digital behavior Design customer journeys that integrate channels to maximize sales Learn about digital experience best practices from examples Prepare for the future of retail Produce a digital experience plan

How will the guide help me? This guide will help you assess and examine ways you can redesign the in-store experience, deepen the customer relationship and reconsider the omni-channel/multichannel. Reimagining the in-store digital retail experience guide will give you practical advice to research and define the opportunities and solution in order to plan, design, implement, deploy, measure and involve your team.

They will also help you make the decisions on whether or not to transform your retail store into a marketplace, and provide you with access to templates and tools to help with the planning process if you chose to incorporate digital technologies in your store.

Who is the guide written for?Our e-book is designed to help you and your team identify problems you are facing with your retail store, help you organize the steps to take to recreate the in store customer experience, so that you can create inspiring retail experiences that will fulfil your business and brand objectives and the needs of your customers. Its aimed at improving commercial returns for retailers and e-commerce merchants who have a desire to develop deeper customer relationships. Its aimed at Chief marketing officers (CMOs), directors, managers who are in either customer or client services, creative services, marketing, merchandising, e-commerce, web marketing, internet production, omni-channel/multichannel producer, customer insights, market research, customer loyalty and division managers.

What does this guide include?The 7 steps covered in this e-book are:

Step 1: Analysis to uncover opportunities and challenges First, we will review the top challenges facing retailers, overview the latest trends in in-store digital technologies, and discuss assessment tools that will help you uncover your retail situation analysis and identify the business problem and brand challenge you may be facing.

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We will examine how your competitors are using digital experiences in-store and identify the behaviors your customers are using with digital.

Templates and tools will be provided to help you with your situation analysis.

Taking stock of your retail store and competitors use of digital Cheat sheet for observing your customers in-store use of digital Pathway and obstacles through your store Assessing your omni-channel Stacking up against your competitors positioning map Defining business problems, brand challenges and solutions

After uncovering the challenges of your retail business and brand, we will identify opportunities, and help envision a new vision for using digital in-store.

Templates and tools will be provided to help you align the business problem and brand challenge.

Examples to help alignment of your business and brand Envisioning the omni-channel as an ecosystem

Step 2: What do your customers need?Now that you have assessed your business and brand, you will need to understand your customers needs, identify top needs of customers before, during and after shopping; frame the customer journey from home, life and in-store; identify the behavior of your customer and their needs; your customers needs to your business and brand objectives. This alignment provides you with a perspective so that you can examine your customers use of the digital technologies.

Templates and tools will be provided to you help you identify your customers behaviors and needs and illustrate their use of digital in home, in life and in-store.

Shopping personas Technograph template Digital and social media assessment Customer journey mapping

Step 3: Define the retail digital experienceNow it all leads up to this moment your experience plan! The culmination of your findings will point to the experiences your customers will appreciate in your retail store.

We will provide a template that will help you build your experience plan.

Step 4: Your customers multi-journeyThe customer is focused on the journey to purchase; as a retailer we can help them get what they need. One of the most important strategies for retail stores is the conversion strategy. In this section we discuss the different strategies to put in place to lower omni-channel friction and to make a connection with your customers to help them with their path to purchase.

Designing multichannel journeys how does to design journeys integrating from:

Offline advertising Desktop/tablet website integration

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Mobile/smartphone integration In-store purchase

Step 5: Designing to retainRetention is just as important as conversion. Here we will explore different relationship development methods through content, apps, and devices to engage your customer and bring them back in store. We will cover best practices and case studies.

Our assessment tool will help identify the components you will need to design and deploy the digital experience for your store.

Step 6: Performance, tracking and evaluatingTracking the performance of your in-store experience is extremely important. This section will discuss the key performance indicators (KPIs) and alignment of the KPIs to your objectives. Provided will be a framework to examine tracking and evaluation of the performance of your digital experience. Also, included will be a discussion on dashboards that can be integrated into your digital experience to help you track and evaluate.

Chart illustrating top KPIs for in-store and level of complexity Evaluation template

Step 7: RefreshingMaintenance is a big part of satisfying the customers need for newness. Managing and updating content will help you meet the needs of your customer, brand and business. In this final section we will discuss the upkeep of the in-store digital experiences.

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Step 1Analysis to uncover opportunities and challengesIn this step we will review the top challenges retailers are facing; review the latest trends using in-store digital technologies; discuss assessment tools needed to help you uncover your retail situation analysis and identify business problems and brand challenges you may be facing; examine how competitors are using digital experiences in-store; and help you identify the behavior your customers are using with digital.

Templates and tools will be provided to help you with your situation analysis.

Taking stock of your retail store and competitors use of digital Cheat sheet for observing your customers in-store use of digital Pathway and obstacle through your store Assessing your omni-channel Stacking up against your competitors positioning map Defining the business problem, brand challenge and solution

After uncovering the challenges of your retail business and brand, we will identify opportunities and help you envision a new vision for using digital in-store.

Templates and tools will be provided to help you align the business problem and brand challenge.

Examples to help alignment of your business and brand Envisioning the omni-channel as an ecosystem

Over the past couple of decades the behavior and decision-making process of the buyer has changed. Most of this change has to do with access to technologies that make their shopping experience helpful and pleasurable. In most cases, they want to get what they want, when they want it, how they want it and with whom they want it with.

Technology is making it easier for consumers to shop to, but customers still want to:

Have an immediate need filled/get a product without having to wait for delivery Discover and try new products Shop together the social aspect of shopping will not go out of style

Five key1 considerations for the retailer include:

Discovery Fulfillment Transaction Social entertainment The core to loyalty is building the relationship with your customers and helping to bridge

the gap between brand, store and customer.

The future of retail is often presented as the science fiction classic, Minority Report, where embedded sensors scan a persons retinas as they walk past a store or display, personalizing

1 Brown, Mike. (2014). Recasting the Retail Store in Todays Omni-channel World. ATKearney.

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the advertising to them. Is this the future we want for our customers, or that they want? What is clear is that we now have the tools available to make a customers before, during and after visit to the store pleasurable so that they can get what they, when they want it, and how they want it.

FIGURE 1 FUTURE OF RETAIL OMNI-CHANNEL TO HYPER-CHANNEL CREATIVE REALITIES ADAPTATION.

The way our future customers will shop will dictates the types of experiences they desire. Its up to us to create the future of shopping.

Todays retail growth strategies must go beyond growing by real estate. Retailers must consider if growing by real estate is a strategy that is going work in todays economy, or whether leveraging other strategies to acquire and retain a customer base should be considered. The cost of real estate continues to climb, along with energy, distribution costs and cost to serve. This means rethinking the customers needs in your stores, including cross-referencing the geolocation of the store, assessing if the shoppers behavior is grab-and-go, drive through, or browse and dwell.2

In the SpotlightTo serve the changing needs of the grocery shopper, Tesco Homeplus launched its first-ever virtual grocery store in 2011 in South Korea to address the changing needs of their customers. Homeplus enabled the customer to access the grocery store within the subway without having to go to a physical location.

Take a look at the video which describes the problem and solutions Tesco came up with to grow and expand their market. The solution is simple and elegant and caters to the needs of the customer through new technologies. This example is often quoted and no longer recent, but we had to include it as an example of how innovation can drive awareness.

2 Author Unknown. (April 19, 2013). The digital future of retail. Merchandising Matters.

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COPYRIGHT TESCO-HOMEPLUS-SUBWAY-VIRTUAL-STORE-IN-SOUTH-KOREA

Customers select items to purchase by scanning a QR code [barcode], purchase and then arrange for delivery. The interesting behavior that occurred with the Tesco in subway solution was that people spent more time in the subway choosing items. For instance, an order of five items took 5-10 minutes to complete3. To make this idea really catch on, pricing must be good to encourage usage. South Korea has 10 million mobile users in a population of 50 million. Within three months of launch, Tesco Homeplus saw a 130 percent increase in sales. Note: the virtual store worked in South Korea but may not work in other cultures.

Consequences & Considerations

3 Author Unknown. (March 31, 2012). Tesco Homeplus Virtual Subway Store. The Korea Guide.

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Retailers will take a hit from impulse purchases Inventory management and at-home delivery could be difficult to scale Increase sales through availability and ease of purchase Increase in brand awareness due to virtual shelves4

This example is important because at the time it demonstrated an innovative, clever and creative use of technology, while solving the problem of expansion and the real human needs of the shopper. QR codes remain popular with advertisers, but Image Recognition5 is gaining in usage. Macys tested a combined use of QR codes and Image Recognition to test print to mobile behavior. Using image recognition technology, consumers could download an app, wave a phone over the direct mail and access exclusive content.6 Using image recognition technology, consumers could download an app, wave a phone over the direct mail and access exclusive content. (Johnson. 2014)

What is it? QRCodeQRCode (Quick Response code) is like a barcode that can be scanned with a QR reader from a smartphone. The QRCode led the user to the information.

Bringing it to lifeThe costs for Tesco Homeplus were based on the creation of Homeplus app, QR code implementation, database and content, and the creation and installation of eye-catching backlit panels for the subway. The panel creation and installation costs could increase due to additional locations, but would be far less costly than taking on a lease for retail for ten years or more.

QR codes are easy to implement. The content the QR code provides must address all the needs of the customer, including product information, ingredients, uses and/or recipes, price and buying location. The costs of creating the mobile app will vary from developer to developer.

Tesco expanded the Homeplus virtual store to include bus stop shelters in South Korea. The Google Playstore boasts between 1-5 million installs of the Homeplus app.

What is it? Image recognition technologies Image recognition technologies strive to identify objects, people, buildings, places, logos, and anything else that has value to consumers and enterprises. Smartphones and tablets equipped with cameras have pushed this technology from mainly industrial applications (for example, sorting fruit) to consumer applications. (Gartner. 2013).

What to think aboutIn this first step, we will take stock of your retail stores use of digital and your competitors use of digital.

4 Deale, Sean. (September 30, 2011). QR Codes Enable Virtual Shopping From Metro Stations in Chile and South Korea. RetailNet Group.5 Carver, Ann, Puterbaugh, John. (2013). Mobile Activiation Study January-December 2013. Nellymoser.6 Johnson, Lauren. (January 17, 2014). Macys CMO: QR code revival driven by image recognition. Mobile Marketer.

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FIGURE 2 PERCEPTION MAP, NELSON FRETIAS, TERY SPATARO FOR CREATIVE REALITIES

You will need to gather the data you need to make an informed decision on what to do to create in-store digital experiences for your customers and what types of technologies will work best for your retail store.

This exercise is important so that you have a good understanding of what tactics are working to bring your customers to your store. If they are working, then the content utilized from these tactics will be beneficial for the in-store experience.

What to gather for your marketing tactics:

1. Traditional advertising

2. Digital and social media

3. Mobile

4. E-Commerce

5. CRM and promotions

Awareness Acquisition Retention Conversion Loyalty CommentsTraditional

Digital/Social MediaMobileE-CommerceCRMCoupons

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After gathering the tactics you are using, lets assess the performance of these tactics. Here is a framework to help you assess them:

Key Performance IndicatorsBrand awareness

Acquisition

Retention

Conversion

Loyalty

Create a grid putting your tactics in the left column with the key performance indicators as top headers. Rank the performance of each tactics ability to bring your customer in store from 1 performing the best to 5 not performing at all. In your assessment note in the comments why it performed.

Rank: 1 Best performance 2 Good performance 3 Satisfies objectives 4 Fair 5 Fails

Now that you have taken a critical look at the performance of your tactics and determined what is working to bring your customers in store, we are going to look at your competition.

In this exercise you will observe what your competition is using for digital in-store experiences. Here you will set asset your judgment and are not going to get caught up in what you should have done. You will critically assess and learn from what your competition is doing right and what may not be working. You should visit three of your competitors stores. You should also look at one outlier. Try to stay away from the Apple Store model: its the best example but so overused, and there are others.

Use a framework that best describes the behavior your customer will take on a typical visit to your store. Heres an example of a framework. Vertical criteria addresses the customers state of mind while the horizontal criteria addresses the customers activities. Determine where is your brand positioned on the map?

Take note of the behavior customers are having with the digital technology of a competitors or outliers retail store. Ask these questions:

r Who are the customers? r What are they doing? r Why would they interact with this digital technology? r What benefits are customers getting from using this technology?

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FIGURE 3 SHOPPERS BEHAVIOR AT HOME, IN-STORE AND IN LIFE. NELSON FRETIAS, JEFF CLIFF FOR CREATIVE REALITIES

FIGURE 5 COMSCORE INSIGHTS MOBILE PATH TO PURCHASE

This helpful illustrated [Figure3] cheat sheet describes the behavior shoppers could take in various stages during their shopping consideration and the environments they could be in. While at home, a shopper could research and compare brands and products. Some shoppers will seek advice, assistance and recommendations from family, friends or influencers they trust. While in-store, they can sample and gather detailed information from in-store communications and signage. They will reach out to sales associates for help. The shoppers companion is the smartphone. They will use their smartphones to comparison shop across competitors stores and even Amazon for better prices, assortments, and deals this is known as showrooming. After the purchase is complete, the shopper-turned-buyer may socially share what they purchased, and provide a recommendation of the brand, product or experience they had.

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What is it? ShowroomingShowrooming is the behavior a shopper takes to first tryout a product in store then using a smartphone or a computer searches for the same product for lesser price online for purchase.

The fear of showrooming can be transformed into a customer behavior known as webrooming.7 Typical behavior of customers in all age categories is to research the product online, then go into a store to evaluate before purchasing. Retailers can take advantage of customers webrooming behavior by having a clearly defined omni-channel.

What is it? Webrooming Webrooming is the behavior a consumer takes by researching online, before going into the store to elevate and examine the physical product before purchasing. [Donnelly, Bertschinger, Haraguchi, Richards. 2014].

What did you learn from this exercise?You gathered the information on your brands use of digital, competitors use of digital in-store and have a better understanding of your customers shopping behavior.

Lets take a good hard look at the information. The bullet points are guides.

What insights are bubbling up for your retail stores situation?

r Dwell time r Showrooming r Assortment r Assistance

What problems is your customer having with the current retail experience?

r Not enough variety or assortment r Rushed and in a hurry r Not enough time to discover r Cant find where the product is located or what product they are looking for

What challenges do you think you may face?

r Adoption by customers r Expense

What solution can best help your brand connect your customers to your store?

r Its not just offers anymore! What experiences will keep your customers coming back?Now that you have taken a deeper look at your digital state, your customers behavior and the positioning of your competitors and your brand, you have formulated your thoughts on the problems you would like to solve. In the next step, we will align your customers needs to your retail objectives.

7 Donnelly,Chris, Bertschinger, Adrian, Haraguchi, Takaaki, Richards, Dave. (2014). The Secrets of. Accenture.

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In the Spotlight CloudTags NFC integration in-storeCloudTags are working with a number of retailers to create with an innovative, omnichannel experience using mobile devices and NFC technology. The retailers such as Harvey Nichols and MADE (an online furniture retailer) have been putting tablets in stores for consumers to pick up and use. The customer simply enters their email address, which creates a customer profile and by interacting with physical products via tapping on NFC icons in store they get rich, in depth product content such as images, videos, and recommendations. There is also a separate tool that allows users to send details of the products to the inbox.

If assisted by staff, the store is able to track and attribute activity online (should the user go home and purchase) so the original sales person is included in the credit for the sale.

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ResultsHarvey Nichols found that 90% of shoppers engaged in-store were not previously known to them. 16% of all shoppers engaged with the experience and 18% took further action after receiving an email.

MADE, also used the technology at their Notting Hill Show room. 21 % of consumers opted to have their in store collections sent to their inbox, 41% went on to browse products online, and over the course of the trial the average order value went up 15%.

This example shows how today, consumers are happy to interact with a company using technology. Ease of purchase, good customer experience and strong engagement are moving beyond attractive extras and are becoming standard expectations.

1- Build your social media strategy.Social proofing is a powerful way to aid customer purchasing decisions, if they are unsure about you or your products; they can see what people online think about you. It would be great to see this evolve to feed live reviews of products; I wonder how many would be brave enough to do this.

Recommended Guide http://www.smartinsights.com/guides/social-media-marketing-7-steps-to-success-ebook

2- Content The Cloudtags examples show that for this to work you need to have more exclusive content, so your content strategy is key here, the same can be said about the C&A examples. Brands need to continue to focus on creating valuable, relevant content and distribute it where their customers need it along the buyer journey, both on and offline.

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Recommended Guide http://www.smartinsights.com/guides/content-marketing-strategy-guide/

3- Attribution With technology bleeding into the on and offline world getting your attribution models in order is critical. So get your house in order to make sure all your touch points are accounted for.

Recommended guide http://www.smartinsights.com/guides/media-attribution-analysis-model-ling-guide/

*source: Google Consumer Barometer- Smart Shopper Insights-filter to UK, Clothing and Footwear

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Step 2What do your customers need?Before we start the section on aligning customers needs to your objectives, lets discuss research. Research is an important part of retail marketing and should not be overlooked, especially innovation research in which digital experiences in-store can be categorized.

What is it? Voice of the customer (VOC) Voice of the customer (VOC) is a process for capturing customers requirements. It produces a detailed set of customer wants and needs which are organized into a hierarchical structure, and then prioritized in terms of relative importance and satisfaction with current alternatives. [Gaskin, Griffin, Hauser, et al. 2011.]

The voice of the customer (VOC) research methodologies help you uncover and identify unmet needs of the customer. There are several different types of VOC that will be useful in gathering insights from your customers, identification of problems, and the type of digital technology that will be useful to your retail innovation.

r Ethnography involves observing your customers for extended periods of time, watching their use of product or journey in-store.

r Customer visit teams visit the customer or users using a laddering methodology to uncover user problems, needs or wants.

r Focus groups involve customers or users in identifying needs, wants, problems, pain points and suggestions for new products or services.

r Lead user analysis identifies innovative customers or users to identify problems and solutions.

r Customer helps design: customers or users are asked to help to design the next brand or product.

r Customer brainstorming: customers or users are asked to partake in formal brainstorming sessions to come up with new designs.

r Customer advisory board: identifies customers or users who want to offer advice on problems and what new products are needed.

r Community of enthusiasts brings together users who are on an online forum and enjoy discussing the brand and product category. This helps to uncover problems and solutions. (Cooper, Dreher. 2010).

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ExtensivelyUsed

NotWidely

Used

VeryEffective

NotThat

Effective

Ethnography

Customer Helps Design Product

Customer Brainstorming

Customer Advisory Board

Community Of Enthusiasts

Lead UserAnalysis

FocusGroups

CustomerVisit Teams

PeripheralVision

Disruptive Technologies

PatentMining

Internal IdeaCapture System

Partners &Vendors

External ScientificCommunityFrom

Start-ups

External Submission Of Ideas

External Idea Contest

External Product Designs

Voice-of-Customer Open Innovation Other Methods

Methods Positioning Map

Cooper, R. Dr. & Edgett, S. Dr. (March 2008). Ideation for Product Innovation: What are the best methods? PDMA Visions Magazine. Source:

BY: Kirsten Rutherford

FIGURE 6 INNOVATION RESEARCH METHODS SOURCE COOPER, R. DR. & EDGETT, S. DR. (MARCH 2008). IDEATION FOR PRODUCT INNOVATION: WHAT ARE THE BEST METHODS? PDMA VISIONS

MAGAZINE. DIAGRAM BY KIRSTEN RUTHERFORD, READAPTED FOR ATOMDESIGN.

I prefer a combination of Ethnography, Customer Helps Design, Customer Brainstorming, Customer Advisory Board and Community of Enthusiasts. I use a tool called STREAM, founded by ATOMDesign. STREAM combines these voice-of-customer methodologies and provides access to an online community panel that helps in defining innovation for brand, product and service design.

The data from your customer relationship management efforts will be effective in learning about your customers past interactions with your brand and retail store. Danyl Bosomworth offers a terrific approach to zeroing in on the value of customer relationships in his piece, 7 Big Questions to Drive Customer Engagement.

Now that you have assessed your business and brand and identified any retail problems, we will take a deeper look at understanding your customers needs. The shoppers behavior includes some of the top actions of customers before, during and after shopping. Here we will frame the customers journey from home, life and in-store. To start, we will identify the behavior of your customer and their needs and align business and brand objectives to your customers needs. This alignment will provide you with a perspective on your customers behavior and digital usage so you can identify solutions and begin to examine digital technologies that can create retail experiences your customers will appreciate.

Templates and tools will be provided to help you identify your customers behaviors and needs and capture their use of digital in-home, in life and in-store.

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r Shopping personas r Digital and social media assessment r Customer journey mapping r Technograph template

Applying models of shopper behaviour to redesign experiencesShoppers are not predictable, but we can create profiles of our customers to better understand what they want, desire and, more importantly, need to have a fulfilling retail experience. The buying decisions of the shopper can be influenced by their choices in digital technology.

There are five shopping archetypes:

1. Mission Shoppers: They have a specific intention to buy a particular type of item.

2. Discount Customers: They shop the same stores frequently, but make their decisions based on the size of markdowns and coupons that are offered.

3. Loyal Customers: They represent no more than 20% of customer base, but make up more than 50% of sales. Not a true 20/80 rule, but important to pay attention to these customers.

4. Impulse Customers: They do not have the purchase of a particular item at the top of their to-do list, but come into the store on a whim and enjoy browsing. They will purchase what they think they desire at the time.

5. Experiential Customers: They have no specific need or desire in mind when they come into the store. Rather, they want a sense of experience and/or community.8

The buyers decision-making process is no longer linear. They will incorporate their use of digital in their decision-making process.

Deconstructing the seven phases of a buyers decision-making process will help us understand where we can be useful to the buyer. In this scenario, we will explore the process of the consumer going from shopper to buyer and types of digital actions taken at each phase of the

8 Hunter, Mark. (2011). The Five Types of Shoppers. The Sales Hunter.

FIGURE 9 NEED RECOGNITION

FIGURE 9 SEARCH FOR INFORMATION

FIGURE 9 PRE-PURCHASE COMPARISON

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decision-making process. The consumer may start by recognizing a need, e.g., I need new shoes. [Figure 2].

She may take many different actions to meet her need for new shoes like searching online or searching with a smartphone, asking friends for advice, or getting advice from the sales associate while shes in-store. In this phase, shes gathering information on new shoes. [Figure 3].

Types of digital tactics to keep in mind when observing Phase 2 of the buyers decision-making process:

Keywords and terms will be useful if the buyer is using search

Relevant online ads Pinterest brand boards Social media such as Twitter, Facebook, Instagram

Branded mobile app Email and enewsletter will work with loyal customers

In Phase 3, the buyer will compare different types of brands, styles, designers, colors, materials,

and prices. When using online or mobile, the buyer may have trouble deciding if the product, in this case shoes, will fit. Warby Parker uses augmented reality to let the customer try on different glasses and has an easy return policy. Zappos uses customer feedback on size so that the customer can judge the fit. Zappos also provides an easy return policy. If in-store, the buyer can try on shoes and get an opinion. But the buyer may use showrooming if the fit, color, style, design or price doesnt meet their expectations.

Innovative purchasing methods gives buyers the ability to click and buy with mobile. The cash register is no longer needed. When a sales associate helps the buyer with their purchase by presenting a tablet, the buyer doesnt have to wait in long lines. Grocery stores are using self-check-out, giving time-strapped customers the ability to buy and go. In some cases, buyers can purchase from the online brand and return it to the retail store.

Digital has changed the way customers share their purchases with family and friends. Social media makes sharing their thoughts about their purchase easy to share. Some customers that have a good

FIGURE 11 PURCHASE

FIGURE 10 CONSUMPTION

FIGURE 13 POST-CONSUMPTION

FIGURE 13 DIVESTMENT

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experience with a brand they purchased or the retailer they purchased from want to share their experience. Social sharing can influence consumers more than price and brand and motivate people to spend 9.5% more, according to the research.9 (Colwyn. 2014).

In the buyers post-consumption mode, if the product meets the expectations of the buyer weeks after the purchase, the buyer may share the experience by writing a review about the product, continue to share their thoughts through social media, and/or take a survey if presented with one. At this point, it is important to grab the customers attention and remind and reward them for being a good customer.

In the last phase of the buyers decision-making, he or she will determine if the product is difficult to dispose of. Online businesses like Craigs List and eBay make it frictionless for the buyer to get rid of the products they own and no longer want. For a retailer, this may be an opportunity to offer a disposal method. The divestment method could be linked to corporate social responsibility and good will.

FIGURE 14 BOSTON CONSULTING GROUP, AN EXAMPLE OF NONLINEAR OMNICHANNEL PURCHASING JOURNEY

The omni-channel is the marketing term for the integration of all the tactical touch points for the retail brand. This includes traditional, e-commerce, CRM, and all the digital assets. The customers do not care which channel they access; they want the same brand experience and frictionless technology so nothing stands in the way of what they want when they want it.

The customers journey to the retail store is not a linear path. The omni-channel must be able to touch and influence a customer at each point in time during their decision-making process

9 Colwyn, Susanne. (May 19, 2014). The impact of social proof on online retail purchase. SmartInsights.

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to buy. In an example of selling a designer dress, Boston Consulting Group illustrates these moments in time and where the customer is in the environment, whether at home, in life or in-store. This illustration will help you map your customers journey and your omni-channel.

John Bishop, lead consultant at experience design firm Creative Realities, had this to say on the complexity of the retail omni-channel: Perhaps one of the most daunting hurdles for retailers to overcome regarding the establishment of a seamless digital experience in-store is consumers high level of expectation. Consumers have grown accustomed to the simplicity, ease, convenience and breadth of options that online retailers like Amazon and Zappos provide. This has driven traditional brick-and-mortar retailers to play catch-up.

Not only are they expected to provide the prices, variety and delivery options that online retailers can, but also to fulfill the promises of an in-store shopping experience, including the desire for visual and tactile engagement, genuine personal customer service, and the availability of products when a consumer wants them.

Macys was perhaps the first significant retailer to make a serious commitment to establishing a true omni-channel approach. As such, they have seen success and have proven to be well ahead of other retailers who are facing challenges in this space.

Their M.A.G.I.C selling approach, implemented through sales associates, delivers a personalized experience for consumers and allows them feel as if their own concierge is helping fulfill their order, even when products are not readily available.

Managing their large number of stores as local fulfillment warehouses cuts down on overstocking at each location and prevents long distance shipping. As a result, same-day pickup delivery is often available. As consumers expect to be able to browse online and pick up in-store, this also provides a seamless fulfillment experience, expanding consumer choices.

Consistency of the experience across stores has always been a challenge, but retailers leverage data and local consumer patterns (time-of-day traffic and requests, etc.), to tailor each store for regional needs, styles and sizes. Investments in website and mobile apps deliver convenience and help provide the simplicity that consumers expect around retail transactions. This behavior (and data) in turn informs retailers on how to improve, enhance and grow their omni-channel ecosystems.

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In the Spotlight:Discovering how twenty-somethings shop online, case study about Free People by Think Brownstones Phil Charron.10

Think Brownstone is a digital design firm located in Philadelphia, PA, with a focus on creating digital products and business applications.

In this case study from Think Brownstone, you will learn about a methodology that led to the creation of personas for Free People. The personas were used to understand the buyers behavior with Free People in order to develop branded content. The personas also informed the digital behavior of the customer which can then be leveraged for the in-store experience. Free People is known for their laser focus on the clothing preferences of twentysome-thing women who appreciate a line of clothing that caters to their intelligence, creativity and individuality, while providing great quality and affordability. When it came to learning more about the electronic shopping habits of these consumers, Free People reached out to Think Brownstone to develop user personas and recommendations for online shopping experiences across different devices.

The first step of the journey was to gain a broad understanding of the preferences and behaviors of these users that would provide reliable trend data and insights to inform the next, more granular stages of research. To do this, we deployed a nationwide electronic survey. Good surveys are never created in a vacuum, so we worked closely with our Free People team to refine the language and choices to match the Free People demographic. When it was ready, we sent it to existing customers as well as non-customers to see if there were any major differences in how these two groups shop. The main categories we focused on were:

Shopping motivation Browsing & purchasing habits Device selection & preferences Online shopping preferences & frustrations Social shopping habits

Our survey findings gave us some great high-level information that helped us design 20 live interviews in which we went deeper and explored the nuances and drivers behind the trends in a relaxed, conversational environment. These interviews also included two interactive

10 Charron, Phil. (2014). Discovering how twenty-somethings shop online. Think Brownstone.

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activities: First, participants used a card-sorting game to design their own ideal Free People website (showing us how they categorize their clothing choices and their mental models for locating and purchasing). Second, they went on an electronic shopping spree focused on building up their wardrobe for two different, prescribed events. As the women shopped for clothes, we asked questions to help us learn:

How they engage with the Free People brand How they categorize items theyre looking for The effectiveness of the sites taxonomy and navigational structure on different devices How they approach account registration and checkout

The next step was to supplement Free Peoples existing marketing and merchandising personas (Free People Girls) with a series of digital customer personas focused on their customers technology behaviors and preferences. These personas reflected the qualitative and quantitative data from the research phase to build five archetypes that answer the questions:

r What motivates Free People customers to shop online? r What devices do they use and when?

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r How do they shop online? r What social tools do they use and why?

A key breakthrough when developing user personas was the creation of a unique mother/daughter persona, reflecting the shopping habits of young women who are frequent mobile shoppers, but lack the financial resources to actually make purchases. The shopping baskets of these women are frequently captured via screenshot and sent by SMS to their mothers, who curate the list and make the final purchase.

Key Findings and Recommendations:

After all that, we took one last pass through the research results to produce a detailed report of our findings. The report included:

Recommended enhancements to the desktop and mobile interfaces Supporting data for all enhancements Five online shopper personas to guide future design decisions Guiding principles for moving into new markets Considerations for future research strategies Summaries and raw data reports of all research activities for future reference

What to think about:Before you can start putting in place digital experiences in-store, you need to know whether or not your consumer will appreciate these new experiences.

FIGURE 15 FASHION MAVEN / EXPERIENTIAL TECHNOGRAPH, JEFF CLIFF, TERY SPATARO FOR CREATIVE REALITIES

Lets assume you have a deep and rich customer relationship management (CRM) system and throughout the years you have been keeping track of your customers. You already have them segmented by demography, psychographic, geography, and purchasing habits. You

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know their email address. You may even know the number of their mobile phone. You also know what messages and content they will respond to. Their reactions are recorded in your CRM system.

You can use this data to start creating a technograph. A technograph provides information about the segments digital and technology usage. Understanding the customers usage of technology will help you decide what types of digital experiences your customer may use in a retail experience. In figure 6, the persona is defined by the customers segment, demographic data of the segment, and the percent of spending and habits with technology. This technograph also provides a deeper look at the personas knowledge of the category. The lower right of the technograph explains the segments technology usage. Defining the digital philosophy, behaviors, gadgets, new technology, favorite apps, category sources and social media habits. The data provided in this example was gathered from an extensive survey and an audit of the CRM.

To create your technograph, first identify your audience segments. This includes your most loyal customers from these segments. Choose 10 loyal customers from each of your segments. Create a survey with 20-30 questions, mostly multiple choice and open-ended, to draw out insights. The objective of the survey is to learn the following from your customers:

What they like about the in-store experience What would they like to see differently Digital philosophy Behaviors with technology and devices New technologies they like and are using Favorite apps Digital category sources they admire and read Social media habits

Combine your findings with the existing CRM data you have on your customer segment and develop your personas and technographs. Use this framework to help identify:

r The segment r Their personality with your brand and category [information you should have in your

CRM]

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r Their digital and technology philosophy r Their needs for in-store r The insights you learned

The final item for your technograph will be for you to identify insights and problems, and determine if your customers insights and problems align with the insights and problems you identified for your retail store.

If you need more help on developing personas, Smart Insights writer, Liz Smyth, provides an in-depth refresher on persona creation. Now, we are ready to begin the process of creating the experiences plan. In Step 3 we will define the in-store digital experiences.

For more understanding about the different types of omni-channels and how these tactics can improve customer experience refer to Kate Trayniers 5 omni-channel retail experiences11.

11 Traynier, Kate. (2012). 5 omni-channel retail experiences. Smart Insights.

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Step 3Define the retail digital experience

Now it all leads up to this moment your experience plan! The culmination of your findings will provide you with the experiences your customers will appreciate and use in your retail store.

In the previous sections, you gathered information about the use of digital by your retail brand, your competitors use of digital in-store and your customers use of digital. These findings helped you learn about strengths and weakness, gaps, white space and similarities in using digital and technology to create customer experiences.

The data you collected will help you plan for the uses of digital and technology in-store to inspire your customers. The process helped you assess and consider your business and brand objectives. As part of this phase, you should note any unintended consequences.

Like any planning process, the content for your plan will include the challenge or problem, vision, goal, objectives and tactical applications.

The challenge or problem defines opportunities you could be achieving in store sales, brand awareness, driving traffic to the store, acquiring new customers, converting a product consideration to purchase, and/or developing a relationship with your customer.

The vision is the overarching statement that envisions the desire for your retail brand and business and the relationship you want to achieve with your customers.

The goal defines the direction of the experience plan and the platform. Objectives define the ideas and actions taken by your retail brand in response to the

behaviors of your customers.

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In addition, the needs of the customer and brand will be expressed and combined into one statement, creating an alignment.

Aligning consumer behaviors with experience designThe behaviors of customers can take many forms. Here, we have identified some of the behaviors to help you get started. The behaviors are defined by the customers action and the tactical application. When you embark on observing the behavior of customers in your stores, their activities may be different.

The customers behaviors could include:

1. Explore the customer may visit more departments, connect products with each other, and even linger in those areas of interest.

2. Simplify make it easy and exciting for the customer to find, filter and purchase the item once the customer has discovered what is desired.

3. Learn the customer may need knowledge about products, services and events in-store.

4. Personalize the customer may need uniqueness to satisfy personal tastes, state of mind, style and/or design.

5. Share the customer may wish to spread the word about experiences with like-minded friends and family or engage with other customers who are expressing something similar.

6. Buy the customer will look for the purchasing process to be efficient and seamless.

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Bringing this all together in the final experience plan statement:

Needs + Behaviors + Idea + Context + Content, Features, Functionality

FIGURE 15 PERCH INTERACTIVE ATHLETIC DISPLAY, 2014 CUSTOMER ENGAGEMENT CONFERENCE. EXPLORATORY TOOLS DURING SHOPPING.

PHOTO BY TERY SPATARO

That content could be translate into devices, displays and wayfinders, augmented reality or digital mannequins. Types of content to think about:

r Exploratory tools for hunting, gathering and investigating before, during and after shopping. r Seamless account creation and access to content needed for planning daily/weekly

shopping, purchase history, recommendations, and inspiration.

r Preferences, recommendations, dietary/calorie/ healthy requirements, color, design, brand, to plan for daily/weekly needs, leverage past history, loyalty and deals. [Ubiquitous content and CRM].

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r Social shopping reviews, recommendations and likes, recipes, products and experiences. [Customer and your social sites].

r Purchasing without cash/credit, enable use of loyalty cards and coupons - without waiting in lines.

r Information and direction on which aisle or what self the product is located on. r Dont forget! Your advertising, events and loyalty programs should be incorporated into

the content that is available in-store.

In the Spotlight:We are living in the moment of great changeits important to create an experience thats magical and memorable. Rick Caruso, National Federation of Retailers Big Show.

As retailers figure out how to incorporate the ever-changing omni-channel and added extra credit card processing security, they will also need to think about the Internet of Things [IOT] and how it fits into the retail experience and marketing budget. Some retailers are using digital in-store to enhance the shopping experience of their customers. But implementing these devices could be costly and time-consuming, especially if they fail to produce results for the retailer.

But we must recognize that customers have overwhelmingly connected lives. In their daily journey, they are shuttling between their homes and work in a constant connected state. This connected state has an effect on their shopping behavior. Customers will search online, comparing prices, promotions, ratings and reviews. Internally, the customer may debate things like the difference between shipping costs versus the cost of gas and driving time, even trying to figure out how to economize their activities. At any point in the customers journey this shopping behavior could occur, even when they are in-store.

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As a retailer, you probably are aware of this behavior known as showrooming. Showrooming is one of the most consequential consumer behaviors a retailer can observe.

Showrooming gives shoppers a variety of purchase options. While in the store, the customer will search on their smartphones for better deals and may even leave the store if they find a better product, price, discount and/or purchase for that product on their smartphone. This could include having it delivered to their home or wherevereven gift wrapped.

Its not just showrooming that may prevent a purchase in-store. There are other circumstances that may prevent sales. In their busy and connected lives, time-strapped customers dwell time may decrease when other distractions or dissatisfaction occurs.

With children in tow, having to divide attention between a childs needs and the shopping chore could result in forfeiture of a sale. All this restlessness could leave the connected customer feeling as if the pleasure of shopping in-store is waning. Capturing the attention of the time-strapped, bargain-hunting, child-toting and, in some cases, man-toting, connected customers will be a challenge for retailers who dont provide ways to improve these shopping conditions for their customers.

What to think about applying the Experience path templateThis template will help you build your experience plan and allow you see the categories come together and align.

EXPERIENCE PATH

Header row

Needs

Objectives

Behaviors

Customer's Behavior

Sales Associate's Behavior

Responsibility Assigned

1. The needs you identified for your customers come first. Customer needs are important to build into the design process and enable a human design approach and lend usability. The columns can increase or decrease depending upon the number of needs you identified. You may the experience path based on each customer segment, by doing so you will know what types of features each customer will use in the experience.

2. The objectives represent the actions the brand must take to satisfy the needs of the customer. For each customer need there will be an objective.

3. Behaviors is divided into key stakeholder segments: customer and sales associate. The sales associates behavior is a response to the customers behaviors; i.e. the customer seeks information on product; the sales associate will initiate help and support then guide the customer to the desired department or product.

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4. Involvement by omni-channel leaders within your retail organization is important to the success of your experience plan. Solicit their involvement by assigning an experience path to champion and oversee. At this point, discussion on the integration of the omni-channel need to take place.

At this point you need to involve the following people to brainstorm ideas: chief marketing officer, chief information officer, chief technology officer, merchandising leadership, ecommerce channel leadership, advertising leadership and CRM leadership.

After the experience path is completed, take a step back to examine the experience path from the customers perspective. Questions you need to ask:

What can you provide to help their experience in-store and help them purchase? Are your customers ready for a new technology experience? Are you ready to innovate the in-store experience? What are you willing to start off with?

Take small steps when transforming your store. The most important investment you can make will be in the integration of your omni-channel. Retailers can no longer afford to allow one type of revenue stream to destroy another. Think of the omni-channel as a self-generating, self-sustaining ecosystem.

Consider this graphic, mobile is used to send the customer offers to drive her into store. Ideally the objectives of your channels will be integrated and move the customer along to eventually becoming loyal. Customers want a seamless low friction experience when technology is involved, making it easier for customer to adopt.

There are mobile loyalty platforms available that are easy to install. Platforms like BellyCard, FrontFlip or Veebo, which give control to small and medium-sized merchants who want to test customer loyalty and mobile to help drive awareness of promotion to get customers to come in-store.

Step 4 will discuss conversion strategy and the in-store digital experience.

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Step 4Reaching across the aisle

FIGURE 16 BLOOMINGDALES AUGMENTED REALITY WINDOW DISPLAY

One of the most important strategies for a retail store to put into place is the conversion strategy. In this section we discuss the different strategies to use so that your omni-channel is connected to your in-store digital experience for your customers.

Best practices for conversion strategies in-store involve the store greeters also known as store ambassadors, sales associates and cashiers. Each human touch point can help move the customer who may be browsing or showrooming along the path to purchase from your store. Understanding why a customer does not buy when in your store is key.

To note, there are different times of day, month, or season when conversion is high and times when conversion starts to drop. The best way to gauge this is to observe the behavior of your customers at various times of the day in your store. Take note of when transactions happen and when customers leave your store without making a purchase. You will probably realize that when your store is very busy the conversion rate drops, customers become impatient, and the customer may prefer not waiting in line to check out, use a dressing room, or ask for help from a sales associate.

Lets cover the basics on conversion. Mark Ryski, writer for FSR, provides a great explanation of how to calculate conversion: Conversion rate is simply calculated by dividing sales transactions by gross traffic counts. For example, if you logged 500 traffic counts in your store and there were 200 sales transactions for the day, your conversion rate would be 40% (i.e. 200/500).12

12 Ryski, Mark. (July, 2012). 5 Ways to Drive Customer Conversion Rates in Your Stores. FSR Journalistic Inc.

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FIGURE 17 BOSTON CONSULTING GROUP, AN EXAMPLE OF NONLINEAR

OMNICHANNEL PURCHASING JOURNEY

Digital experiences needs to remove purchasing roadblocks for your customer. To strengthen the success of conversion strategy, the experience needs to be integrated into your omni-channel.

This Boston Consulting Group illustration (Figure 12) discusses the behaviors a customer takes and determines the conversion strategy.

Boston Consulting Group highlights three scenarios, which take shoppers needs into consideration.

Impulse: Customer sees a new dress in a magazine advertisement. Using image recognition or QRCode will provide the customer with information on different sizes, colors, prices and where to buy the dress. Giving the customer options to buy online or providing the stores location and store hours is a step toward helping the customer try on and purchase the dress.

Mission: In a similar scenario, the customer is looking for suggestions in a magazine, then uses her smartphone to scan for more information. While taking in the information, the customer is given the option to notify the store that she would like to try on the dress in different colors and sizes. The customer can then schedule a convenient time to go to the store to try on the dress. The sales associate follows up to verify the customers appointment. This is a great opportunity to help time-strapped customers get what they want when they want it. When the customer arrives to try on the dress, her place in the dressing room is set up. Getting the customer to try on clothing will more likely lead to a sale. This conversion strategy elevates the retailer to concierge service.

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Experiential: The customer who is on a browsing journey may need more time to help discover what he or she may need. These customers view shopping as an extension of entertainment. A stimulating environment will keep them coming in. Using experiences designed for trial will help convert the browsing customer. Augmented reality placed on the outside of the store can capture the interest of the window-shopping customer, helping them sample merchandise, select desired products and then go in-store.

Conversion should not be a chore for the customer, it should be seamlessly incorporated into the experience to give the customer pleasure during their many shopping moods. Always make it easy for the shopper to buy.

In the SpotlightThe stores environment helps with creating conversion and increases dwell time. Relaxing environments and immersive experiences help customers feel engaged and even cared for. Affordable changes that a retailer could make in-store help make these environments become real and more appealing.

To create a hospitable atmosphere, give customers a comfortable sitting area, wi-fi access, digital theater, and/or provide them with warm and friendly assistance. Consider giving those customers with children an opportunity to shop freely by providing an in-store play area and babysitting services for their children. Reimagining the in-store retail experience and catering to the needs of the customer can transform the retailer into a merchant. Providing digital experiences that create an atmosphere and entertainment in-store can help to add value by:

Increasing the average purchase amount by 29.5% Adding an upswing in overall sales volume of 31.8% Growing repeat buyers by 32.8% Raising in-store traffic by 32.8% Seeing an improvement in brand awareness by 47.7%

Customer retention is the key, and now more than ever it is important to develop a longer-term relationship with customers to bring them back into the store. Source: InfoTrends.

Gucci Milan creating runway excitement

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The digital theater Gucci Milan provides all the excitement of the runway while giving Gucci customers an immersive brand experience. Customers swipe through life-size video look books with an infinite assortment of Gucci styles. Gucci also didnt forget its up-and-coming customer: they also highlight Gucci childrens collections.

Gucci created a video wall for kids. Children are entertained by Gucci Teddy Bear, who dances to beats and sounds created by children who interact with the wall.

MCDONALDS INTERACTIVE EXPERIENCE

In the UK, McDonalds created interactive Happy Meal Play Zones, associating their food with fun and playtime. The results? 92% of five to nine-year-olds who tried the zone said they enjoyed playing on the interactive floor media, 78% of parents liked the digital play area, and 87% of five to nine-year-olds said they want to visit that McDonalds more often. (Brandchannel, 2012).13

What to think about:

Customers dont care if they are disruptive! Creating a seamless conversion strategy will help you develop a relationship with your customers. When shoppers are coming to your store, browsing and leaving without buying, what can you do to turn the browser into a buyer?

Consumers now more than ever are shopping in-store using their mobile devices. A report from Deliotte Digital cites, 84 percent of store visitors use their devices before or during a shopping trip and 22 percent of consumers spend more as a result of using digital, with just over half of these shoppers reporting spending at least 25 percent more than they had intended.14

13 Spataro, Tery. (April 2, 2014). Creating effective in-store digital retail experiences. Smart Insights.14 Tode, Chantal. (April 29, 2014). Mobile in-store shoppers bring higher traffic, conversion and spending: Deloitte. Mobile Commerce Daily.

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FIGURE 18 NINE WEST FLAGSHIP STORE MANHATTAN, JOSIAH HOBSON FOR CREATIVE REALITIES

Taking stock to drive conversion.1. Spend time learning about the behavior of your customers in-store

2. Note the highs and lows of your stores traffic and sales

3. Observer the usage of mobile in your store

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Putting mobile to use in all the right places.

FIGURE 19 AMERICAN EAGLE OUTFITTERS TIMES SQUARE, SHANNON COGHIL, R/GA

1. Align your ecommerce site to the store so that you can give your customers the best opportunities on mobile - do not segment channels.

2. Turn your store into more than just a place to shop! Engage your customers and involve with events that will have them using their mobile devices and sharing their experiences on social media. The Nine West flagship store in Manhattan turned their retail store into a showroom. Shoe-loving customers can try-on shoes using a Nine West digital photo-booth, take a photo and show off their new look on the Nine West digital column. American Eagle provided similar strategy by giving customers their 15 minutes of fame on Times Square. After they purchased an item, they could have their photo taken which appeared on their gigantic digital screen in the center of Times Square.

3. Give them a reason to try products in-store! Use mobile to your advantage by creating an extension to your customers need to learn more about product, pairing and sales. Image recognition or QRcodes can provide education information on using the product, pairing the product with other products, and create incentives for purchasing.

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Step 5Reinvigorating Retention

Figure 20 Vogue. 2012. Burberry Opens Regent Street Flagship store.

In Step 5, we will explore retention and designing experiences that will pr

Re-imagining the in-store Digital Retail Experience

Marketing

Transcript of Re-imagining the in-store Digital Retail Experience