The National Australia Bank has reported that Australians spent 14.7 billion online last year with categories such as Liquor, Toys, Groceries and Console Games dominating in December 2013. Aussies spent $1.27 billion online in the lead up to Christmas, a 12.6% increase on December 2012 at $1.198 billion.
What does that mean for traditional bricks and mortar retail stores? Retailers need to evolve the in-store experience to engage consumers at the point of purchase with innovative solutions. For instance, Kees de Vos (CCO at Hybris) sees retail as “becoming more about brand experience. From virtual changing rooms, to touch-screens and mobile apps, retail marketers are embracing new technology to create immersive shopping experiences.”
So, how do we keep customers coming back to our stores? We let them shop how and when they want. Dom O’Brien, Retail Marketing Programs Manager, Retail Safari points out some initiatives:
• Click and Collect – purchase online with all the convenience of shopping in their lounge room and pick up at their local store to reduce postage costs and increase gratification speed.
• Integrate Local and Social – offer social media followers in-store discounts and localised incentives to shop in store such as “flash sales” or unique or personalised offers.
• Assisted Showrooming – customers are increasingly using smartphones and tablets in store to research and compare products and prices. Why not encourage them to do so and manage this process through mobile applications that take the leg work out of the search process and enable this through supplying in-store Wi-Fi. A carefully merchandised store can raise the profile of your mobile app or site and make the download process simple through NFC or QR codes.
• Customer service – increasingly many products, especially in the technology and consumer electronics categories have a rapidly expanding range with increased complexity which is making the purchase process harder. Product specialists, such as assisted sales teams can guide the customer on their purchase journey to ensure they not only buy your product, but get the product that best suits their needs and budgets, leading to happy customers that will not only repeat purchase but share their experience with their social circle.
We are seeing early indications that channels to market are blending and the defined multiple channels once available to a customer are becoming blurred. For products and retailers to stay relevant to customers and to continue to generate demand, brands must allow customers to shop how and whenever they want and give them options along the spectrum of purely online to solely in store.
Read more at Christmas comeback for online shopping as gamers spend up and Competing in the age of omnichannel
Image sourced from www.retailplanningblog.com
