Sometimes we overlook that 61% of sales still occur in the physical store. Despite this, there is still a big unknown around who the majority of those shoppers are and who actually walks in and out – especially since only 20% or less buy. Most importantly, we still don’t know what products browsers are considering purchasing but don’t actually buy.
With the adoption of capabilities on personal mobile devices, marketers are looking for opportunities to appropriately digitise the in-store experience and measure with comparable precision – commonly associated with online marketing. In order to increase the footfall in-store, and also encourage customers to participate, brick and mortar retailers need to provide mobile experiences that are similar to those that consumers are already familiar with through online shopping. It’s really about the ideal blend – a recent survey shows that 65% of shoppers prefer the physical store over online and mobile and 85% want to touch and feel products.
There’s no doubt that a connection exists between what happens with digital before, during, and after a shopping experience. According to a recent Deloitte report digital technology is influencing 33% of in-store retail sales in the UK, equivalent to almost £100bn in 2014.
It also highlights the influence of mobile on in-store purchases increased nearly four-fold over the same period, and now accounts for over half of digitally influenced sales. A tipping point is near – 50% of offline retail sales across categories are projected to touch digital channels by September 2015.
We can see that there is still room for improvement for marketers, with this in mind here are the three key areas in-store mobile experiences need to evolve:
Stop forcing store customers to sign up/sign-in in advance
Asking customers to opt-in is the way to go. Allow customers the ability to interact digitally with physical products in creative ways without having to download and register an app. Imagine how website sales would plummet if you had to sign in every time to get to the home page. You’ve taught your customers the rules of digital engagement online for the past 20 years. Now treat them the same way in the store. Allow them to explore, curate and research, and if they like and trust your brand, they’ll sign up or in at the end – just like online. Amazon does a great job focusing on the customer experience and enabling discovery to remove the friction in making a purchase decision online.
Offer an experience that is personal and continuous across the web and store
A customer’s journey often starts with research online before the store visit. In-store mobile experiences should be additive to this first part of the journey. Tips and pointers on products in the store should be related to what was browsed. Items that are considered in the store should show up with relevant content and recommendations later on the website. The journey should always be additive, intelligent and uninterrupted. Ralph Lauren, in conjunction with Harrods, made the windows interactive via mobile and got more than 400 people to take part in the experience in just a few weeks, as they actively engaged and searched for products while initially standing outside of the store.
Bridging the best of online and store to close the commerce gap
Shoppers are looking for the products that are the most relevant to them and while marketers are able to measure intent from an online perspective, the store experience is a relative black hole when it comes to customer data collection. The fastest ways to increase sales online are search engines and display remarketing – showing the customers’ relevant content on the things that they sought out and are considering. The key is making the physical store a rich content experience that is about exploration and curation, encouraging opt-in at the end, while refraining from tracking them with no value exchange. With such common sense, we can work to repair initial attempts to merge physical and digital. Value exchange and trust are imperative and ultimately experiential retail is wholly dependent upon both for success.
James Yancey is founder and CEO at CloudTags.
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