Retailers that build a mobile customer experience in-store win the shopper.
That was the key theme of the session, “Creating The Smarter Store: Bringing the Benefits of E-Commerce to Brick & Mortar Retailers,” at the 9th Annual Loyalty Expo, presented by Loyalty360 – The Association for Customer Loyalty.
Lori Jackson, West Area Customer Business Lead, The Kraft Heinz Company; and Wes Schroll, CEO & Founder, Fetch Rewards, were the presenters during this compelling session.
KraftHeinz is a globally trusted producer of delicious foods and provides high quality, great taste, and nutrition for all eating occasions whether at home, in restaurants, or on-the-go. The company ($29.1 billion in net sales), is the fifth-ranked food and beverage company in the world, operating in 45 countries with dedicated Kraft Heinz Company employees.
Jackson and Schroll pointed out that the current grocery landscape looks like this: 95% in-store grocery shopping; more than 50% of purchasing decisions are made in the store.
Despite this overwhelming statistic favoring brick-and-mortar retailers, they are envious of online retailers because of the latter’s ability to collect better data around who their shoppers are, and can then deliver a personalized experience to those very same shoppers across the Internet.
How can brick-and-mortar retailers compete with that?
What can manufacturers and retailers do to not just sell product, but to also interact with shoppers in a way that inspires, engages, and anticipates like an online retailer would?
According to Jackson and Schroll, the current process of retail innovation involves:
Retailer identifies beneficial technology
-Roll out program under its brand
-Get brands to fund program
-Lackluster rollout to shoppers, with inadequate services
-Incremental steps in sophistication of technology
What can manufacturers and retailers do to inspire, engage, and anticipate a shopper’s journey?
Welcome to the smartest way to shop! Where mobile plays a key role.
-87% of mobile owners use their devices while shopping – Nielsen, 2014
-73% of shoppers said they would use a smartphone to scan products in store for special customized offers – Cisco 2015 Retail Survey
-60% of shoppers said they would scan barcodes on items while shopping to track and pay at a self-service checkout – Cisco 2015 Retail Survey
Jackson believes brick-and-mortar shopping is ripe for disruption, and mobile is leading the way.
Schroll described the Fetch user experience that comprises: Scan, access, save, and checkout.
Enhancing the in-store experience:
Gain access to more information with every scan:
-Budget Tracker
-Purchase History (Receipts)
-Shopping Lists
-Recipes
-Nutritional Information (ShopWell)
-Allergen Notifications
-Dietary Restrictions
-Health Preferences
-Triggered deals on complementary products
-Triggered deals on other products in category
-Fetch deals automatically apply to basket
-Fetch Points are earned on every scan to increase loyalty
-The checkout process is completed with a single barcode.
-Fetch drives incremental sales, Schroll noted, delivering an 18% increase of incremental sales vs. non-Fetch baskets. What’s more, Fetch shoppers more loyal:
-37% say they shop more at the grocery store now that Fetch is available there
-5% say they are new to the store now that Fetch is present
Here are two more key takeaways from the session:
Brands and retailers have a responsibility to create a smarter shopping experience now and build loyalty fast
To inspire, engage, and anticipate is to build loyalty.