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Strategies to Create a Better Retail Customer Experience
In-person shopping is far from dead. But it is undergoing major changes. People now seldom physically go to the store out of necessity. They tend to visit brick-and-mortar points of sale to enjoy an experience that gives them something online shopping never could. Of course, this means that the experience in question has to be worth the shoppers’ time. It has to be immersive, fun, convenient and rewarding all at the same time! Here’s what you need to know about customer experience in retail stores and how to enhance it.
How Does Customer Experience in Retail Stores Affect Sales?
Evidence shows that consumers value customer experience as much as the products and services they seek to purchase. As they can now have anything they may want or need to buy delivered straight to their door thanks to online retail, they have no reason to shop at a place that doesn’t offer an outstanding in-store customer experience.
What Is Customer Experience in Retail Stores?
Customer experience refers to how shoppers interact with the store itself and how it leaves them feeling about a brand. This experience – also known as CX – includes everything about their in-store visit, from the store’s lighting to how the products are laid out on the shelves, to customer service. Every consumer touchpoint matters!
What Are the 3 Main Components of Customer Experience?
The main points of customer experience are discovery, engagement, and delivery.
In the case of in-person retail, this means that the store itself should be welcoming and designed to facilitate finding information so that shoppers can find and purchase everything they were looking for.
What Is the Role of Customer Experience and How Does It Impact Shopping Behavior?
As technology brought innovative ways for consumers to interact with retailers, shoppers have come to expect certain standards in terms of their shopping experiences. This means that CX is where stores get a chance to stand out.
Where poor customer experience could be disastrous for a business, focusing on a strategy that places it at the forefront has obvious benefits. It creates an opportunity to improve your brand image, boost customer retention and loyalty, and increase sales. Building positive interactions will result in lasting relationships with your customer base.
What Could Be Done to Improve the In-Store Customer Experience?
Physical stores have much to gain from offering the most positive and tailored customer experience possible. Thankfully, while modern technology has driven many consumers out of brick-and-mortar locations, it also has the potential to bring them back. AI and IoT, for instance, provide whole new insights into customer behavior, which can then be analyzed to help create optimal experiences.
Using the Power of Data to Improve the Shopping Experience
From shopper insights to digital shelf intelligence, in-store foot traffic data, promotion intelligence, price intelligence, and even overall market intelligence, information is everywhere… So long as you know how to collect and interpret it.
Through the perfect combination of sensors, store owners can take advantage of real-time monitoring and use this feedback to fine-tune their promotional offers on-the-fly. Of course, all this data can also be used to design better calls to action for future campaigns.
→ Find out more about Vusion’s VusionOX and how it utilizes technology to increase in-store foot traffic.
Driving More Effective Store Operations Through Digital Labeling
Digital labels do away with the static experience that defines physical stores, offering a dynamic approach instead. This improves the way people interact with the products on the aisles by providing thorough information that can be updated in real-time.
Gradually, digitization is becoming the new normal in retail, bringing the perks of online shopping – such as Search and Reviews – to brick-and-mortar stores everywhere.
→ Find out more about the importance of labeling in retail.
Using Live Functionalities for a Better In-Store Experience
Live functionalities – such as interactive digital labels and connected displays – can use the shoppers’ cell phones as an extension of the store itself. Through contactless technology (QR code, NFC), people can engage with dynamic content designed to deliver the ultimate CX, all while exposing them to advertising campaigns at the moment of purchase.
In addition to making the aisles more engaging, marketing at the shelf leverages this precious real estate by displaying ultra-targeted, 100% synchronized messaging.
→ Find out more about SES-imagotag’s solutions.
Personalizing the Shopping Experience
Ultimately, an enhanced customer experience is, above all else, an experience that takes the customer into account and goes far beyond well-organized shelves and visible price tags. It’s all about providing omnichannel services to omnichannel shoppers and utilizing the technology at your disposal to future-proof your stores. Bring your shoppers something they won’t find elsewhere.
Finally, personalization should happen as seamlessly as possible, with no sign-up or download required. At the touch of a button, your shoppers should be able to unlock everything your shelves have to offer.
