Category Archives: Customer Engagement & Business Intelligence

by Ulyana Avetisov

“Omnirelevant” Experiences Are Key to Building Brand Loyalty

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Retailers must deliver more effective digital interactions between consumers and their brands through omnirelevant strategies, said Globant, a digitally native technology services company that creates digital journeys for its customers, in its quarterly Sentinel Report.

Brands must focus on asserting and maintaining relevance to consumers, who are constantly inundated with technologies that compete for their attention, explains the report. Companies that are in tune with their users can identify important moments in the customer journey, and leverage this insight to deliver more relevant, impactful interactions.

“Without awareness of the digital journey, brands will fail to impress consumers and win their trust and engagement,” said Martín Migoya, Globant CEO and co-founder. “Focusing on relevance and quality of user interaction over quantity of touch points is at the heart of effective digital strategy. This requires consumer-centric thinking from the outset.”

The report highlights five elements that must exist in equilibrium in order to achieve omnirelevance:

  • Harmony  – The deeply-rooted connection and affinity that this series of interactions has with a user’s flow, producing a pleasant effect
  • Familiar Security  – The feeling of familiarity and trust customers experience at each moment of their journey, fostering an intimate and sage relationship between the customer and the brand
  • Contextual Content  – Content that is able to fulfill a user’s needs at any given moment
  • Sensory  – Creating brain stimulus that will give a physical reality to the experience
  • Surprise  – The level of unexpected momentum to an experience or an interaction must have to catch the user’s attention and leave a lasting, positive impression

“Omnirelevant Experiences” represents the fifth edition of Globant’s Sentinel Report – a quarterly analysis on global market trends and consumer behavior insights and their application to various industries. Furthermore, the report includes stories and business case studies that show how omnirelevance is already being pursued in the technology, retail and entertainment sectors.

Adapted from Erie TV News.

by admin

3 Tips to Turn Out-of-Stocks to Your Advantage

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By Bruce D. Sanders | Consumer Psychologist | Retailing in Motion

 

What are the effects on your shoppers when you run out of an item shoppers expected to purchase from your store? How might you turn those effects to your advantage?

Here are 3 tips, using research findings from Indiana University-Bloomington, University of British Columbia, and Northwestern University.
 

3 tips to turn out-of-stocks to your advantage

 
1. Consumers who have repeatedly purchased a small set of items from you will desire some of those items even more strongly when they discover other items in the set are out-of-stock (OOS). The more general finding is that loyal customers who encounter an OOS become more likely to come to your store promptly when sales on high-demand items are announced. Coach your store staff to sincerely empathize with the shopper and give helpful guidance, such as telling the shopper when the next shipments are due.

2. For consumers who purchase a particular item at regular intervals, encountering an OOS repeatedly will lead the consumer to change item preferences. When an item is OOS in your store, use signage to suggest an alternative which you do currently have in stock.

3. Shoppers’ price sensitivity increases when they encounter out-of-stock items. They dislike the feeling they are being required to buy a substitute for meeting their needs. To lessen the negative feelings, offer alternatives at a range of price points.

 

Be ready to offer a better alternative

 
Researchers at American University in Washington, D.C. and University of Arizona suggest you be ready for a shopper to veer off to a wholly different choice after learning an item the shopper has carefully chosen is OOS.

Say a shopper comes into your store and looks at expensive ink pens. The shopper narrows the choices to two, both of which have an extra-fine felt tip. The only difference between the two is the ink color, which the shopper decides is not that important.

Then when the shopper asks for the pen with the blue ink, he’s told it is temporarily OOS. He’s asked if he’d like to place an order, and he’ll be notified when the pen arrives. He declines. The salesperson—knowing the value of selling substitutability—offers the shopper the extra-fine felt tip pen with the black ink.

But, like a majority of the participants in the American University/Arizona study, the shopper goes off in a different direction, such as purchasing a fancy ballpoint pen with blue ink. Because of the OOS, the blue ink color becomes more important than the felt tip.

See more posts from RIMtailing.

by Ulyana Avetisov

How platform tech helps you see retail customer needs

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Your retail software runs through oceans of discrete and inferred data at every moment.

  • Point of sale transactional data
  • E-commerce sales data
  • Browsing behavior data

In its disconnected state, the data is useless – just a torrent of numbers, sales figures, totals, and percentages. It tells you very little about the people who shop with you.

Many retailers today are still using software that keeps their data segregated by channel, which means they can’t see how the same customer is interacting with your online store versus your physical store. It means they can’t see whether their promotions are reaching their targeted customer to increase their shopping frequency.

That is what we at Retail Pro International call retail chaos.

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But when those various data points are unified, they create a single, 360° view of your customer – the numbers become an individual with actual likes, loves, and needs.

It also gives you a total, 360° view of your target customer base as a whole – which gives you a more complete understanding of how you can better meet and anticipate their needs with the products you sell.

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Platform software like Retail Pro is different from your average retail tech.

A platform is a digital foundation that connects data from every point at which it’s generated, including:

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  • Your mobile and stationary POS software
  • Your product planning, assortment, and merchandising software
  • Your business intelligence, loyalty, marketing, digital receipts applications
  • Your payments processor
  • Emerging tech like beacons, RFID, and footfall
  • Your e-commerce data
  • Your in-store endless aisle kiosk
  • And any other tools or applications you use

This means that:

  • You can see where all of your inventory is (at the warehouse, in transit, across the globe, on the shelf, in the bin, out of stock)
  • Your brick-and-mortar stores can see inventory availability at different locations
  • Your e-commerce store can see and use inventory from your physical stores
  • Your loyalty applications can tap into transactional data for initiatives targeted to a particular customer’s buying habits
  • Your marketing team can send emails personalized with a customer’s likes and dislikes
  • You can package slow and fast moving items for promotions across channels

…which means you get a complete picture of your customer’s interaction with you – and you retail smarter.

#stopretailchaos

by Ulyana Avetisov

Omnichannel panel: retailers discuss their take on building omnichannel

At our 2016 Retail Pro Americas Summit, we asked retailers building their omnichannel strategy with Retail Pro why they’re doing it, what it takes to make it happen, and where they are in implementing their strategy. Here’s what they said.

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Allow us to introduce…

 

Our retail panelists. See their bios way below!

Omnichannel panel guest speakers. See their bios below.

    

 
 
 

What’s inside:

 

Going Omnichannel
Supply chain integration at Earthbound Trading Co.
Balancing D2C and wholesale at Burton Snowboards
Decreasing the cost of endless aisle at Mexicali Blues
Is omnichannel the end of brick and mortar retail?
Omnichannel generation: millennials’ habits impact retail strategies
Future directions for building omnichannel

 
 
 

    

 

Going omnichannel

 

Dan Jablons Our panel today is about omnichannel. Topher, you’ve done a lot of omnichannel work already, and Eric and Marcelo are starting to work out their omnichannel strategies for Burton Snowboards and Earthbound Trading Company, respectively.

Topher, you’ve done the most omnichannel work out of anyone in the room, apparently. What made you say, “You know what? We have to attack this thing. We have to go after it”?

 

Topher Mallory We thought about where we saw the largest opportunity and that was online. There’s a lot of overlap with the product lines but as far as the business goes, we’ve only got 6 stores plus our online store, and our warehouses are 2000 square feet.

We wanted to leverage our in-store inventory like we showed in the video and the biggest things was data architecture. That’s where UniteU came in.

The biggest challenge was really finding someone who would listen to somebody small like we are, see the opportunity we saw, and  create a data architecture that could go both ways.

Obviously the big picture of Omni is endless aisle and different channels that might not even be in the marketplace yet. Today, it is taking that store inventory and leveraging it to make our online offering larger.

 

 

We thought about where we saw the largest opportunity and that was online.

Topher Mallory

 

 

Check out their video here:

 

See how Mexicali Blues implemented omnichannel in their stores

Topher Mallory of Mexicali Blues shares how he built his omnichannel strategy

 

 

Dan So for you, there was an online opportunity but it was also about leveraging existing inventories and getting better sales.

 

Topher Exactly. Then we started to see that we needed more transparency in the supply chain and all that’s how we came to all those challenges we’re dealing with today.

 

Dan Eric, what drove your decision to go after omnichannel?

 

Eric Bergstrom Actually, something quite similar. We have a real strong online business. We have 13 stores in the US. About this time every year, we sell out of products online but these same products are still sitting in stores. Our objective is to make that store inventory available on the web so that a customer can find it. That way we would really leverage the inventory and sell it.

 

Marcelo Fleitas We have 136 stores nationwide and we’re trying to accomplish something similar to Mexicali Blues. The customers of today’s world require a lot of maintenance. They request a lot of information so we need to provide it.

That’s what Earthbound is trying to do.

We’re trying to provide information from our vendors to the store for a particular item and create an experience for our customers through mobility. We have a segmented customer profile and tools to understand what the customer wants, and we deliver that.

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Supply chain integration at Earthbound Trading Co.

 

Earthbound Trading Company is a lifestyle shop for the nomadic spirit who embraces individuality and craves exploration.

Earthbound Trading Company is a lifestyle shop for the nomadic spirit who embraces individuality and craves exploration.

I was amazed at how Retail Pro Prism® works, because the platform is exactly what we need. The last piece of the puzzle is to feed that information to Retail Pro® and because it’s based on APIs, everything can be integrated.

Marcelo Fleitas

 

Dan One of the things that I was told about the tools you’re using, Marcelo, is that you actually have been integrating various departments together. Overseas vendors and employer systems interact and talk to each other.

 

Marcelo That’s right. One of the biggest challenges that we have at Earthbound is collaboration. We have venders overseas and we deal with big vendors, small vendors, and various departments like accounting and the photographers who take inventory pictures for the online store.

We really had to create a collaboration tool, but not only that – we needed to create a flow between them.

For instance, in order to bring something from overseas, you have to follow a lot of customs codes and we need to make sure we capture product history for things we bring from China, from Brazil. We can’t lose that information.

So we created a portal where vendors can actually talk to us directly. All our internal departments can interact within the system, and the system enforces proper flow.

 

Dan I’ve got to believe that also helps you in terms of gaining more product knowledge, which helps you get more sales too.

 

Marcelo Exactly. I was amazed at how Retail Pro Prism® works, because the platform is exactly what we need. The last piece of the puzzle is to feed that information to Retail Pro® and because it’s based on APIs, everything can be integrated. I’m very happy that that’s the direction for Prism.

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Balancing D2C and wholesale at Burton Snowboards

 

In '77, Jake Burton invented the Backhill - a narrow board with single strap bindings and a rope and handle attached to the nose. Life on shred begins.

In ’77, Jake Burton invented the Backhill – a narrow board with single strap bindings and a rope and handle attached to the nose. Life on shred begins.

 

Dan Eric, let me ask you a question. Burton has 13 stores but you also sell through dealerships. So now you have a situation that a lot of independent retailers get a little bit worried: Burton is going direct, and some retailers are panicking like, “That’s the end of the world. It’s over.” But there’s a lot of business to be made. So how have you had to balance the direct versus channel sales?

 

Eric Our primary business at Burton Snowboards in wholesaling to dealers across the globe. I have 13 stores and 1000 dealers or more. We are real careful about where we put stores. We want to put our stores where we see an opportunity to expose the brand but not step on our dealers’ toes. And then we look for other ways to try to incorporate our dealers into the exercise that we’re going through.

For example, we have a tool that we titled Send It, which allows our stores to drop-ship or custom order any product and ship it directly to the customer’s house.

We’ve opened that up to our retailers to allow them to do the same thing. They have access to all the Burton inventory, which they would have anyway because they can always reorder the product, but it’s a tool that allows them to do the same thing, use their own POS system, and ship directly.

So they’re getting the sale and they’re really in the sense just buying the one item, but it doesn’t ship to the store. It ships directly to the customer.

This functionality is something that we’ve offered out to retailers.

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Decreasing the cost of endless aisle at Mexicali Blues

 

A love of music, a passion for travel, and a mindful devotion to fun. That’s all it took to launch Mexicali Blues back in 1988.

A love of music, a passion for travel, and a mindful devotion to fun. That’s all it took to launch Mexicali Blues back in 1988.

 

Dan This leads into my next question, Topher, for you. You and I had a chance to talk about the concept of the endless aisle earlier a little bit.

People talk a lot about the endless aisle. I don’t think anyone knows what it really means. And you’ve mentioned to me before that the definition of endless aisle is still in motion and changing, so how do you see endless aisle right now?

 

Topher We did this in small, bite-sized pieces. I think it speaks to Retail Pro’s direction as to how they’re letting omnichannel unfold a little bit. We saw this ability to leverage the inventory, and we saw an increase in 50% of our orders. We were doing this all manually behind the scenes. UniteU created the architecture but we had all this in the POS and we said, “Ok, we’ll just figure this out.”

There was one employee, a woman named Lauren, whom you saw in the video. All she did was take an excel spreadsheet, dump all this data from UniteU and all our inventory data from Retail Pro. She would look for like, Monday, December 5th and then see how many of the 300 online orders have some item from the stores.

That was nuts but we saw a huge increase in number of orders and the number of items picked. We came back to UniteU after the holiday and said, “Here are all the variables,” which was great, because we could really define what online endless aisle meant.

We want to control this. We don’t want a truly endless aisle if it is going to be an unprofitable order. If they’re unprofitable, then these are the variables we should consider.

We needed a set that we could tweak by the minute, if it was needed. We needed to be able to turn store inventories on and off if there was a scheduling issue or delivery problem. We had 5 or 6 of those and we have a workflow where you can actually change those logistics.

So now we’re looking at what I need in stores and trying to think about the same thing – if we want it to be endless aisle, if we want to sell to zero. The first challenge was just seeing Lauren do all that work and saying, “Hey, this is great – we have increased revenue.” But we’ve also diminished what we’re making on every order and every product if we’re touching them 1000 times. How do we prevent that?

The first thing was an algorithm. That worked out very well and now we’re doing a lot of circling back with analytics go from that end.

We’re also working on transparency with vendors so that we can get these things in our warehouse. We’re going to roll it out in the store first with the idea of Ship-to-Store.

Then hopefully we’ll get some kind of mobile device that’s more functional. Right now we have this algorithm on an OS-based device that uses FoundryLogic technology so that when we get the order, we see what is needed for the order that’s in-store. We can see all that transparently on the UniteU level but the next step would be to take that FoundryLogic reference to UniteU or Retail Pro on some kind of mobile device.

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Is omnichannel the end of brick and mortar retail?

 

Photo courtesy of Forbes

Photo courtesy of Forbes

 

People were very scared of brick and mortar stores dying but it all changed. It didn’t happen. We evolved.

Marcelo Fleitas

 

Dan There’s a lot of concern amongst the brick and mortar retailers about omnichannel. I’m often asked if there’s ever going to be an end to the world of brick and mortar and I think it’s an important question. What do you see omnichannel doing? Do you see it advancing or taking away from brick and mortar?

 

Marcelo Several years ago, people were talking about that. At the beginning of the summit today, Kerry Lemos mentioned that too. People were very scared of brick and mortar stores dying but it all changed. It didn’t happen.

We evolved.

We grew our communications and we’re using mobility to improve our brick and mortar. I don’t think brick and mortar will become extinct, and I think all of us are on the right track. We are improving our channels, improving our communications, using the devices, using social media to enhance our experience in-store. You guys are doing a fantastic job on doing exactly that and I’m happy that this is going to continue to happen. This is not the end of the brick and mortar store.

 

Omnichannel is the revival of brick and mortar.

Topher Mallory

 

Topher I want to add to that and say I think it’s the revival of the brick and mortar. For us, we’re enhancing a lot of the inventory-driven processes but we’re also doing the same thing with our customers.

We’re doing segmentation, which is key.

You can get your customer data and see who’s researching online but not converting there. If they come in the store, I have data about their buying history. So maybe I can bring some consumer confidence and have them looking across platforms, or maybe they’re just forever going to research online and come in-store to buy tangibly. They can try the product on and have that added value of the experience with one of our associates.

 

Eric It’s real similar for us. Step one working to leverage the inventory. We’re adding a customer focus as well.

 

Dan And Burton, specifically in terms of profiling, is looking for ways to segment the list based on the channel they came from, right? Is that part of your strategy?

 

Eric Yes. Today we already pull in our Retail Pro data from the stores and our e-commerce data, our customer data, our transaction history. We tie it all together in a giant database and then access that to segment customers when we send marketing emails and such. But it gets stuck there quite often so we need to get it beyond that. We need to have access to that data at the store level so we can open it on a dashboard and know what you’ve bought from us online or in the store

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Omnichannel generation: millennials’ habits impact  retail strategies

 

Photo courtesy of nanigans.com

Photo courtesy of nanigans.com

This is bigger than just millennials. In today’s retail environment you need to be available to every customer however they want to shop. Millennial or not, you just have to let the customer choose. 

Eric Bergstrom

 

Dan It’s important to you to understand where those guys are coming from. There’s also a lot of talk about capturing the millennials. Is that a concern for you in terms of how to market to millennials?

 

Marcelo We have the data for it now and without that, we’re going to be behind. I think that’s a trend. I see it over and over again. We’ve adapted to this new generation of people who use smartphones. The average adult uses their device 150 times; millennials use it 1000 times a day for various things. That’s exactly the type of crowd that we need to start marketing to.

 

Dan Eric, are the millennials a key target for Burton?

 

Eric Yes, in that that age group is a big part of our key market demographically. But this is bigger than just millennials. In today’s retail environment you need to be available to every customer however they want to shop. Millennial or not, all of these options of Buy Online, Pickup In Store, etc., you just have to be available and let the customer choose.

 

Dan Topher, what’s your take on this? How are you marketing to millennials?

 

Topher With a message that’s catered to them. Hopefully. I feel like we’re trying our hardest to! And we’re trying to take the platforms they interact on and bridge them into our in-store experiences.

With non-millennials, similar to Marcelo, we communicate the story of product origins. We use words like responsibility, transparency.

We talk about how companies are producing items. Like knowing that process for this tie-dye that I’m wearing, for example. The company uses dental floss, of all things, to get this type of crazy design. There’s a video with this on our responsively designed mobile site, so they can bring up that video for a customer on the same mobile device the FoundryLogic is working on.

 

Dan So there are all these different channels and the key through it seems to be being able to collect data out of these channels, analyze it, leverage the inventory so you can get the most out of it, but also give your customer the option to pick this up here, there, or anywhere. They can find you and transact with you. Marcelo, where are you in all this omnichannel business?

 

Marcelo We have a team developing this right now. We’re hoping that in about 2 months we’ll be fully developed in that area.

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Future directions for building omnichannel 

 

See the strategy and future behind the Retail Pro retail management platform

See the strategy and future behind the Retail Pro retail management platform

 

Dan Topher, you’ve got omnichannel in place. What’s next for you now in the next 12 months? What’s the next evolution for Mexicali Blues to drive excitement for the customer?

 

Topher Pushing it the other way. It’s the endless aisle component in the stores but really trying to define the experience. Retailers are trying to solve the inventory problem with an experience – you come in store we’ll wine and dine you all you want. Well, all our customers are coming to us saying, “No, I want that in red, and I wanted it yesterday.” So our goal is to figure out how to meld those things together.

 

Dan Eric, you’re starting on omnichannel. What challenges are you running into right now and how are you going to overcome those?

 

Eric It starts with coming to this conference! My first step is going to be migration to the Retail Pro 9, and we’re going to get that done by June.

At the same time, we’re working on the first omnichannel step from there, which is test for getting store inventory available online. We want to do that by the fall. We’ll probably only make a limited selection of inventory categories available online, just to get it started.

Those are our first steps and then we’re going from there.

 

Dan And Marcelo?

 

Marcelo We will continue to improve our collaboration systems and bring the experience to the customer. We really deliver for our customers, because, like you said, Topher, they want our products yesterday. We want to continue to deliver on that, to improve our systems, to have more mobility involved on this.

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Meet the Panelists

 

Topher Mallory | Mexicali Blues | CEO Topher-Mallory

In just 11 years, Topher’s “all in” approach to retail transformed a laid-back import store with three brick-and-mortar locations and no website into a vertically integrated omnichannel brand. With Mexicali Blues now making millions of dollars online and off, he simultaneously launched Maine’s first grain-to-glass organic distillery, Split Rock Distilling. Both businesses show his signature approach to retail sales: authentic passion, hands-on leadership, grassroots marketing and forward-thinking financial analysis. Topher turns loyal customers into a long-lasting community and loves every minute. 

You can talk retail (or rock climbing, tie dye, Maine and more) with @TopherMallory on Twitter.

 

 

Eric Bergstrom | Burton Snowboards | Director of Retail Eric-Burton

As Director of Retail for Burton’s US Direct to Consumer retail business, Eric Bergstrom manages the Flagship and Outlet channels, establishing the strategic direction for existing stores and identifying potential growth opportunities. For nearly 20 years, Eric has been creating and growing successful retail organizations, optimizing existing operations, and planning and designing new stores.

 

 

 

 

Marcelo Fleitas | Earthbound Trading Company | Director of Information Technology Marcelo-Fleitas

Marcelo Fleitas is the Director of Information Technology at Earthbound Trading Company, a Texas based company with more than 1000 employees. Marcelo has more than 10 years in the retail industry performing innovation and implementation of POS systems. He has a background in Electronic Engineering, Oracle Databases and Microsoft SQL Servers, currently pursuing his Masters of Science in IT Management.

 

 

 

 

 

Dan Jablons | Retail Smart Guys | Owner Dan-Jablons

Dan Jablons is an expert retail consultant providing guidance to retailers across 15 countries. Dan helps retailers achieve their business goals through optimization of operations, merchandising, marketing and other key retail practices.

 

 

 

 

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by Jennifer Bosavage

What You Need To Know About Beacons

Last month, drugstore chain Rite Aid became the most recent retailer to deploy beacons within their outlets. By doing so, Rite Aid became the largest retailer user of beacons in the United States, a distinction previously belonging to Macy’s. Rite Aid embarked on the strategy to provide more personalized service to customers, as well as to push various notifications. Bluetooth-based beacons can help retailers connect in practical and profitable ways, as long as the communication is welcome and provides clear advantages for the shopper. Remember, a shopper can opt out of receiving notifications at any time —  and no matter how many beacons a retailer has it won’t make a difference if no one is receiving their signals.

See the infographic below to learn how to make the most of your investment in beacon technology.

4 beacon tips

 

by Ulyana Avetisov

Americas Summit Sneak Peek #2 – Measuring Performance in Marketing, Inventory, and Staffing

2016 Retail Pro Americas Summit, Las Vegas

Only 10 days left til the 2016 Retail Pro Americas Summit!

February 19, 2016  *  Caesars Palace, Las Vegas  *  9am – 5pm + cocktails

Not yet registered? Save your spot today!

Register

 

 

Retail Behind the Scenes: Measuring Performance in Marketing, Inventory, and Staffing

Every successful retail operation is built on 3 key components: effective and persuasive marketing, efficient inventory management, and stellar staffing. In this session, Dan Jablons of Retail Smart Guys will give you a consultant’s formula for optimizing these critical pieces in your retail stores, answering the following questions for each one:

  • What is the basic goal?
  • What are successful retailers doing?
  • How do you measure the results?
  • What are the keys to your success?

 

Speaker

Dan Jablons | OwnerDan-Jablons180x200
Retail Smart Guys

Dan Jablons is an expert retail consultant providing guidance to retailers across 15 countries. Dan helps retailers achieve their business goals through optimization of operations, merchandising, marketing and other key retail practices.

by admin

6 things every woman wishes retailers knew about her shopping basket

What every woman wishes retailers knew

 

Reposted from Retail Customer Experience, by Bryan Pearson, President and CEO, LoyaltyOne, Inc.

A woman’s shopping cart carries more than goods; it carries stories about her and the many influencers in her life. If retailers better understood that journey, they could ensure the correct products are there for her and prolong the tale.

It can take gumshoe-like skills to discern just how the items in that cart fit into the woman’s life narrative. Her shopping cart is not merely a receptacle of goods; it is a reflection of who she is and of the many people in her life. Her choices tell tales not only of her day, but also of the days of her children, friends, extended family and work associates.

And while she is often happy with her cart’s contents, sometimes she does not feel good about them. And this, in particular, is where many women wish the retailers they shopped with most regularly knew them better.

Following are six common factors about a woman’s shopping cart that she wishes retailers knew about her, and what retailers can do to improve the story.

A loyalist’s basket is half-full: A supermarket’s most loyal customer typically spends only 50 percent to 70 percent of her monthly budget with that merchant, according to Precima, a global retail strategy and analytics company. Loyalty programs are essential to understanding shopper behavior in ways that can increase the basket size, and social media can assist in keeping in touch. Tesco, for example, has invested resources in its Twitter account to communicate with existing customers while also getting a cleaner read on customer needs and product requests. The one-to-one communications put a face on the company and strengthen shopper relations.

It has abandonment issues: The average shopping cart abandonment rate is 68.6 percent, according to an analysis by Baymard Institute. Among the leading reasons: Unexpected costs. Occasional reminders to shoppers can help increase the changes of purchase, but a more surefire way is to do the opposite of presenting unexpected costs — offer a small percentage off the items in the basket if they are purchased by midnight, or a free product or sample as a thank you.

A mobile basket is often unhappy: Nearly nine in 10 smartphone shoppers (88 percent) said they have had a negative experience when using their phones for mobile shopping, according to a report by Forbes. Among the leading problems are navigation difficulties and inconvenient checkout. Larger buttons and fewer steps would help, and loyalty program apps can feature ‘one-click’ purchasing options. Nordstrom’s mobile app, for example, enables users to browse products by department or brand, and the main functions (including the shopper’s“bag or cart) are listed clearly at the bottom of the home page.

It’s filled with regret: Three of four adults make impulse purchases, according a survey by CreditCards.com, but the female impulse buyers are more likely than men to regret iit — 52 percent compared with 46 percent of men. A fun campaign about preventing buyer’s remorse may remedy this proclivity (a retailer can send a thank you after a big purchase with a relevant message, ‘ABC Shoes, Preventing Buyer’s Remorse Since 1880’). Shoppers also might appreciate being let in on the action. Recent research shows customers are drawn to products in the middle of a shelf, so putting up a cute note saying so much could deepen brand trust — and generate happier associations with those orange stiletto heels.

It’s not hers: Women not only influence most of the purchase decisions in a household, they actually transact most of the purchases, and many are not for her. Women also buy for husbands, kids, friends, extended family and professional associates. They are the household member considering birthday presents and hostess gifts. Merchants can look to their loyalty program data to gain a sense of a woman’s influencers as well as to identify the messaging that would engage their female shoppers. Amazon may be the best example of a retailer crunching customer search and purchase data and parlaying that into helpful product suggestions.

It does not carry what she came for: A full basket does not imply it is a complete one. An estimated 13 percent of shoppers leave a store not having found what they came for, according to Aisle411. The first step to resolving this is to have every employee ask every customer if she found everything she came for. If not, the employee should have a means of recording that item so that it can be added to inventory, and ask the shopper if she’d like to be contacted once the product is in. A handy app might be able to manage such tasks.

Lastly, retailers should ensure that every basket carries a good experience. Shopping can be a chore, so injecting a bit of surprise and delight can turn a mundane task into something memorable. Free coffee at the grocery store, an inspirational message at the point of online checkout, or simply handing out thank you mints when the customer is leaving the store (to complement the welcome when she enters) can transform one-time shoppers to lifers.

If anything, such efforts can at least ensure each shopping trip has a happy ending.

 

 

by Alexandra Frith

Is IoT a Reality for Retail Today?

IoT-retail

The Internet of Things (IoT) is generating much buzz in consumer circles – but is it a reality for retailers today? At its core, the IoT is a network of connected devices sharing data to increase efficiency. This includes optimizing and automating (where possible) your decision making, workflows, queues, staffing, and inventory management processes – as the means for increasing conversion in your retail stores.

IoT is within reach for retailers but requires a proper technological foundation. Three key components to your connected strategy include a converged platform, business intelligence, and smart devices.

Converged Platform

The base for IoT is a converged platform like Retail Pro® retail management software. It connects the data from all your devices and retail tools – like mPOS, eCommerce, integrations to Amazon and other digital marketplaces, shipping tools, loyalty applications, etc. – in one platform. A converged platform allows information-sharing between devices, giving you a complete picture of customer and operational activity across channels and enabling process automation.

Business Intelligence

Once you have a converged platform that unifies all your data, you will need business intelligence software to help you make sense of the data chaos you will generate from your connected devices. Having a plan for data analysis is critical, as “90% of the data generated by smart-connected devices is never analyzed or used for anything, and 60% of it begins to lose value just milliseconds after it is generated,” according to IBM.

Devices are not inherently smart and data is not inherently useful – it still takes the human mind coupled with business intelligence software to direct device placement in your stores and to drive operations optimization and conversion.

Smart Devices

The IoT devices you select for your strategy will depend on what you want to accomplish for your stores. Here are 3 basics used in retail today:

RFID for inventory accuracy and customer engagement in-stores: American Apparel uses item-level RFID for inventory management with Retail Pro, running daily reports to see what’s trending, what’s missing and in-stock, and which stores are struggling or need to cycle count. Complete visibility into their inventory enables greater efficiency and ensures products are available when and where they are wanted.

Burberry implemented RFID tags to take the customer experience to the next level: the tags activate smart mirrors in the changing room to run video footage of the clothing item’s creation and debut on the runway. This kind of engagement draws customers into the story behind each piece and forges a stronger connection with the brand.

Beacons for personalized marketing: Brands like Hamleys, Armani, Longchamp, and Hackett leverage beacons in their Regent Street stores in London to personalize their mobile marketing strategies. The beacons target passersby who have opted in for messaging through the Regent Street App and drop timely, relevant communications about discounts, in-store promotions, and exclusive events and products directly to shoppers’ smartphones.

Now there is also Google’s Eddystone – beacons which open URLs in a web browser instead of apps. This can decrease commitment levels required of consumers (as with downloading an app), thereby increasing the potential pool of shoppers willing to receive these personalized marketing messages.

Vendor drop ship for fulfillment efficiency: Massey’s Outfitters integrated a vendor dropship and eCommerce application to the inventory in their Retail Pro platform. This seamless connection allows them to rebalance goods between stores for a leaner inventory and fulfill orders directly from vendors when goods are not available in stores.

With a strong technological foundation built on the Retail Pro platform, you too can reap the benefits of IoT today.

by Jennifer Bosavage

Retailers Go the Personalized Route

Half the battle for success in retail is getting the customer in the door or on the website, followed by the challenge of closing the sale. According to MyBuys research, highlighted in Personalization Comes of Age, 75 percent of shoppers would buy from a merchant if they received a discounted price on the merchandise. In addition, roughly the same number would buy online if a special offer including free shipping was provided.

Seems obvious that customers want to hear from retailers with pertinent information. In other words, they want to know more

As merchants streamline their multichannel store operations and focus on enhancing the customer experience, many shoppers are choosing to return to stores to make their purchases.

As merchants streamline their multichannel store operations and focus on enhancing the customer experience, many shoppers are choosing to return to stores to make their purchases.

about products and services in which they’ve expressed prior interest.  Busy people appreciate a quick reminder about products left in shopping carts — or even about those they may have been researching — especially if a purchasing incentive comes with that reminder. Discounts or other benefits, coupled with personalized messaging and recommendations can provide customers information that will help them determine that the products they’re considering are just right. A substantial number, 70%, of shoppers want recommendations on retailers’ web sites: It’s always nice to corroborate a potential purchase.

That feeling of purchase satisfaction can’t be underestimated. The MyBuys research found that few shoppers (27%) buy when they perceive they are “settling” for a product. It’s not enough for them to purchase something “just like” the one that’s desired. “Close enough” just doesn’t cut it. Therefore, to achieve true customer satisfaction, it’s crucial for retailers to supply messaging that not only corroborates the purchaser’s decision, but also makes it an undeniable value.

Of course, the retailer must be conscious of not overstepping boundaries, which may not always be intuitive. For example, while MyBuys reported that 39% want to receive personalized messages on social media, such as in a Facebook stream, they may not want to be greeted in-store with the same message. It’s one thing to be wished “Happy Birthday!” in an innocuous post from a retailer on Facebook, but another, more unsettling, experience to be told that by a store associate who is a stranger. However, couple that social media greeting with a “get 10% off on your special day by mentioning this Facebook message,” and the retailer will likely be rolling out the welcome mat that day.

Proximity marketing, enabled by beacons and bluetooth technology, are also excellent ways of drawing in customers. New data from Juniper Research found that retailers will spend an estimated $2.5 billion in hardware and installation cost of such Internet of Things technology by 2018. MyBuys found that 39% of those surveyed welcome mobile advertising, such as proximity marketing, and that number is likely to grow as installations increase.

Retailers will look to beacons and beyond in 2016, and continue to invest in data science and analytics to better serve customers both in-store and online.

by Jennifer Bosavage

Digital Store Must Keep Customer Top of Mind

While digital business will influence every part of the retail experience in the near future, it’s important for stores to recognize that the customer — not technology — will still be the star of the show.

Enhancing customer satisfaction begins with a well-run operation.

Enhancing customer satisfaction begins with a well-run operation.

Sure, the digital store will use technology to excite customers and to streamline store operations. But, as analysts at the  Gartner Symposium/ITxpo 2015 noted, delighting the customer is job #1.

And that is logical, for without a happy, satisfied customer base, a retailer has no foundation. To begin with, retailers must cover the basics: Does the store have sufficient inventory? Are the store associates pleasant and available to serve the customers? Is checkout hell on Earth?  How smooth is the return process? Without those pillars in place, a retailer is stuck constantly trying to invent itself. Customers won’t wait for a retailer to “figure it out,” they’ll simply take their business elsewhere.

Technology can help bolster those pillars, making them strong enough to withstand product shortages, labor issues and other challenges.

“Well established technologies, such as electronic shelf labels and RFID used in the past in the back office for stock management, are now being used in innovative ways at the front end to enhance the customer experience,” said Miriam Burt, research vice president at Gartner. “Retailers need to evaluate how these ‘old’ technologies can be used in conjunction with newer applications of technologies such as NFC, augmented reality and smart machines for robust execution of the in-store basics.”

Once the basics are nailed down, retailers should determine how they can make their customers feel special, valued and appreciated. Historically, coupons were used to thank customers. And in the 1930s, S&H Green Stamps ushered in the first “loyalty rewards” program, with shoppers collecting stamps as a reward for making purchases, and eventually trading those stamps for other goods. Today, technological personalization and innovation can be combined to offer shoppers incentives for their continued patronage. In-store beacons, for example, offer shoppers personalized deals, discounts, recommendations and rewards based on how the shopper has been interacting in all their channels.

Today’s retailers have the opportunity to use technology, and to connect multiple systems in an effort not just to provide shoppers what they want, but to help them enjoy and enriched retail experience. In addition, that experience must reach across channels, with online complementing the brick and mortar experience, and vice versa. That means not duplicating the experience, but to offer a seamless journey, one that can pick up where the other left off. That’s the type of technology-enabled service that will have customers leaving a digital business with a smile.