Commentary
Photo by iStock.com
ByMimi Lettunich, president and executive creative director, Twenty Four 7
With nearly 3.8 million retail establishments currently operating in the U.S. alone, today’s retail environment has never been more competitive. E-commerce is capturing market share from traditional brick-and-mortar retailers as quickly as Amazon is hoovering up Seattle area real estate. Brands that helped define the American Century (like Sears) are shuttering, unable to keep pace. The echoes of 2017 — the year of the “retail apocalypse” — still persist, as analysts continue to be bearish on the industry’s prospects.
This is not to paint a grim picture — there are many retail success stories being written every day. But it is to say that retailers can no longer be content to let their products speak for themselves, or let their storefronts function solely as venues for efficiently distributing products and conducting transactions.
Retailers know they need to pivot their marketing strategy toward experiential engagement — creating unexpected brand encounters and forging emotional connections that lead to enduring loyalty. And the way they can achieve this pivot is by embracing experiential design: reimagining their physical spaces as engines of surprise and delight.
This is where brick-and-mortar retailers have an advantage over their e-commerce-only counterparts. With their square footage as a canvas, they can create the indelible moments that resonate with customers in tangible, unique ways. More than any website, they can craft intimate brand experiences.
Of course, that’s all quite easy to say (or write). But how can today’s retailers achieve this? How can they transform their storefronts into brand-intimate, experience-first spaces?
It helps to consider recent examples. These brands have effectively leveraged their retail footprint to implement novel initiatives that captured the imagination of their customers:
From showroom to bedroom
When Casper, the previously online-only mattress retailer, opened a brick-and-mortar location, they noticed a persistent issue with the mattress-buying experience that traditional retailers had not addressed. A customer that’s half-laying on one of several dozen showroom models, trying desperately to keep their shoes off the mattress, isn’t getting a better sense of the bed that’s right for them than if they were browsing an e-commerce site — something Casper knew a thing or two about. This was an experience ripe for reinvention.
So Casper created private “dwellings” within their retail storefronts, allowing customers to take their time, recline in relative privacy, and truly test out a mattress before buying. While this might have seemed counter intuitive from a “moving product” perspective, the enhanced experience — directly facilitated by mindful design of the in-store space — resonated with customers, and boosted sales.
A super-immersive experience for a superhero campaign
Telecoms giant AT&T took a more tech-centric approach to creating experiential engagement with its Justice League campaign, temporarily redesigning their flagship stores to create an immersive experience enhanced by augmented reality and interactive features. Ahead of the launch of Warner Bros. Pictures blockbuster, AT&T outfitted their storefronts with augmented reality technology that superimposed the faces of passersby onto the bodies of the superhero characters featured in the film. This had the effect of drawing potential customers into the store, where they encountered a retail space completely taken over by Justice League, with wall-to-wall storytelling, exclusive memorabilia, and interactive gaming elements.
Partnering for pop-ups
Facebook recently announced that it will be partnering with Macy’s this holiday season to install pop-up storefronts in several of the venerable retailer’s department stores. This pop-up partnership is designed to create physical brand touchpoint for Facebook, allowing brands with an established e-commerce presence on the platform to sell over-the-counter at the time of year when in-person sales are strongest. While it has yet to be seen how this will perform, it is a bold step for Facebook to venture into the brick-and-mortar realm in an effort to give customers the experiences they desire.
Looking ahead
Here are there things to keep in mind to shift to an experiential engagement strategy:
• Start small. Retailers don’t need to transform their entire store all at once. Something unique or unexpected for the holiday — an AR experience to let customers try on clothes without going into the fitting room, or beauty kiosks for instant makeup try-ons — will have a positive impact on how customers perceive the brand.
• Don’t get hung up on tech. Casper is a prime example of how technology isn’t needed to create a great experience. Putting customers’ needs, desires and preferences at the forefront of an experiential strategy is the most important aspect of creating emotional connections.
• Listen to your customers. Testing concepts is a fine approach, but collecting and analyzing customer behavioral data first is the best way for to retailers understand what type of experiences will be successful, and which won’t.
In 2019 the brands that will be most successful, with the most loyal customers, are those who are creating innovative, unexpected experiences that draw customers in, establish intimacy and develop deeper connections. Does your current brand experience and store design deliver on these fronts, and if not, are you ready to reinvent? Making the pivot to experiential design and more mindful customer engagement can give you the edge you need in a competitive retail marketplace.
Topics: Consumer Behavior, Customer Experience, Omnichannel / Multichannel, Online Retailing, Robotics / AI, Technology
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