Susan
More to marketing. Welcome to more 2 marketing, a podcast on marketing, product and everything in between. I’m your host, Susan, and today we’re going to be talking about the latest insights and trends for retail for the US Now, I absolutely love retail stores, and I really want to delve into this topic to talk about physical and digital presence. All of the retail stores and see how things are changing over there. The retail industry is constantly evolving, driven by changes from the customer preferences through to the advancement in technology and the US retail stores that combine the best of both of these are thriving by leveraging the benefits of both physical and digital. Channels. So let’s explore. This the top trends that shape the retail landscape in the US for businesses that both operate in online and offline, and you might still get some tips anyway if you’re only. One or the other. Our first trend is the embrace of the hybrid model, literally Omni channel. Leading retailers and adopting a hybrid approach by seamlessly integrating both their physical and digital channels. To provide a cohesive customer experience. So this is where they’re going beyond Omni. You literally can experience the same in both. This strategy allows customers to interact with brand across multiple touch points such as browsing products online, making purchases in store and accessing personalised offers through the mobile app and also through POS systems in store. Let’s take a. Look at 3 examples of businesses are actually doing this hybrid model. So one, it’s more of an example of what they’re doing. You can probably guess a whole pile of retails behind the scenes here, but we’ll go through the actual premise. So the first one is a retailer has implemented a buy online pick up in store. This service allows customers to conveniently purchase products through the website and collect them at their nearest. Physical store. This seamless integration of digital and physical channels embraces their overall shopping experience and enhances what a customer can do. A lot of retailers, specifically grocery stores, are offering this and even there’s some that do it for like giant fridges. So you can actually pick them up same day, which is absolutely a a really handy thing to have if say, your fridge goes down and you need one now and you happen to have a trailer or something. Another model is adopting a mobile app that offers personalised recommendations based on the customers previous purchases and browsing history. So customers can explore the brand’s offerings digitally and then visit the store physically to try out the recommended products, providing a truly integrated experience. Some stores even go the next step where they actually tell you what. Ohh you can. Go down. Within some of the hardware chains, they actually tell you exactly where you can go to get it well, and even what row. So as long as you can look out for those signs, you can easily find where you need to go if you want actually pick it. Up physically or have a look at it before you purchase. It’s a very handy model when it comes to say for example shoes or other kind of items you really want to try on before you. Buy. You can check it out online, then go into your store know. Where to look? For it and then try it on just just to make sure. Third example here is launching A loyalty programme that rewards customers for both online and in store purchases. This programme incentivises customers to engage with the brand across channels, rewarding them and focusing a sense of loyalty and driving repeat purchases. Our second trend focuses on creating an in store experience. While online shopping offers convenience, many customers still value that tactile, immersive feeling and experience provided by physical store. Let’s face it, there’s a whole part of us that still prefer physical books over digital ones as well. So let’s have a look at 3 examples of how we can incorporate within there. So the first one is incorporating augmented reality technology. So that’s your air into the store environment. Customers can use their smartphones or store provider devices to visualise how future might look in their homes, or virtually try on clothing, making the shopping experience more interactive and engaging. I’ve also seen a lot of QR codes within stores where you can actually see how a device might work. Saying you don’t have someone demonstrating the latest cooking device, you can be installed with your mobile scan that QR code and then watch a video that will automatically pre roll and showing you how to make a chicken. How to bake a cake, whatever it might be. Using that product. Another example is creating interactive displays. Allow customers to explore product features. Watching demonstration videos, read customer reviews on store. These are actually displayed on TV screens, so not necessarily the example I gave before of QR codes. This is where they actually have TV’s showing you all these different things as you’re walking by so you can stand and watch, or you might actually click on some of them to see the next. Item they’re going to show you or demonstrate some other feature or benefit it has these displays within the shops themselves to provide value information and empower customers to make informed purchase decisions. The last example I have here is implementing A personalised shopping service where customers can book appointments with an Instore expert who offers personalised styling advice and recommendations. This concierge experience has been around. For a while. But the one on one interaction creates a tailored experience to the customer, enhancing overall satisfaction. With all the added addition of data these days, that personalised one on one experience is going to be a lot more stronger and deeper due to connecting both digital and physical store behaviour. Our third trim we’re going to talk about revolves around the pop-up shops and brand collaborations. These are always good fun to see in shopping centres and sometimes within some store locations. Some I’ve even seen have done takeovers of landmarks, or even just the experience of walking through crowds and seeing it happen as well. So pop up shops again, popularity as a way for retailers with the digital presence to showcase approach physically with brand awareness. The other great thing about pop-ups is you don’t have to invest in leases and having to have it manned at all times. You can some of these instances, you can actually literally pop it up in the day and pop it back down and take it anywhere. So that means that you got flexibility to go where your customers. Ah. 3 examples of successful use of a pop-up and brand immersive experience. Is, say, an online fashion brand partners with a local really, really popular coffee shop to create a pop-up store within the coffee shops premises. The collaboration allows the fashion brand to reach a new audience and also offers a unique shopping experience combined with their favourite coffee. Just make sure you don’t spill it on the dress. Another collaboration well known is cosmetic brands to create a limited time store in store concept. These partnerships attract customers who may not have been familiar with that brand before, maybe want to experience and actually gains a bit more traction for getting to the right audience at the right time by enticing the association with this cosmetic brand and the retail brand, there may be some trust beginning to form there for someone to actually try. Third example host a series of pop-up shops in trending locations. Featuring a rotation of emerging designers and brands, this is. All that collaborative approach. This approach generates excitement and bars around the retails offerings, attracts a diverse customer base, maybe even gets a little bit of time in the spotlight too, and keeps the shopping experience fresh and dynamic. Our 4th trend we’re going to highlight is going to be the importance of data integration for personalization. Retailers are leveraging data from both their physical and digital channels to gain a holistic view of customer preferences, purchase history and their behaviour itself. Gathering this from the two sources of your digital and physical makes it more well rounded. Now I’m going to talk about some examples here as well. So it actually can help to. Enhance the customer data from both the online insta interactions to provide personalised recommendations and offerings. By understanding customer preferences across channels. The brand can actually deliver targeted promotions that resonate better with the individual shopper. Personalization is king. Another one is. The the lovely way we can actually track people so we can use location based data to send push notifications to customers when they are near a physical store. These notifications may include exclusive discounts or personalised recommendations, encouraging customers to visit the store and make a purchase. One of the favourite examples I’ve heard of is in America, a famous big food chain, fast food chain.
Decided to do a campaign when they knew their custom there because people had downloaded their app. They then could know their location, so when they noticed that that customer was actually going near one of their competitor stores and then we need to buy, they’d send them a message pretty much saying don’t go to them, come to us. We’ve got a better offering. We’re on the creepy side, but. Also very relevant as well. Because people are getting a better benefit by being connected and relevant. The last one is when the retail actually integrates its inventory management system with its online store, ensuring that real time stock availability is across all channels. This integration allows customers to browse and purchase products with confidence, knowing that the information is accurate and up-to-date. Don’t know about you, but one of my main bugbears with a lot of these stores is you’re told online. It’s there and you turn up and it’s not. Hopefully you have enjoyed this session on trends that are emerging in the US, the top ones that have for physical and digital presences in retail. We had talked about the hybrid model, how it is #1 and it really is a way to get that customer experience happening in a positive way to help both you and your customer. We talked about different options like buy online but pick up in store. We talked about how the mobile app can help to deliver. Personalised recommendations based on the customer’s behaviour and purchase history. Benefit of loyalty programmes? We then talked about their emerging trend of creating an in store experience, whether it’s from a pop-up shop, augmented reality or just being part of a personalised shopping experience and allowing the brand collaboration to immerse itself. We talked about how customers are really starting to. To want to have that online to retail experience by being able to buy in store because they want to try before they buy, but they want to check it out and research it beforehand. And lastly, we talked about using technology to allow people to see that product in different situations by demonstrations, examples, whether it’s a QR code downloaded or digital screens within the store, all these different trends can definitely help your customers be more attached to the brand to understand things and actually get more out of it too. And that might help them in that decision making phase as well. I hope you’ve enjoyed this podcast on emerging Trends that are working well in America for retail shops. Don’t forget to follow water marketing for more podcasts. More to marketing.
