There is a lot of talk these days about “improving the retail customer experience,” mainly because customers can shop food + write for us from anywhere. Here are 10 types of retail experiences that keep customers coming back. Brick-and-mortar retailers need to up their game and provide customers with experiences that they can’t get online or on their phones in this day and age, when players like Amazon make it possible for customers to purchase goods with the click of a button.
In any case, what precisely does an extraordinary retail encounter seems to be?
The response will differ from retailer to retailer. Your products, your store, and your customers will all play a role in determining the “right” customer experience strategy. In order to create the best retail experiences possible, you need to be familiar with all three like the back of your hand.
Do you need some ideas for doing that? A list of the kinds of experiences that keep customers coming back is provided below.
Take a look at them to see if there are any suggestions you can use in your own stores.
1. Treasure hunts The excitement that comes with seeing a great deal or product is one of the things that draws people into a store. That’s Promo Codes for Papa John’s why treasure hunts are so effective—and addictive! Customers will be more likely to make a purchase right away if they are aware that great deals and products are coming up soon.
TJX is one business that has mastered the treasure hunt experience. TJX stores always have new and limited assortments at unbeatable prices, which is primarily why the off-price retailer continues to grow and thrive. Since TJX’s products won’t be around for long, customers are eager to buy right away.
2. Safe and secure shopping experiences The world may be opening up again, but COVID-19 remains a real threat. After the pandemic has passed, customers will continue to shop at stores that make them feel safe and secure.
As a result, you should not give up on safety and health. Keep an eye on store cleanliness and strictly adhere to local regulations. It also helps to communicate your safety and health measures. Signs, decals, and customer communication channels like email can be used to remind customers that you’re looking out for them.
As a result, repeat business and customer retention increase.
3. Face-to-face customer service: What is the one thing that online pure-plays do not offer? service to customers in person. While live chat and online reviews can provide shoppers with information that can assist them in making a purchase decision, nothing compares to interacting with knowledgeable store employees who genuinely want to assist.
Just one example: When I was looking for dry shampoo a few weeks ago, I decided to stop looking online. As somebody who’s never utilized dry cleanser, I would have rather not depended on web-based item portrayals or surveys; I desired to personally experience, feel, and possibly even test products.
To see what they had to offer, I made the decision to visit the Birchbox store in SoHo. Although Birchbox had a great selection, the store’s excellent customer service ultimately stood out to me.
4. Constant reinventionIf you ever find yourself in Manhattan, make sure to visit STORY, a “retail concept that takes the perspective of a magazine, changes like a gallery, and sells things like a store.”
STORY reimagines its entire space, from the layout of the store to the inventory, around specific themes every six to eight weeks.
For instance, when I went to the store in January, the main hook for STORY was “Home for the Holidays,” a theme from The Greatest Showman. The store had “vivid jewel tones, a marquee-like wall of hundreds of glowing light bulbs, a tented ceiling, colorful bunting, [and] wide awning stripes” at the time, giving it a feel that was almost “circus like.”
The actual store sold gift things and interesting knickknacks around topics of wizardry and miracle, which made it a brilliant objective for occasion customers.
The theme of STORY before “Home for the Holidays” was “Beauty,” and the shop was made into a place where people could try on and buy cosmetics.
First sent off in 2011, the idea has shown to find lasting success, with brands, enterprises, and retailers paying STORY $500,000 and up to be highlighted.
The store consistently reinvents itself, which contributes to its success.
One of the most disappointing shopping experiences is entering a store and seeing the same old things. STORY forestalls that by patching up its space like clockwork, so there’s continuously a new thing to see.
Think about putting a similar strategy into action for your company. While it probably won’t be pragmatic to totally change your store and product like clockwork, there are as yet a few stages you can take to change everything around. Present new products. Rearrange things. Keep the displays in your windows fresh. Make every effort to ensure that each visitor discovers something new.
5. Experiences in omnichannel retailing The essential components of omnichannel retailing, such as curbside pickup, in-store fulfillment, and buy online, pick up in-store, are necessary in the contemporary shopping environment. If you do these things correctly, customers will keep coming back to your store and website. It is essential to be able to keep up with 98% of consumers who switch devices throughout the day, according to Google research.
By making it simple for your customers to make purchases from you regardless of where they are, you can ease your customers’ shopping journeys as they move from one channel or device to the next.
In addition, when it comes to order fulfillment, make it possible for customers to obtain their products in the most convenient manner. This means delivering orders to the homes of some customers. For others, this entails giving them the option to pick up their purchases at a store or from the curb. Make sure you can be there for your customers no matter where or how they shop, regardless of the situation.
One of the most outstanding instances of a retailer that does this is Target. Before the pandemic, the company made investments in curbside, BOPIS, and omnichannel, and these efforts have paid off tremendously.
Target is a great example of best-in-class BOPIS, so I think everyone should look there. Not every person has the scale to carry out BOPIS, curbside, and conveyance similarly that Target can, yet there are a few things that Target does that anybody would be able and ought to copy,” says Caila Schwartz, Ranking director for Procedure and Experiences RCG at Salesforce.
The first and, in my opinion, most significant feature of their BOPIS offering is that it places an emphasis on the customer. They are aware of their clients’ values and demographics.
She continues, “This indicates that they are prioritizing efficiency when picking up an order.” Through their mobile app, they can use geofencing tools to anticipate when a customer will be nearby and have their order ready to go. Additionally, they grant their store associates the ability to compensate customers who may have waited too long at the curb. The procedure is designed to be streamlined and customer-focused.