5 ways to keep retail customers loyal - fabernovel

© faberNovel 2012 ••• 1

to Keep Retail Customers Loyal in the Age of Showrooming Strategies For Brick-and-Mortar Retailers to Fight Online Competition


••• Brick and mortar retailers have been facing serious challenges lately

Source: JiWire Mobile Audience Insights 2012

•••

of U.S. mobile consumers are expected to use their phone while shopping in-store in the 2012 holiday season.


••• Brick and mortar retailers have been facing serious challenges lately

Source: IDC Retail Insights Survey 2012

•••

The number of U.S. shoppers engaging in showrooming is expected to increase 134% from 2011 to 2012, influencing $1.7 billion in retail sales


••• Retailers are well aware of the danger they are facing

of physical retailers expect to be affected by showrooming in 2012

...but only

Source: Edgell Knowledge Network/eBay Local

have a strategy in place to combat it


•••

Amazon and other e-retailers are exploiting this fact to press their advantage over their offline competitors.

But this collapse goes both ways – and it can be used to the physical store’s advantage just as easily as it can be used to Amazon’s.

The fact is this: the barrier between online and offline retail has collapsed

Lower overhead costs

Broader inventory Frictionless payment Quick, convenient delivery

Instant access to comparisons

With that in mind, here are five ways for brick-and-mortar retailers to fight back against e-commerce competitors and keep customers in their stores…


Give your staff the answer to every question a customer could ask

1


••• Case Study: Urban Outfitters

“Once we make sure this iPad works... all stores will be equipped with iPod touches and iPads.”

Calvin Hollinger

-  CEO

Urban Outfitters is currently replacing all cash registers with iPads and giving all employees an iPod Touch to create total product awareness.

Source: RetailWire, CBS News

The devices cost 1/5 as much as traditional point-of-sale systems, and can be turned toward the customer to share information about products as well as subscribe to newsletters.


Use showrooming as an opportunity to engage the customer

2


••• Case Study: Best Buy

“Once customers are in our stores, they’re ours to lose.”

Hubert Joly -  CEO

Best Buy, the 2011 poster child for showrooming, recently announced they were embracing it as a part of their strategy for getting business back on track. Their reasoning? Anything that brings live customers into their stores can’t be all bad.


Their plan calls for converting showroomers from browsers into buyers through online price-matching incentives and better-trained employees.


Better serve your customer by gathering hard data about what they want

3


••• Case Study: American Apparel

“Our role as the tech team is to... provide operations with everything they need to make an impact on conversion

with minimal effort.”

Stacey Shulman - CTO

In 2010 American Apparel began experimenting with in-store analytics with analytics startup RetailNext, which monitors movement through stores to produce up to 10,000 data points per customer


They liked the solution so much that it’s now in over half of American Apparel stores – and they're moving as fast as they can to get it into the rest.


Eliminate lines and let your customers check out instantly

4


••• Case Study: Walmart

“They can change my purchasing decision right there on the spot, which has never been done before in the history of retail in a brick-

and-mortar store.”

Ryan Taft - OnSpot Social

Wal-Mart is experimenting with a Scan & Go iPhone app that allows shoppers to scan items themselves and pay at special self-service kiosks located throughout the store.


The company reports that it can save $12 million for every second it can shave off the typical checkout process.


Give your customers a speedy home delivery option

5


••• Case Study: Macy’s

Clothing retailer Macy’s recently partnered with eBay to try out their new courier system eBay Now. The service promises to deliver products “from your phone to your door in about an hour.”


The system, which has been in beta in San Francisco for a few months, went live in New York City over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend. For a $5.00 fee, a courier will deliver your purchase directly to your home (or wherever else you need it) by car, bike or even by foot.


••• The future of retail is an online-offline continuum. Make it work for you. •••

Retail will look very different in the future than it did in the past. And we are already moving rapidly towards this vision.

But these changes need not be feared by brick-and-mortar retailers. Those that embrace opportunities to merge the best of online and offline retail into a seamless, unified shopping experience will come out as the

top players in a new generation of retail stores.


••• Thanks for Reading

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faberNovel is an innovation firm that helps large organizations think and act like startups. We help clients make the most of digital opportunities and emerging practices to deliver significant impact. @faberNovel

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5 ways to keep retail customers loyal - fabernovel

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