Did you know you can change the way customers interact with your business through digital experiences? In recent years, we’ve grown familiar with new technologies, such as virtual assistants (Siri and Google Assistant), and have made them part of our daily lives.
However, many of the experiences retailers offer their customers have stayed the same. So it’s time to assess the impact of digital transformation on consumers’ routines and bring it into your store.
With that in mind, below we’ll show you 6 ways to offer digital experiences to your customers. Want to improve the way you manage your business and boost your sales results? Then keep reading!
1. Sync your physical and online stores
Does your company also sell online? If not, that needs to change. As much as retailers benefit from bringing consumers into the store, they can’t offer only that way of shopping if they plan to be their customers’ first choice.
Most of us already shop online and, according to SPC Brasil, 74% of internet users include their phones in their shopping process. That’s why an online store or app can help your company sell more.
However, the online store doesn’t have to be disconnected from the physical store. Digitizing the purchase process and letting consumers pick up products at the POS (point of sale) is one way to bring these two worlds together.
The age range of your store’s audience will influence the decisions you need to make here. According to the same survey, young people between 18 and 34 are the ones who use smartphones the most to buy products.
So, if they make up a sizable share of your profits, start thinking today about how to integrate your physical and online stores.
2. Consider the small-screen experience
We’re almost never in front of a computer when we remember something we want to buy. So the winners are the companies that prepare their websites to welcome visitors from any device.
Responsive pages work just as well on a PC, tablet or phone — they load quickly and provide all the information a customer needs to make a purchase decision. If your e-commerce site hasn’t been adapted yet, make it happen as soon as possible.
3. Invest in guide shopping
Guide shopping is a different way of shopping from what your brand already offers. It consists of creating experiential stores where customers can discover and try products, but which don’t need to keep large inventories, since purchases are shipped directly to the consumer’s home.
It’s an opportunity to experience the digital store in the physical world. These stores have enormous appeal because they offer prices that are more competitive than those of traditional stores and on par with online prices.
You can innovate on the concept by adding an efficient, well-trained sales team capable of putting together exclusive product displays for visitors and helping them figure out which product best meets their expectations.
Items are reserved automatically and the customer pays on the spot. However, they can still opt for a different model or color than the one they chose at the POS, for example.
4. Redefine the checkout experience
Shopping at the POS can be a lot of fun, but waiting lines and slow payment processes make customers prefer to take their purchases online.
That’s one of the reasons your company can benefit from investing in self-service. Payment kiosks speed up service, create a unique interaction between customers and the store, and give shoppers more power.
As a U.S. study, showed, one of the main barriers to sales conversion is how long it takes to leave the store with a product in hand. About eight minutes is enough for someone in the United States to give up on buying a product.
There’s no similar study in Brazil, but we can estimate the numbers aren’t much different here. So by improving your customers’ checkout experience, you’ll boost your sales results.
5. Create an app that works in the real world
Embracing technology doesn’t mean moving the entire shopping process online. Your company can create an engaging in-store interaction by offering an app that makes shopping simpler. That’s what brands abroad have been doing.
Here’s how it works: customers take photos of the products they like best using an app downloaded right at the POS. Then they browse the entire space without having to push a cart or keep track of how much they’ve spent, since that information is right in the palm of their hand. On their way out, they pay and pick up their products at the checkout.
These apps also work as guides, reducing the need for sales associates on the floor. They provide information about the photographed products without the need to interact with anyone or be interrupted while browsing for an item.
This keeps customers in the store longer, noticing products that might not have interested them before and increasing their average ticket.
6. Integrate your store’s information
We often buy products online and want to exchange them at the mall. However, this process can be quite complicated. Stores that don’t integrate their information deliver a terrible experience to anyone trying to make an exchange this way.
If the systems used for e-commerce and at the point of sale don’t talk to each other, the consumer will leave frustrated or waste valuable time. Even the company’s call center should have a complete view of an order’s status to deliver quality interactions.
Make it a priority to sync data across all your channels to provide better service and increase shopper satisfaction.
So ask yourself: what kind of shopping experience does your consumer have today? That’s your starting point for thinking about how to improve the interactions they have at the POS and beyond.
By getting to know your target audience better, you’ll be able not only to understand how satisfied they are with what they get, but also to design new offerings that make them feel even closer to your brand and better served by it.
Not every digital experience needs to be complex. Platforms that connect what happens online with the physical store are enough for your company to take the first step toward digital transformation.
Did you like our examples of digital experiences you can offer your customers? Then share this post on your social media and help your friends stay in the loop!
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