The main test of retail marketing lies with how smart the marketing strategy is and the judgment is all open with the holiday season just around the corner.
For years now, we have been hearing about the decline of physical retail and the rise of the internet or eCommerce. Brick and mortar stores have to work very hard to compete with each other, and also with online sellers. One way to compete with physical retail, as well as eCommerce sellers, is to use technology to create a great in-store experience. One thing that all retailers face at one point is a slump in sales. Whether you are a solo-retailer or a huge retail corporation, it’s easy to feel like your efforts just aren’t enough to combat factors such as the economy or competitor innovations.
However, the retail businesses can absolutely turn these falls around with the help of the right marketing techniques. Also, the desire for retail experiences is on the rise with millennials and generation Z saying 52% of their spending goes on experience-related purchases. Technology can be utilized in various ways to help businesses for experiential purposes, to appeal to mobile users, increase convenience for shoppers, to grab the attention of people on the basis of their location with the help of proximity marketing, or to promote the online presence of a retailer, and in the same way, technology can be used by retailers in empowering their retail marketing strategies and thriving in the era of the internet.
Many businesses have already started integrating technology in their retail business to enhance sales, deliver better customer experience, retain customers, and compete efficiently in the competitive retail market.
Here we have listed some retail marketing strategies in which they are making retail businesses smarter.
- Interactive Retail Marketing
Businesses can no longer depend only on pricing or marketing alone to win customer loyalty, they need to develop a personalized customer experience that reflects the uniqueness of their brand.
Creating an experience for your shoppers in your physical retail store is one of the best ways to boost sales.
According to the Genesys State of Customer Experience research, 64% of the millennials value personalization and anticipation of the experience on the basis of their historical data.
Innovation:
Source: Samsung
Yesterday on 19th Oct. 2020, Samsung introduced an interactive e-catalogue for enhanced consumer experience. This was done with an aim to provide a safe and enhanced buying experience for consumers. It is also another step by Samsung towards a Sustainable Environment by reducing the usage of printed brochures.
With the help of e-catalogue, consumers will be able to check out the entire range of products by Samsung such as smartphones, televisions, wearables, and other digital appliances. With e-catalogue customers can get a complete understanding of product features via showcasing of product benefits, high-resolution pictures, and unboxing videos. Consumers can also shortlist and compare different models within each product category on the basis of key specifications. The e-catalogue also empowers the retail partners of the brand to engage seamlessly with their patrons, particularly ahead of the upcoming festive season as they can now easily share product-related information with consumers via WhatsApp messages, emails, texts messages, and various other modes of communication.
- AI-Based Customer Engagement
Customer engagement goes beyond the sales journey, it is about the way in which a brand or business establishes a relationship with its customers, prior to, during, and post-sales, to build brand loyalty and awareness. AI technology helps in building a strong customer engagement strategy on the basis of data unification, delivery of real-time insights, and business context. The State of the Connected Consumer report, published by Salesforce, showcased that 75% of the customers expect companies to utilize new technologies to deliver better experiences. The report also mentions that 62% of the customers were open to the use of Artificial Intelligence in improving customer experience.
Innovation:
Source: Winimy AI
Winimy AI, an AI technology innovator, has introduced Holographic telepresence to Asia with AI Hologram technology. Holograms powered by AI and augmented reality (AR) can provide next-gen AI Concierge services for many types of businesses as they hold the capability to support personalized service, real-time, at multiple locations concurrently. Smart assistive technology like AI Holograms can amplify the interaction between the customer and the brand. AI brings personalization into hologram-based customer engagement services through data analytics. AI-based Holograms can create an interactive and personalized customer experience that helps in building your brand presence in a big way.
Winimy AI has also designed AI concierge solutions that can be utilized for wayfinding in malls, at events, and conferences for better control over event experience and customer care services in hotels.
- Customer Experience = Engagement + Fun
Businesses can be boring, but that doesn’t mean going through the motions, from transactions to follow-up, can’t be filled with fun. In fact, if you inculcate the customer experience with a little fun and excitement you’ll probably develop customer loyalty.
The majority of the businesses can’t be like Disney World or any other amusement park, for that matter, where it’s all laughter and happiness on the surface. But more and more businesses are taking steps to add a little fun into encounters with customers.
Innovation:
Source: Business Insider
This example that shows in-store technology doesn’t always have to be directly associated with the shopping experience itself. Topshop utilized VR technology for the sake of fun in 2017 with its Splash! campaign. In May 2017, Topshop’s flagship retail store launched a VR waterslide, where people twisted and turned through central London.
The retailer converted its Oxford Street flagship store windows into an interactive pool scene. Wearing an Oculus rift headset, customers experienced a 360-degree ride on a virtual water slide, twisting and turning above the crowds and buses below.
While it sounds silly but reports suggest that the technology-led campaign did have an impact on sales. Elmwood, the digital agency behind it, states that sales of swimwears increased 100% from the same period the previous year as a result.
Concluding Lines
Retail stores look a lot different than they used to, just a decade ago. As e-commerce expands and evolves, we can only expect more dramatic changes as the pressure mounts in the future. Retail marketing does not need to be an endless merry-go-round of offering discounts and trying to outdo the competition. There are many ways to attract customers to the solutions you have for their problems. The key to retail marketing success is to turn smarter and plan ahead. Create targets, prepare, and achieve them. Revisit and realign periodically. Draw out immediate, quarterly, and annual goals.
Smart Retail marketing is a need of an hour for retail businesses. Besides their regular digital mix, try adding Social Commerce, Voice Search, and Chatbot, to your marketing plan. It doesn’t matter they come in as a beta or a small trial; you will be amazed by the response that you receive from your customers. It will also help you in selecting the perfect technology for your retail business and help you in making your business futureproof.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Chandrima Samanta
Content-Editor at MartechCube
Chandrima is a Content management executive with a flair for creating high quality content irrespective of genre. She believes in crafting stories irrespective of genre and bringing them to a creative form. Prior to working for MartechCube she was a Business Analyst with Capgemini.