WWYD if you were inventing the retail store today? Experts analyze retailers’ thoughts on store transformation
Just for a minute, imagine stores didn’t exist. In this scenario, all the other ways we shop (websites, mobile apps, social channels, marketplaces, etc.) do exist, but physical stores have not yet been invented. Now imagine you’re sitting in a coffee shop with a business partner, contemplating opening a physical store. You get to decide what your store experience will be like, with all the technology and tools available to us today at your disposal.
What would you do?
Our guest speaker Brendan Witcher, VP and Principal Analyst at Forrester Research, presented retailers that exact question when interviewing them for Forrester’s The Future of the Digital Store report. And their answers were, in a word, fascinating. Because when asked to identify the elements of the store experience that would drive real business value in these hypothetical stores, retailers didn’t overwhelmingly lean into many of the “mind-blowing” things that often garner so much attention in the press.
The retailers interviewed for that report instead focused heavily on practical elements and initiatives that make it easier for brick-and-mortar stores to better emulate value consumers appreciate today in digital channels and experiences. For example, retailers presented with this scenario put importance on bridging gaps between shoppers’ online and in-store visits with persistent customer identifiers to create seamless, cross-channel experiences.
In that context, then, it isn’t all that surprising that retailers were focused on digitizing stores in ways that would clearly add tangible value to the customer journey. They talked about things like endless aisle and in-aisle personalization. They talked about things like mobile-empowered associates that could better serve customers throughout the store. They talked about ways to make it easier to return online orders in the store. They talked about providing better information to both customers and associates via QR codes. Yes, QR codes made the hot list for retailers reinventing the store today (even though we are at least 10 years removed from when QR codes were the connective technology of the future)!
We found retailers’ insights so interesting on this topic that we asked Forrester’s Brendan Witcher to discuss the findings with us in greater detail via a live discussion with Aptos’ VP of Strategy and Product, Nikki Baird. (You can view that discussion, here, on demand.)
Technically, I guess you might call the recording a “webinar,” but it’s not your typical webinar. There aren’t a bunch of (bad) slides. There aren’t a bunch of self-serving product pitches masquerading as "opinions." Rather, it’s a conversation between experienced retail industry observers who are sharing their thoughts on what the retailers interviewed for the report had to say. It’s a candid, thoughtful conversation exploring how the findings from the report could help retailers to not invent the store, of course, but instead reinvent the store (experience).
Here are a few highlights I paraphrased from Brendan and Nikki’s discussion:
Brendan, on why we need to make the store more digital, and why that need won’t ever go away, even as many pandemic-induced digital shopping behaviors continue to fade:
During the pandemic period, consumers of all kinds adopted more digital shopping behaviors and with greater frequency. But when stores opened again, despite the belief that many shoppers would continue their heavy use of digital, consumers’ behavior patterns reverted back to pre-pandemic levels. In other words, we landed right back on the digital/physical shopping mix we forecasted consumers would be at today. But what did carry forward was a much more digitally savvy consumer who had greater comfort and higher expectations for digital being used by retailers to add value inside the store.
Nikki, on how QR codes can help bridge the analytics gap between store shoppers and online shoppers:
When shoppers scan QR codes in the aisle to access detailed product information, they offer retailers much better insights into what they evaluated, where they traveled in the store and what they abandoned. That data can help get stores closer to analytical parity with ecommerce, and it can also bring real value to store associates and merchants alike.
Brendan, on how to justify investments in mobile POS:
From a customer experience standpoint, mobile POS provides the highest value during the holiday season – the most important time for retailers to win, serve, and retain customers. Nonetheless, far too many retailers hesitate to make the leap. Why? Too often, they attempt to justify the investment in mobile POS technology based solely on the projected incremental lift in revenue from using the mobile devices as POS. But the best practice would be to use those devices for so much more than just POS. Inventory and CRM are just two examples. We should be allocating the mobile device investment costs across those use cases as well, which would accelerate adoption.
Nikki, on why endless aisle is such a good investment:
Endless aisle is much more than a product search. It opens up the entire assortment (online often has three to five times more product than what is available in any one store) to the store customer. Plus, endless aisle is an opportunity for the associate to engage the customer in a meaningful conversation beyond just the specific item they are searching for. And once you open a dialogue, the selling possibilities rapidly expand.
The above is just a sample of the smart, pragmatic insights that Brendan and Nikki recently shared. I highly suggest you watch the full “webinar” recording, including brand-new bonus footage.
