Make It Local: The Must-Have Consumer Experience in Retail Store

While it's far an apocalypse, the revolution that's happening across brick-and-mortar stores is undoubtedly shaking up their foundation. Major department stores are either closing locations or retooling their store footprint. Household brands traditionally sold through a network of retailers are now going direct to consumer. Even digitally native brands are opening their own physical storefronts, while just about everyone is experimenting with rental and resale business models.

No matter how different these business models may be, their core is always the same. From establishing trust to meeting expectations and providing great shopping experiences, retailers are putting in place all the elements needed to fuel productive, loyal, and profitable consumer relationships.

So, where did retailers with a "going out of business" sign in their display window go wrong? The reason goes back to how personal those consumer experiences are.

There are so many options and so little time to get it right.

For decades, retailers have opened a chain of stores with the same floor format, inventory levels, and shopping experience regardless of location. Whether shopping in Warwick, Rhode Island, San Francisco, California, or anywhere else, consumers always know what to expect. 

Unfortunately, that level of familiarity does not necessarily mean that consumer needs are met. Consumers crave a tailored experience – across all channels and at all phases of the buying journey.

This level of personalization that's desired today goes beyond segmenting consumers into neat, well-defined buyer profiles. Instead, the experience should reflect the mindset, values, and practices unique to the store's location.

How to deepen consumer experiences with local personalization

When shopping in New York City, I find it very easy to spot local shopping experiences that are setting a new standard for the industry:

 ·        Nordstrom Local is a convenient service hub for online order pickup and returns, express alterations, styling, capsule collections, and more, with two locations in New York City and 3 in California

·        Lord & Taylor reemerged as a small concept pop-up store over the 2019 holiday season to introduce shoppers to a more economical way to stay in fashion: renting clothes

·        Bergdorf Goodman opened a beautiful bar within its men's department, began to feature pop-up takeovers of locally popular brands, and aligned its Website with the shopper's local store

·        Digitally native brands are choosing unexpected neighborhoods to open their locations

These retailers are unquestionably adding their unique flair to the local vision of the consumer experience. More importantly, each demonstrates that they know their consumers with three common-sense steps.

1. Ask for feedback

A disciplined, repeatable approach for collecting actionable consumer data enriches how retailers target and engage with them. And when those insights are combined with product data and purchase behavior, retailers can position their marketing efforts to increase conversion rates and consumer spending.

However, consumers are not the only ones with helpful feedback. Sales associates often observe sentiments and consumer preferences that no one in headquarters sees. Employing similar methodologies for understanding consumer feelings and behavior, consumer-facing employees can advise on delivering the best shopping experience and service possible.

2. Measure the consumer experience

Tracking consumer experiences against clear key performance indicators enables retailers to achieve their goals and motivate every employee to reach better outcomes. Leveraging experience management tools to determine whether the brand promise is being fulfilled can keep everyone on the sales floor focused on delivering services that align with consumer needs, values, and mindsets.

Remember, experience management strategies should evolve – just like consumers do. By monitoring and measuring regularly, retailers can gradually refine the shopping experience over time – and in step with changing consumer demand.

3. Train consumer-facing employees continuously

Great consumer experiences always start with well-trained employees. The key here is attracting exceptional talent and allowing them to learn about their consumers and continuously improve their skills.

For example, sales associates can reflect on and discuss their consumers' wants, needs, behaviors, and motivations as a team. Then, they can apply their personal, human touches together to keep consumers engaged and intrigued enough to come back again – and again.

Ready to make your consumers love you even more?

Physical stores are an integral part of the retail shopping experience, but not for the reasons that industry traditionalists say.

The store-level experience must now dramatically change to offer more profoundly personal experiences. Retailers must help every store location stand out with individualized offerings, optimized services, and a local flavor. This can be accomplished by taking the proper first steps: asking for feedback, measuring the experience, and training the workforce nonstop.

Also published on LinkedIN March 2, 2020