Chris Noble, Director of StoreForce looks at how digital sales impact instore customer service, as well as the role of bricks and mortar in driving online sales.
Where once store staff simply had to focus on service with a smile, their role is changing rapidly with the development of ‘digital mortar’. As the physical store aligns ever more closely with the digital retail offering, it is important to enhance the customer experience (CX) and drive higher levels of conversion in the store.
There is a common misconception amongst many in retail that over the years, consumer demands have somehow changed; that style, selection and price are modern concerns that consumers of times gone by had only a limited interest in. But this simply isn’t the case. Whereas consumers used to compare products and prices in a handful of local shops, technology has given rise to a wealth of information and more choice than ever before. As a result, today’s shopper is better informed, more knowledgeable, and less tolerant of mediocrity.
It is, therefore, important for today’s retailers to reshape their businesses to align with the customer’s desired journey.
CX occurs at every touchpoint regardless of channel – today’s customer doesn’t differentiate between online and offline sales – and retailers must reengineer their businesses to ensure that the customer journey is seamless as customers switch between desktop, mobile and instore as they progress from research through to purchase.
Clearly this evolution puts new pressure on traditional retail disciplines – while the old metrics of conversion and basket size still provide an indicator of bricks and mortar success, the retail KPI landscape needs to expand to give a true measurement for the world of unified commerce.
For example, it’s easy to assume that when sales are down store staff are simply underperforming. However, sales and staff performance should be considered holistically as part of a wider strategy encompassing both the online and offline ecosystem.
It is telling that opening a physical store in a new market will instantly result in a 50 per cent increase in online sales from customers living or working in that region. What’s more, customers who shop both in store and online with a brand are more loyal, more profitable and develop a longer-lasting relationship with a brand. This demonstrates that bricks and mortar remains a retailer’s single most important brand touchpoint.
As such, digital and bricks and mortar should not operate as silos but be closely linked and measured in partnership. To facilitate, stores should be considered as markets.
This is where technology comes into its own, allowing retailers to layer data, attributing online sales with each market (store) based on the geolocation of the customer. Once online sales are assigned a market, the retailer can either view sales and returns individually via channel, or they can combine bricks and mortar with online to give the total market sales. This in turn will allow retailers to track the sales and return metrics for each view and understand exactly how online returns are impacting a store’s performance.
This can then be further overlaid with workforce management data, allowing retailers to optimise scheduling and task management to set goals, targets and measure performance. Typically, in bricks-and-mortar stores, we find that more than 50% of sales take place over just 20 hours each week. The rest of the time is spent on non-sales tasks. Overlaying different datasets can allow retailers to identify capacity to fulfil online orders for example and the optimum time for sales.
This rich data can then be used to assess customer engagement levels across all channels and combined with loyalty schemes to drive the greater levels of personalisation desired by the customer.
One retailer that exemplifies this is John Lewis who has married technology, giving staff tablets to access online product availability and information, with acting lessons, including voice coaching and body language skills, to ensure store staff can deliver ‘retail theatre’ to excite and engage the customer.
Even in this digital age, retail remains a simple business. Good CX is achieved by establishing a human connection with the customer at the right time. By utilising data retailers can identify and schedule their best performing associates at the busiest times, as well as identifying any gaps in store associates’ skill sets so they can deliver the training and mentoring required.
This in turn will ensure that they can align the ratio of qualified, knowledgeable store associates to footfall ensuring that the retailer can thrill the omni-channel shopper with a positive in-store experience – something that even in this digital age will remain the foundation of excellent CX and continue to be a key determination of success in today’s fast changing retail environment.
By Chris Noble
Director