Has the internet changed the nature of the way shopping occurs in stores these days? more
Facebook Places, Foursquare and just about every Social Networking seems to be focusing on location these days. But the problem is they all rely on some sort of check-in, whether it be manual check-in by the user or using the latest GPS/Geo-fencing based check-in.
Walk into any bank, retail establishment or hotel these days and the customer experience often leaves a lot to be desired. In a frenetic world where time is the most valuable commodity for most people, customer-facing retail establishments need to re-look from the ground up at the customer experience they provide.
What many will find is that they are focused at a very granular level. Customer experience in their terms is creating “efficiency” in the transaction process, which totally misses the point of what the customer actually needs. To them, the customer equals money, if one customer won’t buy it surely someone else will.
Now factor in that stores like Saks and Nordstrom are both selling the same designer goods and the only thing left to differentiate on is the customer experience. By making the customer experience more pleasant and inducing the customer to come back to the store one additional time per year, what would that be worth to you?
Consider this scenario …
My wife and I shop at Best Buy. Best Buy knows that I’ve made a serious purchase of a plasma TV one month ago. If they were really on top of their game, the next time I’m in their store they would offer cross-sell or up-sell opportunities of a DVR, HD-DVD player, surround sound system or other items related to that TV.
But they can’t right now since they aren’t aware of my presence in the store until – or unless – I make my way to the cash register. Sure, they could send me a mailer based on info from the POS data that resides in their CRM systems. But that lacks immediacy and is iffy to boot, because it assumes that I’m going to hold onto that mailer until the next time I’m in their store.
If they had that kind of data ready and waiting for me the next time I walk into their store, however, maybe they could incent me to take action on the spot. In fact, if they could combine that customer intelligence with a real-time view of where I go in the store and what I look at during my current visit, they could target offers to me on the spot that are much more interesting and enticing.
Moreover, if I knew as a Best Buy customer that they recognized me as soon as I walk through the entrance, and they made special offers that really appeal to me in the here and now, wouldn’t that make me feel much more like a truly valued customer?
If retailers would track both their customers’ past shopping history and real-time shopping moves, they could much more accurately target their marketing efforts. This would make the in-store shopping experience truly exceptional!
