In an age of online shopping, when customers have everything they need available at the tips of their fingers, offline retail stores sometimes struggle to make a profit and stay relevant. This is why so many retailers are turning to online shopping platforms to provide a flexible, highly personalized, and seamless shopping experience. These platforms offer a way to keep bricks-and-mortar relevant and fun in an increasingly digital world.
The changes we see today are not a matter of choosing either online or offline shopping but it is rather a blurring of both. For example, next-gen technologies like chatbots and AR-based digital changing rooms are surging as even the most loyal in-store customers are gravitating towards some degree online shopping.
In fact, there is a lot of up-side for retailers as the integration of digital is far easier and less expensive than it for the other way around. Digital retailers can’t easily build and maintain stores with the flip of a switch.
By smartly integrating next-gen digital solutions, retail shops can immensely improve their shopping experience. How? Here are some ideas of how the best retail brands are increasing their in-store traffic to generate more revenue and customer loyalty at the same time.
- Personalized Shopping Experiences: By maintaining a customer’s shopping history, retail stores can provide personalized shopping experiences. AI analyzes the data and sends alerts to the shopper’s mobile phone about recent and upcoming sales based on their shopping history. Retailers can also offer custom discounts to their loyal customers or give them in-store credits to show their appreciation.Retail shops can also suggest products that their customers might be interested in. Using an in-store micro-site, they can even provide a store map that can lead the customers to the products they are looking for.
- Assisted Selling: Assisted selling is the interaction between the employees and the shoppers about a product. Employees try to provide valuable information to shoppers and even give them advice, with the intention of making a sale. While most shops these days favor assisted selling, they can take it a step further by integrating video chat feature for buyers who want a more digital experience or if there is not enough staff to help every shopper.Customers contact agents in different locations to get the information they need and in their preferred language. While a virtual agent can also help with assisted selling, according to the stats, 75% of shoppers prefer human interactions. So, integrating the video-based assisted selling feature is a smart move for any retail shop large or small.
- Smoother Checkouts: One of the biggest gripes people usually have with retail stores is that their checkout process is a nightmare. From interminable queues to unmanned counters, there are many things that frustrate offline shoppers. But with solutions like digital self-checkout kiosks, the smartest retail stores are streamlining this process.
- Enhanced Customer Engagement: Nowadays, building relationships with customers is paramount for any retail store. That is why they focus on their customer engagement strategies. From uploading engaging content on social media platforms to broadcasting live product launches and demos, there are many tricks that retailers can use to improve their customer engagement.
Is your retail store ready to take shopping to the next level? You can blur the line between online and offline shopping experiences with online platforms such as VIBA. VIBA is an award-winning customer experience solution, offering an assortment of all the tools retailers need to elevate their in-store customer experiences and improve their revenues—including the personnel to bring video chat to your store. To learn more about VIBA, click here.
