When it comes to retail services, customers expect to be entertained and also educated during their encounter with you. They also expect personalized and customized experiences and products and services. Technology such are RFID and wireless apps all can lend themselves to making their encounter more efficient and enhanced. The consumer demographic is changing so again a greater assortment of personalized and customized products and services is being sought. Maintaining global brands and brand identity is challenging across very diverse global market. Where you may provide products in centimeters or liters in some countries, you may need to switch to inches and gallons in others.
The retail industry is waking up and smelling the coffee to the need for customer engagement to secure and maintain customers and their loyalty. Per consulting studies, engaged customers will purchase more products and services, stay with you longer, and tend to be more profitable than average customers. Companies that engage their guests tend to be more profitable than companies that do not.
Customer engagement starts from the very first time the guest is aware of your company as a prospect. Often times there is a clear life-cycle of a customer and engagement and the prospect and purchaser encounters happens throughout this life-cycle each time the prospect and later purchaser is engaged.
As a guest and later a purchaser moves through their encounters with your company pre-purchase and post purchase, there are various touch points which are important to both you and the customer. These are known as moments of truth. This includes pre-purchase encounters such as research and information gathering by the prospect. Research has shown that 75 percent of consumers do extensive research before purchasing electronics. The next moments of truth center around the Purchase.
The last layer involves Brand and Relationship Experience. The Brand Experience is how the feelings of the purchaser or prospect sum up relative to your brand through direct and indirect actions with you and your brand. Word-of-mouth and verbal interaction is a factor here. The trips by the guest to your location are another factor. It involves their impression of brand values and how well the brand delivers on these said values over time. It is a trended and summed item which has many influencers. You want consistent brand encounters over time across all your channels.
Place Experience has to do with the physical location of the store. Is the store easy to find and get to? Is parking easy to find? Inside the store, is navigation easy? Are things hard to find in the store or does the purchaser have to spend several minutes trying to find what he or she needs?
Sensory Experience has to do with the senses such as sight, sound, hearing, touch, taste. The store is full of these all of which impact visitor moods and encounters. Is the lighting too bright? What sounds and fragrances are there? This can be a very powerful tool if used by the right marketer.
Consumers are more informed and empowered with the ability to look up information on products within seconds and at their fingertips with their smartphones and tablets. Their expectations have also risen and now customers typical have a higher benchmark or norm that they are holding retail companies to. There is a growing segment of people who want retailers to do it all for them rather than them doing it themselves partially due to people leading more and more busier lifestyles. Again holding retailers and a Merchandiser to a new higher norm, customers expect extremely fast service.
The retail industry is waking up and smelling the coffee to the need for customer engagement to secure and maintain customers and their loyalty. Per consulting studies, engaged customers will purchase more products and services, stay with you longer, and tend to be more profitable than average customers. Companies that engage their guests tend to be more profitable than companies that do not.
Customer engagement starts from the very first time the guest is aware of your company as a prospect. Often times there is a clear life-cycle of a customer and engagement and the prospect and purchaser encounters happens throughout this life-cycle each time the prospect and later purchaser is engaged.
As a guest and later a purchaser moves through their encounters with your company pre-purchase and post purchase, there are various touch points which are important to both you and the customer. These are known as moments of truth. This includes pre-purchase encounters such as research and information gathering by the prospect. Research has shown that 75 percent of consumers do extensive research before purchasing electronics. The next moments of truth center around the Purchase.
The last layer involves Brand and Relationship Experience. The Brand Experience is how the feelings of the purchaser or prospect sum up relative to your brand through direct and indirect actions with you and your brand. Word-of-mouth and verbal interaction is a factor here. The trips by the guest to your location are another factor. It involves their impression of brand values and how well the brand delivers on these said values over time. It is a trended and summed item which has many influencers. You want consistent brand encounters over time across all your channels.
Place Experience has to do with the physical location of the store. Is the store easy to find and get to? Is parking easy to find? Inside the store, is navigation easy? Are things hard to find in the store or does the purchaser have to spend several minutes trying to find what he or she needs?
Sensory Experience has to do with the senses such as sight, sound, hearing, touch, taste. The store is full of these all of which impact visitor moods and encounters. Is the lighting too bright? What sounds and fragrances are there? This can be a very powerful tool if used by the right marketer.
Consumers are more informed and empowered with the ability to look up information on products within seconds and at their fingertips with their smartphones and tablets. Their expectations have also risen and now customers typical have a higher benchmark or norm that they are holding retail companies to. There is a growing segment of people who want retailers to do it all for them rather than them doing it themselves partially due to people leading more and more busier lifestyles. Again holding retailers and a Merchandiser to a new higher norm, customers expect extremely fast service.
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Want your products to stand out from your competitors? Consider hiring a merchandising service and investing in a Planogram. retail merchandising can offer a unique competitive advantage. Consult a retail services specialist today.
