Many retailers recognize the need to offer real and authentic experiences to entice shoppers to their stores and they are adapting their store formats to do so. These retailers have realized that if they can perform the omnichannel realization properly, then there is no need to keep so many inventories in the store, giving them the freedom to reuse their space.
Retailers have taken technological advances and applied them to create a different type of shopping experience for their customers, and give them more reasons to enter the store.
Full Immersion
John Lewis, the UK department store and home furniture retailer, has taken a bold approach to experiential retail with the launch of The Residence in three of its stores.
The Residence is a one-bedroom apartment that is available for overnight stays or free dinners, and each item displayed is for sale. The apartment is equipped with furniture and products from the latest collections of fashion, home, and technology retailers. Each apartment offers a living and dining room, a bedroom and a closet with clothes in the size of the guests, and allows guests to choose from a selection of pillows, beauty products, and aromas. A private concierge is available for the duration of the stay to ensure that personalized attention is available at any time during your stay.
West Elm, an American home furniture retailer, has approached it even further by opening West Elm Hotels, fully functional hotels in six cities, where every detail can be easily purchased and delivered.
In brief, these examples have successfully created spaces that encourage discovery and make retail transactions frictionless. But not all retailers have to make experiential retail at this level.
Changes On The Ground Floor (Basement)
FNAC, the leading French retail chain that specializes in electronics, books, and music is a good example of how specialized retailers are reconsidering their store experience in an attempt to attract people to their stores, even if they had no intention to buy anything.
FNAC has now transformed the ground floor, which was previously occupied by the customer service department, and turned it into a cafeteria, which was previously on the top floor and was not used much.
Customers can check their complete catalog of products on their mobile devices or in a kiosk in the store, and they can request a product that is not in the store or have an employee of the store place the order in a mobile POS, for example. The product can be delivered at the store or home, as the customer prefers. And in the meantime, consumers enjoy a cup of coffee and a pleasant conversation.
Boosting Your Experiential Shopping Journey
There are countless variations for retailers to transform the customer experience and create new opportunities for sales with experiential strategies.
Imagine an outdoor provider that offers conferences, classes, and even adventurous travel to deepen customer relationships. Or an appliance store that offers cooking classes or that allows shoppers to try a kitchen, dishwasher, or washing machine before buying it.
Retailers who adopt the digital transformation of their stores will be able to take advantage of real-time inventory visibility, assisted sales capabilities, mobile POS systems, flexible compliance options, and other features that can be used to delight customers and reduce transaction friction retailers in all channels.
