Six ways to leverage physical stores in a digital era
Don’t believe the online hype. E-commerce might well be booming, but stores remain a vitally important part of the retail landscape. For proof of this, look no further than the following retailers who are using physical locations to survive and thrive in a fast changing omnichannel world.
1. Drawing shoppers in to an online retailer’s ecosystem
Amazon recently opened the doors to the first Amazon 4-star store outside of the US.
Situated in Bluewater, this offers a range of products that are rated four stars and above, are top sellers, or are trending on Amazon’s UK site, including consumer electronics, toys, games, books, kitchen, and home.
Customers can purchase online and collect orders at the store as soon as the next day. It also offers parcel free, label free returns for items purchased both in store and online.
Digital price tags are located alongside each product with the item price, average star rating, and the number of customer reviews.
Amazon account holders will pay the price as they would on the UK site. Prime members will receive exclusive perks and deals throughout the store.
It’s all about baiting shoppers into the company’s ecosystem, argues Natalie Berg, retail analyst, author and founder of NBK Retail.
“The 4-star concept may seem weird (it is), but here’s Amazon’s thinking. They revolutionised online shopping through: fast/free delivery; 1-click checkout; user-generated reviews/ratings,” she says.
“Now they’re looking to replicate this in a physical setting. Remember when it comes to bricks & mortar, Amazon is all about experimentation.”
“My guess is they run a handful of stores in the UK, iterate on the concept and eventually fold 4-Star into something much bigger.”
2. Boosting loyalty and engagement with innovative tech like augmented reality
UK startup Jisp says that it has reached 10,000 scans, 5,000 taps and 2,000 redemptions in five weeks of a Scan & Save trial with 14 Nisa stores.
The company has been working with such brands as Kellogg’s, Red Bull and Nomad Foods to offer savings on certain products using augmented reality vouchers.
3. Tapping into the booming same-day delivery space
The Body Shop and Instacart have announced a partnership that offers customers same-day delivery from all 165 The Body Shop retail locations in the US and Canada on the latter’s Marketplace offering.
“We’re thrilled to launch this partnership just before the busy holiday shopping season to service our customers in the way they want to shop with us,” says Aliza Perruzzi, AVP, Marketing, The Body Shop.
“Consumer buying behaviour has shifted significantly in the past year, particularly in the US,, and working with Instacart allows us to meet our customers' needs by offering them the option to buy their favourite skincare and beauty products on demand.”
Customers can shop here or via the Instacart website and mobile app.
An Instacart shopper will pick, pack and deliver the order within the customer’s designated timeframe, whether they choose to receive it in as fast as an hour or schedule their slot in advance.
Contactless delivery is also available with a Leave at My Door option. Customers can track order progress and communicate with Instacart shoppers every step of the way by using the aforementioned app or website.
4. Bringing products to life via interactive shopping experiences
Situ Live, a new experiential retail concept, recently debuted at Westfield London.
This features live theatrics and storytelling performances across six curated arenas: ‘Fitness & Wellbeing’, ‘Connected Home’, ‘Nutrition Kitchen’, ‘Entertainment’, ‘Home & Mobile Working’ and ‘On The Move’.
The aim is to allow consumers to connect with brands, with an emphasis on personalisation, picking products suited to their lifestyle, complemented by advice from Situ Live’s team.
Shoppers are able to compare products, deciding whether to discover more or purchase direct from the manufacturer by scanning a QR code.
5. Appealing to time strapped customers
Tesco has launched its first high street checkout-free store.
As we reported in July, named GetGo, this can be found in High Holborn, on the edge of the City of London.
Last year, High Holborn became the retailer’s first cashless store in central London.
And now Tesco has deployed its Trigo powered version of Amazon’s Just Walk Out offering there.
Tapping AI and computer vision technology, the solution enables shoppers to walk into a store, check in via a QR code, select items for purchase and, erm, just walk out.
“Walk out stores are a natural progression of the changes we’ve already seen in retail. Stores have moved from all staffed tills to self-checkouts, and more recently, scan on the go. Considering the stages of this evolution so far, it’s clear that just walk out will be the future,” says Sachin Jangam, Partner for Retail, Infosys Consulting.
“It seems the transition to just walk out models is being led by the Big 4 supermarkets.”
“This is not surprising, given their ability to make significant technology investments, and sheer store format size and overall product density on the shelves. However, this model is far more suited to the high street convenience stores owned by the Big 4, rather than their large super stores.”
Jangam adds: “For now, the main clientele continues to be curious shoppers and tourists. The overall economics of store operations are still in question, given the reduced product range, high rental costs, and significant technology investments required.”
“Just walk out will likely remain in a trial period for the next few years, before we start to see mass roll-outs. Beyond technology, leaders will be paying close attention to store profitability before putting money behind this innovation.”
6. Enabling customers to collect and send parcels
InPost has announced a new partnership with Tesco, which will see its automated parcel machines (APMs) deployed across the grocery giant’s entire large format store estate in the UK, potentially up to 500 sites, by the end of November.
Shoppers will be able to collect their online orders or send parcels, and also drop off returns in seconds thanks to InPost’s paperless Instant Returns service.
Louise Goodland, Head of Strategic Retail Partnerships at Tesco, says: “We’re delighted to be improving the range of services in our stores by partnering with InPost.”
“The new partnership will enable customers to collect and send parcels alongside their weekly shop. We know our customers are always looking for ways to make their lives easier, and to save time and effort. The new lockers will help them do just that.”
