Achieving meaningful customer experience is top of mind for retailers in today’s competitive environment. To distinguish their brands and engage customers retailers are offering a buy online, pick up in-store service or even voice ordering with the help of a virtual assistant. For retailers to stay relevant, they must not only implement technologies and services that engage consumers but understand that the consumer holds all the power.
Buy online, pick up in-store (BOPIS) – it’s a revolutionary retail concept that allows customers to browse items online, select them, and then come into the store to try them on and decide if they want to purchase. The Nordstrom in Cherry Hill, New Jersey has built special dressing rooms and clothing racks for the use of BOPIS customers.
“They’re discovering the asset that they’re sitting on, which is their physical store,” said Ed Kennedy, senior director of commerce at Episerve. “The idea is to have a consumer come into the store and say, ‘hey you’ve already made this online purchase. Stay a while.'”
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Walmart Rolls Out Voice Ordering
Taking cues from large clothing and lifestyle retailers, grocery stores are beginning to focus on customer experience. Walmart has taken this to heart by introducing a voice ordering system that uses assistants like the Google voice or Amazon Alexa to build a list, place the order, and select a pickup time.
“The ultimate piece here is the recognition that there is only one customer. There isn’t an in-store customer and an online customer,” said Janey Whiteside, chief customer officer for Walmart. “The more we can treat you as one customer and make sure that you’re having an interconnected experience, the better we can serve you as a customer.”
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Shoppers Hold the Power in Retail
At the CNBC Evolve Conference, retail leaders focused on customer expectations and how ultimately, customers hold all the power when it comes to retail interactions. According to Ron Johnson, the former CEO of J.C. Penney and the former senior vice president of Apple’s retail division, customers know exactly what they want and expect to get it.
Today, shoppers are “responding clearly to innovative new business models,” he said. They like newness. And “the tolerance for a bad experience has gone to zero.” As a retailer, “you’ve got to be great every time,” he said.
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