Digital signage in the offline shop as a part of the retail ecosystem

‎ Unified Experience ‎ - Digitization of Stores or Something More?

Experience Above All

We are living in very interesting times because, once again, we are witnessing significant changes. A few decades ago, we witnessed the birth and rise of the information era, which is undoubtedly coming to an end. The internet democratized information and allowed it to reach many in real-time. However, fake news, lies, and manipulation have disrupted the status of democratic media. We wanted to escape from mainstream media towards freedom, but we ended up even worse, as we no longer understand anything, and all tactics are fair game. We've had enough. Information mainly triggers negative emotions, and we want to live, to experience. However, something has begun to change.

We are entering the era of experiences. This era of experience transformation makes it the number one priority for brands to connect with the hearts and minds of their customers and employees and use these insights to design new experiences. Through positive experiences, we create positive emotions, build trust in the brand, which translates into increased sales.

Companies like Apple, Amazon, Google, and Polish company Allegro have excelled in customer service. Companies that invested in Customer Experience grew on average by 228% over a decade (data for the years 2003-2013). On the other end of the spectrum, companies that listened less to their customers or misinterpreted their needs, such as Blackberry and Kodak.

Gartner reports also predicted this: 81% of surveyed marketers claimed that the main battleground for customers would be service quality, and more broadly, Customer Experience.

‎ Customer Experience ‎ is a complex field, and many things influence how we perceive a brand. Many small and large issues matter, making CX investments not cheap. Moreover, it never ends, as there is always something to improve, not to mention new technologies that can change the rules of the game within a few months. Competition's actions, always eager to outdo us, serve as motivation for improvement.

As a customer, one chooses the path of least resistance, wherever it is more convenient and easier. This is perhaps the best motivation for change.

Extending the offline experience with online content through POS

From Nothing to the Best Experiences

At the beginning of the digital revolution, brands focused on establishing a digital presence as quickly as possible. Websites, online platforms, social media, and later, e-commerce stores, were just a few examples of the products through which brands executed their digital strategies.

This trend was initially referred to as MultiChannel. Brands utilized various independent channels to sell products and services with varying pricing policies, offers, and communication strategies. It was easy to get lost in this complex landscape. I remember a visit to a major consumer electronics store where a salesperson told me that if I wanted a better deal, I should buy the product online. Unbelievable! Nowadays, this scenario is inconceivable.

Marketers soon realized the profound connection between the online and offline worlds. Observations revealed that customers often entered physical stores to inspect products but preferred to make purchases online due to more favorable return policies. Customers began their shopping journey on their smartphones and completed it on their desktop computers, where transactions were more convenient. Naturally, everything began to converge, including pricing, offerings, and communication. In this concept, omnichannel systems were interconnected, but they did not form a monolith. Experiences could still vary, and the primary focus was on completing transactions. Omnichannel is still a necessity for brands present in both worlds, and we expect to be able to return online purchases at physical stores or reserve items in-store for later pickup. However, our needs have evolved.

The pandemic accelerated the digital education of mass consumers who were previously less active, while those who were already digitally engaged began to prefer online shopping. Additionally, Millennials and Generation Z have started to flood the stores. Sixty-four percent of Generation Z members are always online, and 78% of them use their phones as the primary device for internet consumption (according to a Snapchat report). The line between what's real and what's virtual has blurred. Representatives of these generations will choose communication methods that feel natural to them, such as Messenger, FaceTime, etc.

Spending more time online, we gain a wealth of experiences and expect these experiences to be consistent across the entire brand, regardless of the medium we encounter. We are no longer concerned with the medium; instead, we demand brand uniformity because it is only in this consistency that brands become coherent.

Example of POS installation in a fitting room of a fashion store

Unified Customer Experience

Even before the pandemic, in 2016, Forrester released a report that introduced the concept of Unified Experience. The definition goes as follows: 'Unified experiences are those that adapt the content, functionality, and consistent brand personality to users' expectations, tasks, and context at different touchpoints.'

Holistic unification of experiences is not a tactic that can be quickly implemented in a company. Instead, it is a strategic approach that requires all stakeholders to be aware of the goal and work toward it. In this strategic concept, it doesn't matter whether a potential customer contacts the company through social media, chat, or visits a physical store. What matters is providing an adequate level of service and quality everywhere to enhance the customer's experience.

You can imagine that without close collaboration across various departments within the company, from PR, marketing, sales, to technology, the strategy will not succeed. Managing these processes, which essentially encompass all company processes, can only be achieved through a single, centralized system.

Customers communicate with brands 24/7, expecting an immediate, personalized response. They move from one channel to another, expecting continuity and consistent experiences and service. Managing these channels separately will not yield tangible results because brands need to be equally present everywhere and ready to act.

Building good experiences based on customer needs is impossible without knowing your customers, their desires, concerns, frustrations, and needs. The strategy of creating a unified experience requires continuous monitoring and consumer research. Surveys, feedback, reviews, as well as in-depth interviews with representatives of the target audience, can be helpful. These observations and valuable insights will ensure that your customers get what they want. Research will clearly indicate where the brand message needs improvement and where there is room for enhancement.

Transforming Retail Spaces with Interactive In-Store Displays

Space for Innovation

Another thing to get used to is testing new, innovative solutions based on customer needs. Innovations don't always yield the intended results. Sometimes your ideas will require twists, pivots, changes, while other times they will be perfectly received by users. You'll see it in the results, the data. It is crucial that your company or your supporting partners can draw conclusions from the data and design new experiences based on that.

Following this strategy, observations of behavior, and adept technology adaptation where it wasn't present before, very interesting and experience-enhancing innovations are emerging. Thanks to RFID readers in Decathlon stores, our time at the self-checkout counter has been minimized. All you need to do is drop your items into a box by the counter, and you'll immediately know the total price. You make the payment and leave, avoiding those annoying queues.

Have you ever tried to buy shoes straight from a shop display? Even if your size is available, the shop assistant still needs to fetch the second shoe of the pair. Moreover, the size of a physical store is limited, and it's not always possible to display as much merchandise as you'd like, not to mention the storage space. The creators of eobuwie.pl offered their customers tablets to choose from thousands of pairs of shoes. If they're available, the staff brings them to you; if not, you can purchase them online with home delivery. Doesn't that make it easier? And look at the variety and availability of the goods!

Popular convenience store chain Żabka took it a step further. Since we enjoy digital and self-service, why do we need a cashier? Some time ago, I had the opportunity to test Żabka's autonomous stores. Upon entering, you scan a card at the entrance, pick up what you need, and the transaction is automatically recorded. The camera-based system is highly effective, making theft virtually impossible. Traditional Żabka stores, on the other hand, experience more theft.

Good, customer-tailored digital experiences enhance customer service processes in areas where they weren't available before.

The brand Outhorn, owned by OTCF, the same company that manages the 4F brand, has taken a similar path. With a recent rebrand and the launch of its own stores (previously, products could be purchased in 4F stores), a mobile app was introduced. The end-to-end implementation for the application was handled by goodylabs. Together with the client, we knew that this experience could be enhanced and adapted to the habits of the target audience.

That's why interactive POS (Point of Sale) stands were developed for the stores. We considered that the younger generation tends to avoid verbal communication in stores but loves clicking. So we gave them the ability to check the availability of their preferred size independently by scanning the product's barcode. If the size is not available, the consumer knows they can order the product in that size for home delivery. When in the fitting room and wanting to select a new product due to inspiration from the style suggestion feature, they can click to request the suggested products.

The interactive stand seamlessly integrates with the mobile app through the loyalty card. You don't have to enter your information on the large touchscreen, which enhances security. Your purchase data from the stand will be displayed in the app, making returns hassle-free.

These are just the basic capabilities, and the mobile shopping app will be continuously expanded with new, useful features, all based, of course, on customer needs.

What the Future Holds

No one knows for sure, but it's safe to assume that there will be more projects like this. It's what customers want, and an increasing number of brands are recognizing this need. Brands require consistency, and digital products are much more capable of providing it than, unfortunately, people who might have a bad day and upset a customer. Autonomous stores will continue to emerge, and shopping malls will increasingly resemble showrooms or distribution centers. Of course, this is just a hypothesis that may have seemed funny a few years ago, but today, it doesn't appear that way anymore. Digital is just getting started.