The New Rules for Succeeding in Retail

There’s no doubt the face of retail is changing dramatically. Also, it’s no secret that consumers are spending more and more time online. And we all know a good portion of that time online is spent spending money.

As the “Amazon-effect” continues to make online shopping easier for consumers, brick-and-mortar retail brands are changing the way they attract, engage and retain customers. In many cases, visitors to brick-and-mortar stores are looking - and in some cases expecting - that same seamless experience in-store they are getting online.

The team at Vision has helped Five Below outfit its stores with printed graphics since it opened in 2001.

How are retailers evolving to meet customers’ expectations? In some instances, retailers are giving stores a makeover, renovating and remodeling brick-and-mortar locations from the top down. Others are diving into data in an effort to get to know their customers better. This can include implementing geo-location and tracking software, RFID technology or even facial recognition technology within stores that can interface with customers’ mobile phones and shopper profiles. Many times, the data piece goes hand-in-hand with store makeovers as retailers implement and place these location-based tracking beacons within fixtures. And still others are experimenting with new sign and display options, including digital signage in addition to the traditional static signage they’ve always been using.

How can print providers best support brand partners during this tumultuous time of change? The easy answer is to be a partner with them in this change, but it’s much more complicated than that.

All About the Experience

For brick-and-mortar locations, brands have been forced to redefine what it means to have a physical location. According to the 2017 PwC & SAP Retailer Survey, 37% of retailers are planning to expand or create new in-store experiences and implement experiential retail strategies (click here to view the full report). Instead of simply expanding or remodeling their spaces, brands are exploring new and different real-estate strategies, reimagining and repurposing store environments so they are more relevant to customers’ needs.

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For ABC Carpet & Home, a privately-held, family-owned luxury home furnishing company, this involves a transformation of its seven-story Manhattan retail location to four floors.

According to Angela Gruszka, VP marketing and creative, the seven floors are challenging for the customer. By reducing their footprint from seven stories to four, ABC Carpet & Home can provide a more personalized experience. “We looked at consumer trends when we were planning our renovation,” says Gruszka. “We want to have an amazing customer experience and be known as the ‘experiential retailor.’ This remodel will enable us to elevate the customer experience.”

Personalization is something we talk about a lot when it comes to direct mail campaigns, but it is becoming even more important in the retail shopping environment. Customers today want and expect a personalized and seamless shopping experience. Some retailers are going as far as creating showrooms - a comfortable environment to peruse products, get advice and place an order. The products are then shipped directly to the consumer’s home. This kind of showroom approach doesn’t work for every product, but for differentiated goods, like branded fashion apparel, home furnishings, the newest electronic gadgets or expensive jewelry, this can work very well. Generally, these kinds of products are more difficult to sell online because consumers prefer to browse for these items, examine them and even seek out advice about what to buy.

ABC Carpet & Home is taking this approach as it looks to provide a curated experience. But, they are also looking at how technology can help make that experience even better for its customers.

Technology Integration

Today’s consumers are no longer passive when it comes to shopping. They want to see all their choices and they want full access to product information, including technical specs and customer reviews.

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When it comes to engaging with customers, one of the best places to start is right in their customers’ hands: their smartphones. According to Pew Research, “59% of Americans say that they have used their cellphones to call or text someone while inside a store to discuss purchases they are thinking of making.” In addition, “62% (of 18- to 49-year-old shoppers) have used their phones to look up online reviews of something they were thinking of purchasing or to see if they could find a better price online.” (Click here to view the full report).

Smart phones could help provide consumers with easier store navigation and quick access to product availability, whether online or at another store. Additionally, phone owners could opt-in to location-based apps that trigger in-store activity in trusted retail environments. Through their phone, they could receive special offers, interact with in-store digital displays or even provide directions to specific products and items of interest.

Graphics created for Lumen Optical by ER2 Image Group.

Some stores already have end caps with passive video displays. But these will evolve into personalized displays. For instance, a grocery store shopper could scan a store display with their phone and then get a pop up with menus for the foods sold nearby - but those menus would be based on the individual’s tastes and preferences.

Graphics created for Lumen Optical by ER2 Image Group.

To deliver a much more personalized experience, brands need to enhance their data-collection methods and then learn how to leverage those analytics and insights. Through the use of RFID tags, facial recognition systems and software and even Bluetooth beacons, together with a customer’s smart device, retailers can start to deliver a more holistic shopping experience.

For example, as a shopper approaches a screen, they could be greeted and offered a personalized discount based on set gender and age parameters, and given suggestions about new products. As the shopper approaches other beacons while they continues to browse products in the store, the system could display more information or even offer suggestions on matching accessories or complimentary products.

With these types of technologies, stores could better understand and track customer engagements and interactions with various products on the floor. And all this data offers better insight for more effective in-store marketing.

ABC Carpet & Home is looking to do just that, but it’s a difficult task. Gruszka explains that they are working with Google to set up beacons within their store to start mining location data and intelligence. “We want to see what’s happening when customers are coming into the store and where they are going. We need to be able to drill down into the data and use technology to guide us in our planning,” she says.

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But because there is so much data and so many different channels this data can come from, it’s “hard to understand it all and figure out effectiveness,” she explains.

This is also where artificial intelligence (AI) comes into play. Through predictive modeling, AI and machine learning, brands have accelerated their ability to predict behaviors and anticipate needs. AI can allow retailers to look at behavioral data and link all the data points together to build meaningful - and actionable - marketing plans. “AI is a great technology and it can help us to navigate different channels in-store and online,” Gruszka says. “If a customer navigated toward sofas when they were in the store, later on they can get an email that shows sofas - even the specific item they looked at. AI can create those models based off of real-time data.”

Taking it one step further, AR and VR have the ability to offer enhanced customer experiences in store as well. But those technologies, according to Gruszka, are still in their infancy - at least for what they’re looking to do in-store. “We are looking to come up with other ways to appeal to consumers, to be more personalized. In-store AR is still experimental, but within the next 2-3 years AR should become more standard.”

The team at Vision has helped Five Below outfit its stores with printed graphics since it opened in 2001.

We can already see examples of how VR and AR are being used by brands. In the fashion industry, holographic dressing rooms appeared during 2017’s London Fashion Week shows. A collaboration with designer Sabinna Rachimova, Pictofit, The Fashion Innovation Agency and Fashion Scout, provided guests at the show with the opportunity to mix and match pieces from Sabinna’s season 004 Collection using an app and a holographic model. Additionally, guests could enter a “virtual fitting room” where they could see how the clothes would look on a virtual version of themselves - right down to their real-life body measurements. This high-definition personalized experience could be another means for enticing consumers into stores.

Putting It into Practice

With all these new technologies - some already here and more to come - retailers are looking for partners that can help them drill down into the data and develop effective marketing strategies that include in-store and online components. “We need to streamline all of our marketing efforts,” Gruszka says. “It’s critical for us to be able to market across all channels.”

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This omnichannel approach is not new, and it’s no secret that we’ve seen retailers leveraging traditional signage with digital signage for in-store environments. “We need flexibility. The retail landscape is changing, and we need to continue to drive customers to the store,” Gruszka says. “We can’t go all print or all digital. It doesn’t make sense for us. We need to be able to merge traditional print and in-store displays and technology. It’s critical.”

In addition to the signage and window graphics they have traditionally used in-store, ABC Carpet & Home started working with new vendors including Glass-Media to offer new digital signage options. Through the combination of the company’s display technology - including glass cling films or recessed acrylic displays for storefront or banners, light boxes, wallscapes and POS displays in-store - and an Internet of Things (IoT) platform, retailers are offered a flexible way to update store signage as needed, as graphics are projected directly on the screens and displays. As a cloud solution, retailers can change it on demand.

Big Visual Group completed this project for longtime customer The Wirtgen Group.

“It was challenging to manage at first,” Gruszka admits. “But now we love working with it because we can change it on demand. As we look forward, we are starting to get a better sense of how to plan to use it, too.”

For ABC Carpet & Home - and most retailers - visuals are very important, and integration between traditional print, digital signage and new technologies is critical. “We need signage that entices and engages the customer. We need to leverage the traditional print in-store with digital signage to get customers to take their eyes off their phones,” Gruszka says. “We need to connect customers with relevant information. We also need to keep customers in the store and create a unified vision. Signage is critical.”

So what are the key takeaways for print providers? We can break it down into three main points:

• Retailers are looking for partners that can help them navigate and understand the data they are collecting - via loyalty programs, marketing efforts and in-store geo-tracking systems.
• Additionally, retailers want to present their customers with a unified look for their in-store traditional print signage, in-store digital signage and online marketing components.
• Managing everything - from data to signage - is proving to be very challenging for retailers. A partner who could offer the depth of knowledge and breadth of products and services retailers now need to implement robust and complicated marketing strategies could find themselves invaluable to retail clients.

“We want to start to look at an entire year when we’re planning,” Gruszka says. “We want to develop more of a relationship with our partners, so they can really help us examine the data and the customer trends, using technology to guide us when we make our plans.”