The retail industry is changing so quickly and deeply that whatever is happening today resembles nothing like last week’s news and will be completely different a week from now. Increasing bankruptcy filings, shifts in-product demand, and more conservative spending among consumers — as much as retailers want to blame the pandemic, these challenges are essentially an acceleration of long-needed change.
Shoppers continue their adoption of a blended approach to retail as the crisis evolves. Before the COVID-19 outbreak, consumer use of buy-online, pick-up-in-store channels grew more than four times since 2014, according to a global IBM Institute for Business Value survey, in association with the National Retail Federation. This trend continues its upward trajectory, as more than 75 percent of consumers shared, in a separate NRF study, interest in BOPIS services and 90 percent of those who tried it consider the curbside experience convenient.
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While such a shift is occurring out of necessity, some analysts predict that some aspects of a contactless, socially distanced customer experience may be here to stay. Retailers that use this moment as an opportunity to reflect, rethink and reset their business models will position themselves for a recovery that will take shape in unexpected ways.
Four shifts toward a new normal for retail
Consumers rarely adopt channels in an all-or-nothing fashion. They tend to leverage a little bit of one touchpoint and a pinch of another and smash them together to design the best experience that meets their needs.
In response, retailers must become experts in re-creating the brick-and-mortar store experience for consumers who are not ready to shop in a physical location. This capability is best achieved with the right mix of optimized operations, well-trained workforce and technology enablement that captures the advantages of four shifts toward retail’s new normal.
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Live interactions with store associates — from home
One of the best aspects of shopping in a brick-and-mortar store is engaging with store associates. Personally, I enjoy receiving their counsel on arrivals that complement previous purchases, learning about the benefits of a new face cream, or hearing the latest styling tips that can improve my personal look.
Even if consumers are not ready to set foot in a store, they can still receive the same experience from the comfort of their own home. A variety of collaboration tools — such as Zoom and Cisco WebEx — are available to allow associates to show off the store floor and existing inventory. Plus, it enables the shopper to walk through their closets, bathrooms, or anywhere else in their home to simultaneously consider new items they didn’t know they needed to purchase.