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HOW TECHNOLOGY CHANGES THE FACE OF RETAILIN OUR TECHNOLOGICAL AGE, BRICK-AND-MORTAR STORES ALL AROUND THE WORLD ARE STRUG-GLING TO DELIVER THE FLAWLESS SHOPPING EXPERIENCE CUSTOMERS INCREASINGLY EXPECT. STEVE GOLDBERG, PRESIDENT OF RETAIL CONSULTANCY FIRM THE GRAYSON COMPANY, WHOSE CLIENT LIST INCLUDES TOMMY HILFIGER, COLE HAAN AND UGG AUSTRALIA, HAS SOME TRICKS UP HIS SLEEVE. WE CAUGHT UP WITH HIM TO LEARN MORE

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Customers have less and less time to shop. How should luxury multibrand stores adapt in terms of visual merchandising, product offering and back office support?Our advice is to make sure that your visual presentation is extremely clear and really emphasises key products. Don’t try to show too much at once. Today less is more. It is also incredibly important to ensure that key items are in stock. Customers become very frustrated when they spot items they love but you can’t provide them in their favourite colours and in the right sizes. This seems like such basic thing but it’s become more important than ever.

What can retailers do to meet or even excel shoppers’ expectations? Private events, pop-up shops maybe?Initiatives like ‘clientelling’ are great for establishing long-term relationships with key customers, especially when the retailer has collected data about their preferences and likes. True one-to-one customer relationships help you to get to know your customers better and offer them something special that goes beyond just shopping. Private events are especially important if they support a social cause – a charity fundraiser, or an event organised in response to some other issue which is important to the community or to your key customer group. As for pop-up shops, of course, they can create excitement but they don’t always have much of a lasting impact. Moreover these initiatives are expensive for a

store and can be distracting for customers so they need to be well thought out and precisely targeted with your business goals and your clientele in mind.

How can small multibrand stores create a functional and effective omnichannel strategy?I think the key is the staff, particularly for these sorts of shops. Smaller stores need staff who are really savvy and aware of what’s on the website before customers visit. There need to be a perfect alignment between the web content and what’s in the store. Both need equal care and attention. Of course, building an effective mobile strategy is extremely important for every retailer whether big or small. If your website doesn’t have a mobile enabled design, you’re going to lose out. All your customers are on mobiles, so you can’t ignore it.

Some shops are trying to create a completely new shopping experience using technologies such as digital mirrors, outfit suggestions etc. Does this always add more value to the customer journey?These things are very nice to have and they certainly appear attractive for the customers. It makes the clients’ experience more interesting and impactful, but these technologies also have to provide a meaningful experience for the customer. Shopping technology has to be a full investment, not only of money but also of time. You have to train your staff to be totally comfortable with these technologies if they

STEVE GOLDBERG

are to become really useful to clients. Retailers who are new to technology can start with easier and less complicated technologies to see how their core clients respond to a digital experience: for example, using iPads instead of a traditional cash register. This doesn’t work in every type of environment, but it can be a terrific experience.

What, in your opinion, is the right balance between live and digital shopping experiences?For the moment 90% of retail sales are still occurring in physical stores, but the balance is changing, and merchants should be aware that these changes are not going to go away. They have to work on both shopping experiences: offline and online. Store owners should remember that the presentation of products in the store needs to be expressed in the same way digitally. Two different identities will confuse your customers. Clarity and consistency is the key. Your website should hold up a mirror to your brick-and-mortar identity, in order to impart a strong brand message and build customer loyalty.

What do you think the brick-and-mortar multibrand stores of the future will look like?In the future (which, by the way, is here today) there will be more and more sophisticated technologies and ways for the customer to shop. We think there will be fewer

registers and more tablets, less engagement with store assistants and more digital services. Right now you can buy online and have your purchase delivered in store, and we will see more of that. There will also be scenarios where customers can request and order things directly in the store and have them delivered to them before they leave the store. In this new retail environment the most important thing will be to train the staff properly to guarantee the system runs like clockwork. Stores will increasingly use digital beacons which helps gather data and give more information about the customers coming in. And just as the customer service teams of the big mobile phone companies know who you are as soon as you call, so too will shops. It might feel intrusive at first, but it will become normal quite quickly.