Plain Talk

For what seems like an eternity, brick and mortar retailers have been struggling to keep up and compete with online retailers, which offer unparalleled personalization and convenience to consumers by harnessing mountains of customer data.

By cultivating the information gleaned from consumers’ every online action and inaction, such as what items they clicked on, how much time they spent looking at an item and which items they put in their online shopping cart, online retailers are able to tailor every email they send and every product they recommend, which in turn, drives sales and provides a shopping experience that is far superior to the one traditionally offered by brick and mortar retailers.

However, the tides are turning and the opportunity is shifting back to brick and mortar retailers. As the lines between physical and digital blur together, the data-driven shopping experience is making its way inside brick and mortar stores, bringing with it the ease, convenience and excitement previously reserved for online shopping.

With the shopping experience and customer journey continuing to evolve so rapidly, the future of retail will look drastically different from the way it does today. Several pillars of tomorrow’s stores will soon include:

1. Personal Shoppers for All: the in-store experience will completely transform as the emerging beacon technology becomes more widely adopted. With the combination of retailer mobile apps and beacons, customers will receive highly relevant and personal content directly to their phones – such as product information and flash sales or deals. The features on the “personal shopper” app will show consumers where they can find favorite products and suggest products they might like. In addition, beacon applications will speed up the checkout process with completely contactless payment systems.


2. Reduced Foot Traffic: the real-time data generated from beacons will improve the accuracy of in-store mapping and smart navigation. By tracking shoppers’ movements through the store, managers can better design layouts to streamline the consumers’ journey.


3. Virtual Fitting Rooms: as technology advances and continues to supplement the physical world, augmented reality and virtual dressing rooms will become more commonplace. Consumers will be able to virtually try on clothes and/or accessories via mirrors or video feeds.

The in-store experience at traditional brick and mortar stores is on the cusp of a great transformation, with forward-thinking retailers already experimenting with their in-store offerings.

Soon, retailers of all shapes and sizes will adopt data-driven strategies, such as cross-channel customer profiling, beacon technology as well as augmented reality.

By leveraging customer data and analytics, Buxton can help you understand who both your online and offline customers are and what their needs and expectations are. With that information and insight, it becomes possible to deliver a consistently personalized, on-brand experience from beginning to end.

Buxton is the leading customer analytics firm that helps organizations identify who their customers are, where those customers are located, and the value those customers have to the organization.

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