Jennifer, who is 23 years old, is online. She’s searching the website of one of her favorite apparel retailers for the perfect top for the date she has tonight. Finding one with lace detail in her favorite color (navy), she quickly logs into her account and completes her purchase.
A pop-up appears, asking Jennifer to join the retailer’s loyalty program. After reviewing the many benefits membership provides – including early access to new items, exclusive offers and expedited shipping – she signs up. It seems like a no brainer and the enrollment experience is quick and easy, especially since she already has an account set up online.
Afterwards, Jennifer checks her phone and sees that the retailer has sent her an email welcoming her to the loyalty program and including a special offer – if she downloads the retailer’s mobile app, she can earn 500 points. Once she has earned a certain number of points, they can easily be redeemed for merchandise online or in-store. Jennifer downloads the app, eager to earn those points and see the enhanced personalized experience it provides. She spends some time in the app, looking through the newest items and decides she’d like to try some of them on for tonight’s date.
Jennifer hops in her car and drives to the retailer’s brick-and-mortar store near her apartment. As she enters, a beacon activates. She looks at her phone and sees a welcome note from the retailer as well as an instant reward notification of 250 bonus points if she makes an in-store purchase today. This beacon also prompts a sales person, Claire, to greet her.
Claire knows that Jennifer purchased a top online so she suggests skinny jeans and some accessories to pair with it.
These recommendations are perfect and Jennifer is pleased to see that Claire is offering her this personalized treatment.
Jennifer also asks about some of the new merchandise she saw online. Claire brings her to each item and they discuss how each piece fits, where they can be worn and their versatility.
Jennifer tries on a number of items and works with Claire to ensure she has the right sizes in each. In love with many of the pieces, Jennifer selects the items she’d like to keep and meets Claire outside the dressing room. Claire, with tablet in hand, scans each item and checks Jennifer out, saving a trip to the register. Jennifer wears her favorite top out of the store, in time for her date, and Claire confirms that the rest of her items will arrive at her house tomorrow, eliminating the need to carry along shopping bags. Satisfied with the great experience, Jennifer heads out for her date.
As she leaves the store, she checks her phone and is asked by the retailer’s app if she’d like to share sentiment on her experience on social – and earn triple points. She accepts and tweets a picture of herself in the new top, expressing her glee in finding numerous pieces at one of her favorite retailers that fit her so well (which she also posts to Facebook).
So, why are we talking about Jennifer and her day of shopping anyway?
Because it shows what a unified commerce experience looks like from the consumer perspective – a consistent experience as a consumer moves across channels, with additional bonuses delivered via a loyalty program that goes beyond discounts and offers.
For retailers, there’s a big internal focus on unifying commerce channels. However, the focus should go beyond the integration of systems in the backend to focus on the consumer perspective as you work on these initiatives (like Apple does so well).
A consumer management system that connects all of these dots (Jennifer’s touchpoints with the retailer) and enables this level of real-time personalization to happen comes into play here. To make Jennifer’s successful experience a reality, there needs to be a “brain” running behind each of these touchpoints that gathers, sorts and puts all of the clicks, taps and transactions back to work in a relevant and contextual way to enhance the consumer’s experiences and drive higher spend.
From Jennifer’s day, we see how a mobile device is the key to creating a streamlined experience as a consumer – everything she needs is in the palm of her hand.
By delivering relevance and offering motivation (made possible with a consumer management system) the retailer was able to deliver Jennifer a more personalized shopping experience, increased convenience and rewards for loyalty, along with a level of exclusivity.
This is something consumers increasingly expect from retailers – are you ready to deliver?
