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Many retailers have started trying to copy the online experience in-store.\u00a0Online consumers can receive recommendations tailored to them based on their past browsing and shopping habits.<\/p>\n
In-store, typically, customers don\u2019t receive that level of service. However, that may be changing.<\/p>\n
Thanks to loyalty programmes such as Boots Advantage Card and Tesco Clubcard, customers can receive hyper-personalised recommendations while in store.<\/p>\n
We sit down with Mark Thomson of Zebra Technologies to find out more.<\/p>\n
He says: \u201cIf I drop into Sainsbury\u2019s, for example, on a Friday night on my way home from the office, \u00a0it\u2019s likely that I\u2019m on a sort of very short shopping journey.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve been told to pick up one or two things and then I\u2019m literally dropping in, and I\u2019m on my way home. \u00a0So, actually, personalisation or promotions to me at that point in time become less\u00a0relevant because I don\u2019t have time to look at them.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd they\u2019re less likely to have an impact. However, if I then go shopping the following morning for a full shop, \u00a0full basket shop, maybe still to the same store, that\u2019s a different shopping journey. So what we might call shopping missions have a strong impact on the relevance of whatever promotion.<\/p>\n
He adds: \u201cSo it\u2019s more than just personalisation to me. It\u2019s personalisation to my specific mission at that point in time. \u201d<\/p>\n
He suggests that offering hypersonlisation in store can be difficult as firms don\u2019t want to \u201ctrack or trace people\u201d.\u00a0 He also points out that there is very little opportunity to offer personalised promotions in-store as consumers aren\u2019t traditionally asked for a loyalty card until they are checking out, and by that point, most shoppers don\u2019t want to see promotions.<\/p>\n
Unlike online shopping. Take Amazon, for example, it already knows the user and is therefore able to offer personalisation from the very moment someone clicks onto its website, and the homepage you are looking at might not be the one I am browsing.<\/p>\n
He says: \u201cI\u2019m looking at something that is relevant to me. So it\u2019s been a technological challenge for physical store retailers to get to that point. \u00a0And I think it\u2019s therefore been easier for them to focus on their e-commerce\u00a0sites first.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut I definitely sense the frustration over the last few years from retailers\u00a0that they want to be able to include their physical store estates in that\u00a0personalised approach. \u00a0And I think the technology is coming in now that it\u2019s starting to allow them to do so.<\/p>\n
He explains that being offered additional services when purchasing can be considered a form of personalisation. When buying technology like TV\u2019s, consumers can be offered things like insurance and product protection as the retailer already knows the customer is interested.<\/p>\n
He says: \u201cTypically, you\u2019re not going to show your loyalty card as soon as you see a staff and they go,\u00a0Oh yes,\u00a0Hey, Mr. Thomson,\u00a0let\u2019s give you some special offers.\u201d<\/p>\n
But there are opportunities to do so using apps.<\/p>\n
For example, he states, when you visit Starbucks, the company automatically knows you are there, as it offers you the Wifi and therefore can offer the consumer relevant offers through the app.<\/p>\n
Thomson says: \u201cAnd then if we look at the grocery side,\u00a0and this is something very close to our hearts from a Zebra point of view, is\u00a0if I\u2019m going into a supermarket and I\u2019m going to do my own scanning.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo I\u2019m going to pick up a scanner and walk around the store with us with a scan and go device from the retailer. I\u2019m using my loyalty card to pick that up at the very first place. So I\u2019ve walked into the store, and I\u2019m now using my loyalty card.\u201d<\/p>\n
He explains that the retailer then knows that the consumer is in the store and can personalise the experience to them, commenting: \u201cAnd therefore if you\u2019re thinking about the benefits of that. \u00a0Let\u2019s say you\u2019re Coca-Cola, for example, I\u2019m now wheeling my trolley with my scanning device with a screen on it down the cold drinks aisle. I could actually get a promotion from Coca-Cola.<\/p>\n
\u201cOn my little scanning device screen, a three-second show of\u00a0a bottle of Coke\u00a0or a can of Coke with condensation tripping down the side, the sort of design that makes you really want to go, oh yeah, \u00a0I do fancy a Coke. \u00a0Let\u2019s buy\u00a0a pack of six cans of Coke\u201d<\/p>\n
He adds: \u201cI think\u00a0it\u2019s a massive opportunity with those sorts of devices.\u201d<\/p>\n
However, marketers must ensure they are not \u201cspamming\u201d consumers with promotions \u201cevery six metres,\u201d as this will cause them to disengage.<\/p>\n
He says: \u201cNectar is starting to look at it in terms of how do we use that little screen that\u2019s now in front of a shopper, where we know that shopper, \u00a0how do we use that in the best way to get cross sales, sell conversion and bigger basket sizes of those shoppers.\u201dThe secondary benefit to the retailer is that brands like Coca-Cola or Colgate will pay for that as well.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to Thomson, marketing teams will need to determine if consumers are likely to impulse buy after receiving a promotion like this or if they will stick to their preplanned lists.<\/p>\n
He says: \u201cI think they have the ability through those sorts of devices [shopping scanners] to do a lot of testing and then start to learn. And I think this is one of the areas where AI will certainly play a part: in terms of crunching that data. \u00a0So if retailers could run a test for a whole year of some shopping journeys doing it, some firms promoting Coca-Cola, some not at different times of day and then build up that data to see what the patterns are.\u201d<\/p>\n
Thomson explains that there are also more interactive kiosks in stores, which consumers can log in to and receive personalised offers and promotions.<\/p>\n
He says: We know that Gen Z, even more than millennials, is actually coming back to physical stores. \u00a0They want experiences but they want those experiences to be relevant to them.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo actually they\u2019re demanding from retailers that the retailer gets to know\u00a0them and builds a profile.\u00a0So, we\u2019re seeing more and more retailers doubling down on their loyalty programmes, which, at the end of the day,\u00a0is not just to try and give you points.\u00a0It\u2019s actually to try and build a profile\u00a0of you so that they can promote to you more relevant products.\u201d<\/p>\n
He adds: \u201d Which drives better sales,\u00a0better conversion of those products,\u00a0better lifetime value of that particular customer.\u201d<\/p>\n
Thomson explains that the next challenge for retailers is the shift to \u201cconversational commerce\u201d and how to replicate it in stores as more and more consumers are using ChatGPT (and other generative AI tools) to aid them when shopping online.<\/p>\n
He says: \u201cI think the next challenge for retailers is going to be how do I take that sort of logic and do that in a physical store? \u00a0Is it kiosks or is it actually I\u2019m going to talk to a member of staff who happens to be empowered with some sort of mobile device, which can also be listening.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd then together, almost the three of us, \u00a0the staff member, the shopper and the mobile device can then narrow down the relevant products for that customer.\u201d<\/p>\n